Integrated Community Physician & Clinical Lead

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust; Kendal; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider is seeking a dedicated GP or Consultant to join their Virtual Ward team in Kendal. This role involves leading a multidisciplinary team to provide acute level care in a community setting. Ideal candidates will have experience in general medicine and be passionate about delivering patient care. The position offers a balanced work schedule and the opportunity to contribute to innovative healthcare delivery.

Benefits

Balanced work schedule

Opportunity to shape new services

Qualifications

• Previous experience managing acute medical illness in community or acute settings as a senior clinician.
• Experience supervising junior medical colleagues or Advanced Clinical Practitioners.
• Competence in interpreting clinical investigation results.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical leadership and guide patient management plans.
• Conduct clinical assessments and make autonomous decisions.
• Lead multidisciplinary team meetings.

Skills

Leadership

Clinical decision-making

Team collaboration

Risk management

Patient assessment

Education

MRCGP, MRCP or equivalent

CCT in General Practice, General Medicine or relevant specialty

Job description

Overview

We are seeking a dedicated GP or Consultant to join our Virtual Ward, Hospital at Home team, transforming care for adult patients as an alternative to hospital admission where clinically appropriate to receive acute level care in the community. This is an opportunity to lead and shape a multidisciplinary team that brings together professionals from a range of health care professions such as medicine, advanced clinical practice, nursing, pharmacy, therapy, and community services.

Our Virtual Ward team delivers acute level care to patients in their own homes by providing a Multi Disciplinary Approach to care either face to face or remotely dependant upon need. This aligns closely to the two hour urgent community response strategy to offer an and alternative to hospital inpatient care.

Why Join Us

• Shape a developing service: by contributing to the design and growth of this innovative service at its early stages.
• Balanced schedule: work Monday-Friday with on call on a weekend rota basis.
• Purposeful work: improve patient outcomes by addressing complex, acute level needs in a community setting.
• This is a cross bay service with base to be negotiated upon appointment.
• Opportunity to deliver acute level care differently in an innovative, proactive community team.

Main duties of the job

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for a Consultant or GP with expertise in general medicine, frailty, and the complexities of community care. Candidates should be confident in independent decision-making, safe risk management and are passionate about working with patients in a collaborative, multidisciplinary team.

You will provide clinical leadership, guide the development of comprehensive patient management plans, and address patients\' physical, mental, and social needs. Your responsibilities will include (but aren\'t limited to):

• Leading the service with overall responsibility for the clinical caseload, service development, and innovative practice for the Service.
• Leading MDT meetings to foster collaborative care strategies.
• Conducting clinical assessments through home visits or remotely.
• Providing leadership and support for the team with senior clinical decision-making.
• Making autonomous clinical decisions, ordering appropriate investigations (e.g., blood tests, X-rays, CT scans, ECGs), and referring patients to other services as needed.
• Screening patients for early disease risk factors using national and local guidelines, providing counselling, and promoting health education.
• Reviewing clinical correspondence and investigation results, ensuring timely action.
• Supporting clinicians and supervising medical students.
• Contributing to audits and participating in educational and team meetings.

About us

We operate from three main sites—Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow, Heysham Primary Care Centre in Heysham, and Westmorland General Hospital (WGH) in Kendal.

FGH and the RLI have a range of General Hospital services, with full Emergency Departments, Critical/Coronary Care units and various Consultant-led services.

WGH provides a range of General Hospital services, together with an Urgent Treatment Centre, that can help with a range of non-life threatening conditions such as broken bones and minor illnesses.

All three main hospitals provide a range of planned care including outpatients, diagnostics, therapies, day case and inpatient surgery. In addition, a range of local outreach services and diagnostics are provided from community facilities across Morecambe Bay.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Our Virtual Ward team operates seven days per week, 08:00 - 20:00. As the Clinical Lead, you will be expected to be on site during core hours and support an on call rota. Applicants must have the ability and means to travel across the area as required.

We invite applications from Consultants, GPs or experienced clinicians who are able to provide independent, senior level decision making within the multi-disciplinary team. The programme supports patients aged 16+ years, so we are looking for candidates with experience managing general medicine and frailty who understand and enjoy the complexities of care in the community setting.

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• MRCGP, MRCP or equivalent
• GMC Registration
• CCT in General Practice, General Medicine or other relevant speciality

Experience

Essential

• Previous experience managing undifferentiating acute medical illness in community or acute settings as a senior, independent clinician
• Experience of supervision of junior medical colleagues and/or Advanced Clinical Practitioners
• Effective experience in a leadership role
• Experience working as part of multidisciplinary team in any setting

Desirable

• Experience leading multidisciplinary team in the community setting (being part of MDT in community = 1)
• Previous experience as Clinical Lead, Consultant or GP Principle

Skills

Essential

• Competence interpreting clinical investigation results such as blood results, ECGs and medical imaging
• Ability to holistically manage adult patients presenting with acute and chronic health issues in a community setting
• Maintain up to date appraisal and revalidation.

Personal

Essential

• Has access to own car and ability to drive across Morecambe Bay as required

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