Consultant in Infectious Diseases &/or Medical Micro/Viro/GIM

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS foundation trust in London is seeking a Consultant in Infectious Diseases to provide expert infection support across multiple sites. The role involves developing clinical guidelines, managing infectious disease consultations, and participating in on-call duties. Candidates must hold full GMC registration and have experience in adult infectious diseases, along with a commitment to high standards of patient care.

Benefits

Continuing professional development support

Personalized induction program

Flexible working opportunities

Qualifications

• Comprehensive experience across the range of adult infectious diseases.
• Experience in writing clinical infection and/or laboratory guidelines.
• Working knowledge of Infection Prevention and Control in acute care.

Responsibilities

• Provide infection support for the Guy's hospital site.
• Develop local clinical guidelines and manage outbreaks.
• Participate in the non-resident on-call rota.

Skills

Experience in adult infectious diseases

Knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship

Experience in writing clinical guidelines

Education

Full GMC Registration

CCT in Microbiology or Virology

Tools

Infectious Disease clinical consult service

Laboratory management experience

Job description

Guy's and St Thomas' is among the UK's busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy's is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas' has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children's Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King's Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King's College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of 'good'. Our adult community services achieved a rating of 'outstanding'.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

The post holder will provide the infection support for the Guy's hospital site, though the post is part of a rotation that supports routine clinical infection work at Guy's, the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals.

The clinical Infection sub-specialties at Guy's include:

• Infections in patients with cancer, Renal Transplant and Urology services, a well-established OPAT team, a proposed centre of excellence for complex elective orthopaedic/spinal services and the regional Thoracic surgical, Head and Neck and ENT and Urology groups.

Individual consultants will develop their own areas of specialist expertise over time, all will deliver:

• Ward-based infection consults/telephone advice, multi-disciplinary clinical meetings and ward rounds, ID outpatient clinics and a potential new OPAT service for RBHH sites.

• If CCT in Microbiology or Virology, support to the Infection Sciences laboratory services
• Support the induction and training of the StRs rotating in via postgraduate teaching and training
• Develop local clinical guidelines, manage outbreaks, and deliver key performance with a particular focus on leading antimicrobial stewardship (bacterial and fungal).
• All consultants will have PA allocation for specific responsibilities e.g. antimicrobial stewardship, IPC, OPAT.
• Participate in the non-resident on-call rota.

Main duties of the job

Each post-holder will have a rotational post across at least two of the sites at RB&H and Guys.

Guy's Hospital is a major elective centre offering specialised services. It has 400 beds and also hosts the largest dental hospital in Europe.

Harefield Hospital is a regional centre for cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, and an international centre for adult heart, lung, and heart-lung transplantation. It is one of a small number of UK cardiac centres assisting in development of implantable mechanical ventricular assist devices in the management of end-stage heart failure. It also provides a primary intervention service for acute coronary syndromes in outer West London and the Home Counties. It has 168 beds with 5 operating theatres, and 4 catheter laboratories.

The Royal Brompton is a specialist cardiothoracic centre specialising in diseases of the heart and lung, with services for adults (Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Radiology, and Thoracic Medicine) and Paediatrics. This includes a large adult and paediatric respiratory infection cohort with chronic lung disease and both adult and paediatric congenital heart disease. It also houses one of the regional ECMO units providing care for acute severe respiratory infections. It has 312 beds, 6 operating theatres and 4 catheter laboratories.

Working for our organisation

The DoI comprises about 115 clinical and administrative staff from the Dept. of Infectious Diseases (including the Virology & Microbiology laboratories run in partnership with Synnovis UK and Ireland) and the Dept. of Infection Prevention & Control. Dr Nicholas Price is the Clinical Director and joint-Director of IPC (DIPC) and Ms Avey Bhatia, Chief Nurse, has Executive IPC responsibility. Dr Bill Newsholme (Infectious Diseases & IPC) and Dr Simon Goldenberg (Laboratories) are the medical Service Leads.

In addition to medical staff (below), there are approximately 60 IPC staff led by joint-DIPC, Dr Jon Otter, plus a dedicated ID pharmacy team. Every DoI consultant works in partnership with IPC colleagues and is allocated specific responsibilities in job planning (e.g. anti-microbial resistance/ stewardship, C. difficile and bacteraemia investigation, surgical site infection, intravenous line care etc.). ID consultant leadership is by example and is considered essential to driving higher standards of IPC quality across and lending front-line credibility.

The Dept. of IPC comprises Acute Trust and Community nurses, an Intravascular Device team, a Surgical Site Infection Surveillance and Innovation Unit (SIU) team and a Decontamination/Environmental IPC team. The IPC matrons work in close partnership with a dedicated Infection consultant supporting in area.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main place of employment:

Each post-holder will have a rotational post across at least two of the sites at RB&H and Guys. The nature of these roles may be tailored to the interests of the post holders, provided they meet the core service needs and are agreed with the other existing consultants. It is a requirement of your employment that you be prepared to work at any additional or different location owned or served by the Trust, either on an on-going or temporary basis according to the demands of the service.

Induction:

There will be a personalised induction programme both for the Microbiology and clinical Infectious Diseases service. The programme will be tailored to the needs of the successful candidate.

Accommodation and equipment:

The Consultant Doctor will have access to a computer and desk space and the support of departmental administration and clerical staff. The Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' Medical School library is on the St. Thomas' and Guy's sites. Electronic access to the KCL e-journals will be available. There are libraries/learning zones at the Brompton and Harefield sites.

Continuing professional development (CPD) and Appraisal:

The post holder will be expected to participate in CPD. Consultants can apply for professional and study leave over a three-year period up to 30 days (on average 10 days per year). Statutory and Mandatory training must be taken within the leave allocation. Consultants have access through the Post-graduate Centre to apply for funds to support CPD activities. All medical staff are required to undertake annual appraisal and revalidation. Appraisal documentation for GMC Specialist Revalidation will be submitted through the SARD system.

Mentoring:

There is an active mentoring and coaching scheme available to all consultants. New consultants are encouraged to participate in the New Consultants Forum with organised seminars supporting professional development.

Job Planning:

The post holder's job plan is anticipated to contain 10 Programmed Activities (PA) per week, to be carried out primarily one site at any one time. Below is an example outline programme based on 10 PAs but the exact job plan will vary dependant on site of working and discussed with the Clinical Director and Service Leads prior to any start date, particularly in order to reflect specific responsibilities that are agreed i.e. 'Infection Control' (1PA), 'antimicrobial stewardship (1PA) OPAT (1PA). The job plan will also be negotiated between the Consultant and their Clinical Lead at least annually.

Type of work

PAs

DCC

Clinical work including ward consults and ward rounds

3.75

Multi-disciplinary meetings about direct patient care

1

Infection Prevention & Control/antimicrobial stewardship

1

Laboratory management and diagnostic service development

2

Outpatient activities

0.75

SPA

Job Planning, appraisal, CPD, clinical governance, audit, mandatory training

1

Teaching/StR supervision, being an appraiser, etc, defined in job planning according to service needs

0.5

Total

10

The exact amount of Supporting Professional Activity (SPA) allocation can be increased during the job planning process, depending on post-holders interests.

Proposed timetable:

Final agreement on timetabled commitments will be agreed on taking up the post and then reviewed at least annually as part of the job planning process. As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends or asked to work of any of the trust sites.

An example of the proposed timetable for the postholder outlined below.

Description of work

Start-Finish

Frequency

Cat.

Mon

Clinical handover

Ward Rounds/Consults1

Diagnostic work/ lab result authorisation1,2

0900-1000

1000-1400

1300-1700

1x1w

1x1w

1x1w

DCC

DCC

DCC

Tues

Academic Seminar

Diagnostic work/ lab result authorisation

Infection prevention & control

0800-0900

0900-1300

1300-1700

1x1w

1x1w

1x1w

SPA

DCC

DCC

Wed

Ward Rounds/Consults

Outpatient clinic

0900-1300

1300-1700

1x1w

1x2w

DCC

DCC

Thur

Diagnostic work/ lab result authorisation

Clinical Cases meeting

MDM

0900-1300

1300-1400

1400-1600

1x1w

1x1w

1x1w

DCC

DCC

DCC

Fri

Ward Rounds/Consults

CPD

0900-1300

1300-1700

1x1w

1x1w

DCC

SPA

On Call Rota:

The appointee will be required to participate in the following:
• For the first year, participate in a 1 in 5 ID/Microbiology on-call rota dependant on site of work GSTT or RBHH (Category A) in order to authorise and communicate significant laboratory results, and provide specialist clinical advice.
• In addition, after the first year and depending upon clinical experience and skills, the post-holder will also be offered the chance participate in the rota for rare admissions to the HCID-a unit at St Thomas'.

Category A: this applies where the consultant may be able respond by giving telephone advice and/or by returning to work later but the complexity of work or urgency of work is such that they could on rare occasions be required to return to site.

Frequency of Rota Commitment

Value of supplement as a percentage of full-time basic salary

Category A

Category B

High Frequency:

1 in 1 to 1 in 4

8.0%

3.0%

Medium Frequency:

1 in 5 to 1 in 8

5.0%

2.0%

Low Frequency:

1 in 9 or less frequent

3.0%

1.0%

Person specification

Professional Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Full and Specialist GMC Registration and current licence to practise.
• Applicants that are UK trained, must ALSO be a holder of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), or be within six months of award of CCT by date of interview. Applicants that are non-UK trained, will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT
• On GMC Specialist Register for Microbiology OR Microbiology and Infectious Diseases OR Virology

Desirable criteria

• MRCP or equivalent
• FRCPath or equivalent

Clinical Experience

Essential criteria

• Comprehensive experience across the range of adult infectious diseases.
• Experience in writing clinical infection and/or laboratory guidelines.
• Working knowledge in Infection Prevention and Control in the acute care setting e.g. management of outbreaks and antimicrobial stewardship.

Desirable criteria

• Expert knowledge and experience in OPAT
• Leading or managing a diagnostic laboratory

Clinical Skills

Essential criteria

• Operating an Infectious Diseases clinical consult service and contributing to multidisciplinary clinical meetings.

Desirable criteria

• Clinical assessment and management of Critical Care patients

Audit Management & IT

Essential criteria

• A track record demonstrating clinical governance, audit, service development and management and IT skills
• Evidence of leading service development and participation in quality improvement projects for clinical and/or laboratory services

Research. Teaching skill & experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of teaching and training undergraduates, postgraduates and junior medical staff.

Desirable criteria

• A track record of research, publications/ understanding / knowledge of Research ethics.

Leadership / Management skills

Essential criteria

• Accountability; Ability to take responsibility, lead, make decisions and exert appropriate authority.

Guy's and St Thomas' celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study's at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

Flexible working

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual's personal circumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.

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Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• Consultant in Infectious Diseases (Adult or Paediatric) & Medical Microbiology/Virology (ID/MMV) or Medical Microbiology or Medical Virology or Consultant in Infectious Diseases & General Internal Medicine (GIM) (PDF, 872.3KB)
• Consultant in Infectious Diseases (Adult or Paediatric) & Medical Microbiology/Virology (ID/MMV) or Medical Microbiology or Medical Virology or Consultant in Infectious Diseases & General Internal Medicine (GIM) (PDF, 544.5KB)