Consultant in Geriatric Medicine

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust; Bury St Edmunds; On-site; GBP 109,000 - 146,000; Full time

Job summary

A community-focused healthcare provider in Bury St Edmunds seeks a Consultant in Geriatrics & Acute Frailty Medicine. Join a pioneering team making impactful changes in frailty care, leading a 32-bed inpatient ward and conducting assessments in acute settings. The role fosters innovative care processes and collaborates with local services to enhance the health management of older patients. A competitive salary of £109,725 to £145,478 per annum is offered, and interviews are scheduled for April 24, 2026.

Qualifications

• Qualified in General Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine.
• Postgraduate degree such as MD or PhD preferred.
• Ability to independently manage patient care.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality medical care to frail older people.
• Oversee care on inpatient geriatrics ward.
• Develop services in subspecialty area of geriatrics.

Skills

Clinical training in General/Geriatric Medicine

Ability to offer expert clinical opinion

Effective communication skills in English

Ability to manage a multidisciplinary team

Education

MBBS or equivalent

Full GMC registration with a licence to practise

Entry on the GMC specialist registers

Job description

Consultant in Geriatrics & Acute Frailty Medicine - Shape the Future of Frailty Care!

Join our pioneering Care of the Elderly team at West Suffolk Hospital, where innovation meets compassionate care. This is an opportunity to lead transformative change in frailty care both regionally and nationally

What We Offer:

• Inpatient Geriatrics Ward: Oversee care on our 32-bed ward and develop the ward to have outstanding care for our frail populations
• Acute Frailty Service: Conduct specialist assessments in ED, AAU, and SDEC (Monday-Friday, 9 AM-7 PM)
• Community Impact: Collaborate with the Virtual Ward and community teams
• Weekend Rounds: Participate in a 1 in 7 rotation (Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 AM-12:30 PM)

Why Join Us?

Frailty care is a top priority for our trust. Under new leadership, we are pioneering eFrailty Alerts, electronic clinical frailty scores, and patient-led pathways. By empowering patients, families, and healthcare professionals through education and innovation we are shifting away from traditional hospital-based care. Our approach fosters patient ownership of health, reduces ED waiting times, and delivers high-quality, person-centred frailty care. You will be working in Bury St Edmunds, a charming town in the heart of Suffolk with excellent transport links to Cambridge and London.

Interviews to be held on Friday 24th April 2026

Please See Full Job Description attached for details

Main duties of the job

• To provide high-quality, holistic medical care to frail older people in both hospital and community setting
• To develop services in a subspecialty area within geriatric medicine
• To provide advice and support to local GPs and community matrons
• To work with appropriate community services to enable frail older people to receive treatment safely in their own home
• To support the active case management of frail older as part of the acute Frailty assessment unit
• Teaching and training of junior staff, medical students from Cambridge university, clinical nurse specialists based in geriatric medicine
• To participate actively in both Departmental and Trust Clinical Governance and Audit
• To have responsibility for ensuring active participation in continuing professional development (CPD), appraisal and revalidation.

Please See Full Job Description attached for details

About us

#BeKnown at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. By us. By our patients. By our community

We are a busy, friendly, rural NHS Trust providing high-quality care and compassion to more than a quarter of a million people across west Suffolk. We care for, treat and support people in hospital, at home and in various community settings.

The West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds provides acute and secondary care services (emergency department, maternity and neonatal services, day surgery unit, eye treatment centre, Macmillan unit and children\'s ward). It has 500+ beds and is a partner teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge.

Adult and paediatric community services, provided in collaboration with West Suffolk Alliance partners, include a range of nursing, therapy, specialist, and ongoing temporary care and rehabilitation, some at our Newmarket Community Hospital.

We do our utmost to achieve outstanding clinical outcomes for patients and our values of fairness, inclusivity, respect, safety and team work guide how we work and behave as a team.

With nearly 5,000 staff, from all over the world, we strive to make our organisation a great place to work. Whatever your role or ambition, we want to help you be the best you can be.

We promote a diverse and inclusive community where everyones voice counts and you can #BeKnown for whoever you are.

Join us. What will you #BeKnown for?

Job responsibilities

We are a team of geriatricians looking to expand our services further across the hospital and into the community to enable more older people to benefit from specialist geriatric assessment. We provide acute in-patient services on an elderly care ward, ortho-geriatric services, medical and surgical liaison services, front door assessment and out-patient clinics at the West Suffolk Hospital site. In addition, we oversee care of intermediate care beds in the community hospital at Newmarket

Our priorities for the next 2 years include the establishment of an acute frailty assessment unit to take direct admissions from the community, establishing falls and frailty clinics in peripheral sites, developing models of closer working with community matrons and advanced clinical practitioners in frailty to enable patients to receive comprehensive geriatric assessment closer to home, enhancement of our virtual ward pathway and using new technology to provide remote assessment of patients in care homes.

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of frailty care beyond traditional inpatient settings. Our Geriatricians work across hospital and community settingsor a combination of both playing a vital role in admission avoidance strategies for frail and elderly patients.

Please See Full Job Description attached for details

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Entry on the GMC specialist registers in General Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine or be eligible for entry (within six months of attaining Certificate of Completion of Training) at the time of interview
• Full GMC registration with a licence to practise
• MBBS or equivalent
• A higher post-graduate degree such as MD, M. Phil, PhD or PG Cert in medical education

Clinical Expertise

• Clinical training and experience equivalent to that required for gaining UK CCT in General/Geriatric Medicine.
• Ability to offer expert clinical opinion on a range of problems in adult medicine.
• Ability to take full and independent responsibility for clinical care of patients.
• Training & experience in a geriatric subspecialty

Management and Administrative Experience

• Ability to manage and lead a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to contribute to development of services.
• Experience of clinical governance
• Ability and willingness to work within the Trust and NHS performance framework and targets.
• Experience of quality improvement
• Experience of service development

Teaching Experience

• Experience of supervising junior trainees
• Ability to teach clinical skills to students and trainees
• Experience of teaching basic clinical skills to undergraduates
• Experience of teaching other professional groups

Knowledge

• All applicants to have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English that are adequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with patients and colleagues which could be demonstrated by one of the following:- - PLAB 1 - PLAB 2 If applicants believe that they have adequate communication skills, but do not fit into one of the examples they need to provide evidence

Research Experience

• Ability to apply research outcomes to clinical problems
• Experience of conducting research projects
• Publications in peer-reviewed journals

Other Attributes

• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team
• Enquiring, critical approach to work
• Ability to communicate effectively with patients, relatives, GPs, Nurses and other agencies
• Commitment to Continuing Medical Education and the requirements of Clinical Governance and Audit
• Has ability to travel to rural locations

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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.

£109,725 to £145,478 a yearPro Rata Per Annum