Consultant in Acute Medicine

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust; Whitehaven; On-site; GBP 114,000 - 151,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday allowance

NHS discounts

Salary sacrifice schemes

Counselling service

Job summary

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust is seeking five Acute Medical Consultants to lead the redesign of its Acute Medicine services across Carlisle and Whitehaven. The role focuses on early senior decision making, expansion of SDEC facilities, and a single point of access hub to streamline referrals.

Flexible job planning is offered to tailor roles to interests in leadership, pathway development, education, or system collaboration with primary and secondary care.

Qualifications

• Full GMC registration or eligibility for registration in the UK.
• Higher Specialist Training in General Internal/ Acute Medicine required.
• Excellent communication skills with patients and colleagues.
• Experience in emergency and acute medical care is essential.

Responsibilities

• Lead redesign of Acute Medicine services with new leadership and investment.
• Support early senior decision making and expansion of SDEC facilities.
• Oversee specialty SPA planning and alignment with service goals.
• Collaborate with educational and research partners to drive innovation.

Skills

Excellent communication

Leadership

Clinical expertise

Education

GMC registration

Specialist registration (CCT)

Royal College of Physicians member

Emergency/acute care competency

Job description

Would you like to join a centre of excellence in rural and remote healthcare?

Main area Emergency Services Grade NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 10 sessions per week (Job Plan Can Be Discussed At Interview) Job ref 262-A-26-8011446-C

Site Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle / West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven Town Carlisle and Whitehaven Salary £113,565 - £150,569 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 05/10/2026 23:59

Job overview

Are you considering your next opportunity? If so, we’d love to show you why should consider joining us here in North Cumbria. We're investing into Acute Medicine services, and we can invest in you, too.

There is real scope to shape your role… around what you do best

If you have a special interest in frailty, virtual wards, hospital admission avoidance, front-door streaming or ambulatory care, we would actively welcome a conversation. We are flexible in how roles are built and happy to tailor job plans to align with your interests, experience and development goals. Whether you are passionate about clinical leadership, pathway development, education, or system working across primary and secondary care, there is space here for you to make a meaningful impact.

This is an opportunity to join a service with momentum… and ambition

You will be joining a team that is honest about the challenges of acute care, but equally committed to doing things better: for patients and for staff. Our vision is clear: the right patient, in the right place, at the right time, led by the right clinician. If you’re looking for a role where your expertise is valued, your ideas welcomed, and the service is genuinely evolving rather than standing still, we’d encourage you to get in touch for an informal discussion.

Main duties of the job

New leadership and investment at North Cumbria Integrated Care has created an opportunity for 5 new Acute Medical Consultants who will be integral to the redesign of our Acute Medicine services.

New funding will mean we can facilitate early senior decision making, expand Medical SDEC facilities and advise from the point of referral in our new single point of access Hub.

Working for NCIC, you will benefit from:

• An enhanced SPA plan with 3 SPAs made up of 1.5 for core SPA, and the other 1.5 for your specialist interest.
• Excellent research, teaching and innovative opportunities from our partnerships with the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine and our regional providers in the Great North Healthcare Alliance.
• A leadership development pathway for Consultants, right through to Executive Medical Director.

The Trust Board has recently approved a £4 million investment into our Urgent and Emergency Care services.

The investment will support a modern Acute Medical service, including a significantly expanded and purpose-built Medical Same Day Emergency Care unit, with protected consultant presence and strengthened multidisciplinary working.

Our future model prioritises early senior review, ambulatory pathways, frailty-focused care and better use of virtual wards and community services. This is about delivering safer care, reducing unnecessary admissions, and improving across the whole hospital… not firefighting in Emergency Department corridors.

Working for our organisation

Our CEO, Trudie Davies, and Executive Medical Director, Adrian Clements, would love to hear from you to discuss your future career in North Cumbria. To arrange an informal chat, please contact Sally Rushton on [e-mail] for Trudie and Julia McClune on [e-mail] for Adrian.

At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding healthcare services to the population of North Cumbria.The Trust is committed to creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout our county.

Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of ‘safe, high quality care every time’:

• Being a clinically led organisation
• Quality and safety at the heart of our Trust
• A positive patient experience every time
• A great place to work
• Managing our money well

As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.

Across the North East and North Cumbria we are working together to deliver our ambition to be the greenest region in England by 2030. All staff are expected to support sustainability.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

JOB DESCRIPTION :

Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.

CERTIFICATE OF SPONSORSHIP

Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment.Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed. For further information visit theUK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligiblevacancies.

Disclosure and Barring Service:

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:

Standard Check: £21.50 + Administration cost of £6.50 = £28. Deducted from salary over a 4 month period or a one-off payment.

Enhanced Check: £49.50 + administration cost of £6.50 = £56. Deducted from salary over a 4 month period or a one-off payment.

NCIC can offer successful future employees the following benefits:

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years

NHS Discounts*

Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work*

Vivup is a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems

*Subject to eligibility

Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.

If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.

Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

• Full Registration with the General Medical Council.
• Entry on the GMC specialist register via relevant CCT (proposed CCT date must be within 6 months of interview), relevant CESR or European Community Rights
• Member of the Royal College of Physicians or equivalent
• Proof of competency in emergency and elective index cases
• Special interest or certification in any medical specialty.

Experience and Knowledge

• High level of clinical experience and competence in Acute Medicine
• Completed Higher Specialist Training (CCT) in General (Internal) Medicine, Acute Internal Medicine or evidence of equivalent competency.
• Excellent communication skills with patients, colleagues, managers and other staff
• Ability to take full and independent responsibility for clinical care of patients
• A commitment to, and experience of teaching
• An interest in developing links with Primary Care

Teaching

• Experience of and commitment to teaching undergraduate and postgraduate medical staff.
• Experience of teaching clinical skills to undergraduates
• Teaching of non-medical health professionals.
• Educational Qualification

Research, Audit and Clinical Governance

• Experience of, and commitment to, medical audit.
• Experience of research and Clinical Governance
• Publications in referred journals
• Ability to supervise postgraduate research

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Dr Daniel Zehnder Job title Clinical Director - Acute Medicine Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 07544981189

Additional information

It is strongly encouraged that all prospective applicants should arrange an informal visit to the department prior to interview.

[e-mail]

Our CEO, Trudie Davies, and Executive Medical Director, Adrian Clements, would love to hear from you to discuss your future career in North Cumbria. To arrange an informal chat, please contact Sally Rushton on [e-mail] for Trudie and Julia McClune on [e-mail] for Adrian.