Locum Consultant Thoracic Surgeon

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 109,000 - 146,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS foundation trust in Newcastle upon Tyne is looking for a Locum Consultant Thoracic Surgeon. The role involves managing a high volume of surgical cases, particularly related to lung cancer. Candidates should have experience in minimally invasive surgery and engage in clinical governance and teaching activities. A commitment to teamwork and flexibility in work patterns is essential. This position offers a competitive salary up to £145,478 per annum pro rata.

Benefits

Commitment to teaching and research

Qualifications

• Registered medical practitioners and eligible for the GMC Specialist Register within six months.
• Full range of experience in General Thoracic Surgery.
• Experience in lung cancer MDT working.

Responsibilities

• Attendance at Lung Cancer MDTs in the North East.
• Managing surgical cases primarily focused on thoracic cancer.
• Participating in an on-call rota for emergency thoracic surgery.

Skills

Minimally Invasive Videoscopic Thoracic surgery

General Thoracic Surgery

On-call service for airway management

Robotic training

Leadership in clinical governance

Education

FRCS (C/Th) or equivalent

Primary Medical Qualification

Higher Degree

Job description

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Locum Consultant Thoracic Surgeon

The closing date is 23 December 2025

We are delighted to be able to offer an opportunity for a highly motivated, ambitious individual to join our well-integrated team.

The successful candidate will be skilled in all aspects of Thoracic Surgery, in particular they will be expected to have skills in Minimally Invasive Videoscopic Thoracic surgery. A successful appointee will be a team worker and will be expected to work well with colleagues in Oncology and Respiratory Medicine. They will also be expected to participate in Thoracic Clinical Governance meetings.

This post is to commence as soon as possible for 3 months.

In addition to the challenges of the role, we can offer you a commitment to teaching, education, research and audit.

Candidates for the post must be registered medical practitioners and on, or eligible to join, the Specialist Register within six months of the date of the Appointments Committee.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

Please read attached Job Description and Person Specification.

Main duties of the job

The appointee will join a team of 6 WTE Consultant Thoracic Surgeons. The present workload of the Thoracic service is around 1000 cases per year. The workload has increased due to the Targeted Lung Health Check (TLHC) programme, which is being progressively implemented across the North East and North Cumbria: a phased roll out started with the Newcastle and Gateshead area in 2021 and is moving gradually through other northern areas until 2027.

A large component of the role is the surgical management of lung cancer. Due to the Trauma Status of the Trust, there is exposure to all aspects of Cardiothoracic Surgical Trauma. Thoracic Surgical caseload is comprised primarily of cancer services, providing investigation and treatment of thoracic cancer. We provide Therapeutic Bronchoscopy Service including Laser and stent and chest wall surgeries, being part of the supra regional sarcoma service.

For an informal discussion and further information regarding the opportunity and the Cardiothoracic Board, please contact: Clinical Director, Mr Vamsi Dronavalli via email at [e-mail]

About us

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest, largest and most successful teaching NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 16,000 staff and an annual income of £1 billion. We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.

We’re also proud to be the second largest provider of specialised services in the country. This means we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

Our staff oversee around 1.84 million patients 'contacts' each year, delivering high standards of healthcare.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under‑represented groups.

Job responsibilities

Clinical:

Attendance at Lung Cancer MDTs both within Newcastle and at referring district hospitals in the North East of England and Cumbria.

To undertake operating, outpatient clinic and Peripheral MDTs with prospective cover accounted for in job plan.

Participation in the on‑call Rota for emergency thoracic surgery and in‑patient Postoperative care.

Each surgeon is responsible for the patients he/she has operated on unless prior arrangement has been made with another Consultant.

Thoracic surgical on‑call is currently on a 1:6 basis, non‑resident.

The successful post holder will be expected to undertake on‑call cover for 1 day of the week and 1:6 weekends. The on‑call cover includes covering Cardiothoracic Trauma at the Royal Victoria Infirmary Hospital (Major Trauma Centre), rarely the cover may extend to attendance at other hospitals in the region.

Administrative:

Review of elective referrals.

Timely upkeep of all routine Patient Administration.

Contribution to various administrative duties in the Board.

Records are maintained on the Dendrite database. (The Department takes part in full data collection for SCTS and national data collection purposes).

Work with Cardiothoracic Management team on waiting list allocation and management.

Accountability:

The appointee will have full professional independence on medical matters but will be managerially accountable to the Trust and the Chief Executive, through his/her Clinical Director and Board Chair.

Clinical Governance:

The post holder is expected to participate in the Trust’s clinical effectiveness activities, and to encourage and foster improvements in the quality and standards of clinical services. The post‑holder will assist with the safeguarding of high standards of care by participating in the creation of an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish.

Continuing Professional Development and Continuing Medical Education:

The post holder is expected to take responsibility for their own Continuing Professional Development and take part in Continuing Medical Education activities, in line with the requirements of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons, guidelines to maintain standards of performance and in consultation with the Clinical Director /CAG Director.

The post‑holder will be expected to produce and maintain a Personal Development Plan in agreement with the Clinical Director /CAG Director.

Study leave is available as provided for under the Terms and Conditions of Service for Hospital Medical and Dental staff, subject to the approval of the Clinical Director /CAG Director.

Revalidation:

The Trust supports activities and processes required to be undertaken by the surgeon to demonstrate to the GMC that they are up to date and fit to practice. The Trust has the required arrangements in place to ensure that all surgeons have an annual appraisal with a trained appraiser and supports surgeons going through the revalidation process.

Research and Development:

Research and Development is expected under the guidance of the Research and Development department and within the guidelines of Trust policies.

Enthusiasm for audit and clinical research.

Teaching:

Enthusiasm for teaching and training cardiothoracic surgical trainees.

Contribution to undergraduate medical teaching.

Teaching nursing staff and professions allied to medicine.

Flexibility:

In line with the Trust’s core value of placing patients at the heart of everything we do, we are developing our service provision to be responsive to the needs of our patients. To meet those needs some staff groups will be increasingly asked to work a more flexible work pattern so that they can offer services in the evening or weekend. As a result any offer of employment to a consultant post will be subject to you agreeing to work a new more flexible pattern or working in the future if required, including evening and weekend work.

Person Specification

Education, Qualifications and Specialist Skills

• Primary Medical Qualification
• Full GMC Registration
• FRCS (C/Th) or equivalent
• Entry onto the GMC Specialist Register (or within 6 months of interview)
• Higher Degree
• Special skills training in the specialty
• International Training Fellowship

Clinical Experience

• Full range of experience in General Thoracic Surgery
• Evidence of a substantial commitment to the specialty
• Ability to offer an expert clinical opinion within the speciality
• Ability to take independent responsibility for the clinical care of patients referred to a tertiary centre
• Evidence of adult thoracic and cancer MDT working
• Experience of independent practice in minimally invasive videoscopic and open lung resection surgery
• Ability to deliver on call service including on-call for airway management
• Experience and Training in Cardiac Surgery.
• Experience of chest wall surgeries
• Experience of management of cardiothoracic trauma
• Experience in diagnostic and therapeutic management of airway diseases
• Evidence of involvement in robotic training
• Evidence of involvement in new treatment or technologies; eg navigational bronchoscopy, Lung volume reduction
• Consultant level experience, such as acting up or locum

Management and Administration Experience

• Involvement with management and project leadership within the specialty
• Evidence of involvement in authoring or reviewing clinical guidelines
• An understanding of Clinical Governance
• Must demonstrate an understanding of current issues in the NHS and responsibilities of a consultant
• Proven management and administrative experience and understanding of management goals.
• Evidence of leadership / project management
• Evidence of having implemented change
• Experience in developing and implementing new technologies
• Attendance at a recognized management course

Teaching

• Experience of supervising junior medical staff
• Experience of participation in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching
• Ability to teach clinical / technical / practical skills
• Attendance at courses to develop teaching skills
• Postgraduate qualification in medical education.
• Evidence of participation as faculty in national training courses

Research

• Evidence of involvement in and understanding of research methodology, research governance and publication of findings
• Experience as research Investigator
• Research/critical review of literature.
• Publications in the last five years.

Audit

• Evidence of participation in audit.
• Evidence of having changed practice as a result of audit
• Evidence of having revisited the audit to assess improvement

Personal Attributes

• Alignment with the Trust's values
• Flexible approach to service delivery and committed approach to development
• Committed to share in professional, managerial and teaching responsibilities necessary to fulfil the obligations of the Directorate to the Trust and its workforce
• A commitment to personal / unit CPD
• Ability and willingness to work the on‑call Rotas
• Ability and willingness to work a more flexible pattern of working in the future if required, including evening and weekend work.
• Team Player - able to contribute and develop the department as a team

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.

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

£109,725 to £145,478 per annum pro rata