Consultant In Anaesthetics - Fixed Term

The Rotherham Nhs Foundation Trust; Rotherham; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The Rotherham Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is seeking two Locum Consultants in anaesthesia (with or without an interest in critical care or obstetrics) to join a dynamic team at The Rotherham Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The department services a modern theatre complex with ITU/HDU facilities and has a strong teaching ethos, welcoming applicants with teaching interests.

You will work alongside 31 consultants and 19 associate specialists, contributing to a busy service and ongoing research

Responsibilities

• The post-holder will work alongside the existing team of consultants and specialists in a busy anaesthesia department.
• The department supports teaching and research with opportunities to participate in ongoing trials and education.
• Elective and emergency anaesthesia coverage across a modern theatre and critical care suite.

Job description

Job summary

We are seeking recruit 2 Locum Consultants on a full-time basis in anaesthesia (with or without an interest in critical care or obstetrics) to join our dynamic and inclusive team at The Rotherham Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The post-holder will work alongside the existing team of 31 consultants and 19 Associate specialists, specialty doctors and clinical fellows as well as 12 doctors in training from Health Education England (HEE).

The Anaesthetic and critical care department serves a modern and recently expanded theatre and day surgery complex with adjacent ITU and HDU facilities. The department has an excellent reputation and enthusiasm for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and would welcome applicants with a teaching interest. The Trust has Associate Teaching Hospital status within the University of Sheffield Medical School.

Main duties of the job

Surgical specialties in the Trust include: general surgery (including laparoscopic colorectal surgery), orthopaedics, Obs & Gynae, urology, ENT, maxillofacial, breast surgery and ophthalmology. We run a busy pre-operative assessment service including cardiopulmonary exercise testing. We specialise in day case surgery (led by recent BADS president) and regional anaesthesia. The critical care unit consists of 6 funded ITU beds and 8 funded HDU beds. There are consultants with a special interest in critical care medicine. We have also appointed an Associate Specialist in intensive care to support the expanding department. We have FICE echo accreditation. There are many research opportunities within the Anaesthetic department and the trust as a whole. A consultant colleague is a professor with an active research portfolio and we make a significant contribution in terms of recruitment to prominent trials. Successful applicants will be encouraged to have an active part in furthering projects and quality improvements within the department. We have a wealth of managerial experience within the department with colleagues currently holding several senior roles within the Trust.

About us

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust (TRFT) is a combined acute and community Trust serving our local population of around 270,000 people. Our vision is to always act the right way and be proud to provide exceptional healthcare to the communities of Rotherham.

As a Trust we are on a journey to excellence and our people and culture are at the heart of everything we do for patients. In the latest NHS Staff Survey, we are the second most improved Trust in England for would you recommend the Trust as a place to work? and were one of the most improved for staff engagement overall.

But dont just take our word for it each year hundreds of colleagues receive nominations for our Excellence and Proud awards, showcasing our brilliant people and recognising their achievements. Our people make a difference to the lives of patients every day and we are proud of the improvements we are making.

All of our 5,100 colleagues are key to our improvement journey and we are continuing to improve our services by upholding the Trusts values of Ambitious, Caring and Together. If you are passionate about making a difference, then please apply to join us on our journey to excellence.

Job responsibilities

The Department

We currently have a 30 substantive Consultant Anaesthetists. In addition, there are 14 Anaesthetic Specialty Doctors and two Associate Specialists. The trainee establishment consists of eight stage 1 trainees, together with four stage 2 or 3 trainees all rotating from the South Yorkshire Anaesthetic Training Rotation. The department also has one Foundation Year 2 doctor on a 4-month rotation within critical care.

Elective Surgery

Elective surgical lists are either half or full day and run for either 4 or 8 hours. Anaesthetists are allocated an extra hour per half day for pre-op assessment and post-op care. Surgical specialties include: general surgery (including laparoscopic colorectal surgery), orthopaedics and trauma, gynaecology, urology, ENT, maxillofacial, breast surgery, ophthalmology. We have an excellent Day Surgery Unit and one of our colleagues is the Past-President of the British Association of Day Surgery (BADS).

We have an excellent regional anaesthesia service with higher and advanced training modules.

We have an excellent Paediatric exodontia anaesthesia service and a community dental sedation service. In addition to the above we are the referral centre for ECT and we also provide a regular cardioversion service.

We have a resident Professor and a strong anaesthesia and critical care research portfolio participating in many international and national portfolio studies with input from funded trust research nurses.

Obstetric Anaesthesia and Analgesia

Rotherham has a busy obstetric unit. In 2018 there were approx. 3000 deliveries. 15 sessions per week are currently covered by nine Consultant Anaesthetists. Weekday consultant cover is from 07:40 21:00. Overnight cover is provided by the Registrar on-call and the General Anaesthetic Consultant on call. The weekend days have anaesthetist covering Labour Ward and helping in theatres and ICU if needed.

Acute Pain

An enthusiastic and dynamic team of nursing staff run our nationally renowned acute pain service throughout the Trust. There is a well-established ward-based epidural service for Orthopaedics, General Surgery, Urology and Gynaecology with on-going developments focusing on enhanced recovery, management of acute pain in the patient with chronic pain and analgesia for fractured necks of femur. The Pain team has particular expertise in the management of rib fractures and our protocols have been published and presented nationally. The pain team also provide an acupuncture service which has reduced the incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV).

Training & Teaching

In addition to service commitments, there are excellent opportunities for the appointee to become involved in anaesthetic training, module development, educational supervision and appraisal. The Department has an excellent reputation for teaching and training. The department offers training modules in all the surgical specialities available at the Trust, as well as Critical Care Medicine. All consultants are encouraged to participate in teaching and tutorials, in addition to practical aspects of training in the operating theatres and intensive care.

The Critical Care Unit is recognised for basic, intermediate level RCoA training and Stage 1 of the FICM training program. One of our ICU Consultants is FICE accredited and all the remaining ICU Consultants are working towards FICE accreditation.

There is an established teaching programme within the department, with an afternoon of tutorials on topics relating to Anaesthetics and Critical Care Medicine. A lunchtime ICU journal club and a mortality and morbidity meeting is held once a month at the ICU Clinical Governance meeting.

Critical Care Unit

We admit around 630 patients a year, of which 35% is Level 3. Approximately 60% are emergency medical admissions, and around 15% is elective surgical patients. Our mean APACHE II score is 15.2, with a unit mortality of 12%, which is in keeping with other similar units in the ICNARC Case Mix Programme, and we have a risk-adjusted acute hospital mortality of 0.91 (2018-2019 ICNARC data).

There are currently 6 funded Level 3 (ICU) bed spaces and 8 funded Level 2 (HDU) bed spaces. The ICU and the HDU are co-located to make a Critical Care Unit. Theatres, radiology and the brand new Urgent Care Emergency department are in close proximity.

There are currently nine Consultants and one associate specialist, who have a special interest in Critical Care and provide consultant cover for the unit. Two Critical Care consultants cover the unit each weekday, providing a total of 20 clinical sessions. These new posts were approved to help meet the GPICS standards for critical care.

Clinical Governance

The Anaesthetic department also holds regular audit meetings (up to six meetings per annum). These include combined meetings with surgical specialities, mandatory training updates as well as mortality and morbidity reviews, case presentations and discussing new developments.

We undertake a regular morbidity and mortality review to share learning within the department and more widely within the trust.

The successful candidate will also be encouraged to become participate in the governance and service development. Supporting Professional Activity (SPA) time will be available in job plans to support involvement in these activities

Permanent Staff Meetings

Anaesthetic & Critical Care permanent medical staff meetings are held bi-monthly on the day of the audit meetings.

We have a weekly departmental meeting on a Thursday Lunchtime, which is attended by all staff including trainees and representatives from theatres (e.g.) ODPs and management.

Out-of-hours emergency service

• A CT 1/2 who provides anaesthetic cover for the acute surgical specialties.
• An ST3+ whose duties include the provision of medical cover for the ICU or Labour Ward, Paediatric resuscitation, as well as supporting the CT1/2 anaesthetist.
• SAS doctor whose duties include the provision of medical cover for the ICU or Labour ward, Paediatric resuscitation, as well as supporting the CT1/2 anaesthetist.
• A Consultant Generalist anaesthetist with responsibility for theatres and obstetrics.
• A Consultant Intensivist is on call on weekend days (0800-2000) in addition to the Consultant General Anaesthetist
• Weekdays a Consultant Intensivist is resident until 21:30.

Staffing

The post-holder will work alongside the existing Consultant Anaesthetists.

Relationships with other Departments