Consultant Autopsy Pathologist

Freeman Hospital

Carthage (MO)

On-site

USD 127,000 - 153,000

Full time

3 days ago

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Job summary

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Consultant Autopsy Pathologist to join the Autopsy Pathology team across the RVI and Freeman Hospital sites. The successful applicant will lead autopsy work and participate in teaching, research and audit within a regional, centralised service.

Applicants must have GMC registration (or be eligible) and hold FRCPath or equivalent; a broader experience in forensic/pathology-related duties is welcome.

Qualifications

Essential criteria: Primary Medical Qualification and Full GMC Registration.
Essential criteria: Entry onto GMC Specialist Register within six months; FRCPath or equivalent.
Desirable criteria: CHAT or equivalent; MD/PhD.

Responsibilities

Specialise in Autopsy Pathology as a major component; contribute to another specialty as needed.
Participate in autopsy work and teaching programmes.
Contribute to audit, QA, CPD and research activities; participate in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.
Support regional service delivery with a centralised Mortuary and post-mortem CT capabilities.

Skills

Autopsy pathology

Clinical governance

Teaching experience

Court testimony

Research involvement

Education

Primary Medical Qualification

Full GMC Registration

Entry onto the GMC Specialist Register

FRCPath or equivalent

Certificate in Higher Autopsy Training (CHAT) or equivalent

Job description

Education, Qualifications And Specialist Skills

Essential criteria

Employer heading

Consultant Autopsy Pathologist

NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.

With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, we’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.

As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

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, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under‑represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job Overview

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

The post presents an opportunity to join a progressive team which continuously adopts and develops new diagnostic techniques, and will allow opportunities for involvement in teaching, training and research. We operate a well-established system of specialist reporting and the successful applicant will join a team of consultants and advanced practitioners. You will take a major role with the Autopsy Pathologist team. We hold a regional contract with several Coroner Jurisdictions, delivering a timely and specialist autopsy service to all. We work closely with our bereavement team and Coroners officers to support families. Mortuaries are situated at both RVI and Freeman site, and we participate in regional meetings for the centralised service. We also have a Forensic Medicine Unit to support HM Coroner activity for the region.

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.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will be expected to specialise in Autopsy Pathology as a major component with potential minor contribution to another specialty team, the latter depending on the interest of the applicant as well as the needs of the Department.

The successful candidate will be expected to participate in autopsy work.

For an informal discussion and further information regarding the opportunity and Directorate, please contact: Dr Antony Darne or Dr Peh Sun Loo, Joint Heads of Department, on 0191 2829440 or via email at antony.darne@nhs.net or peh-sun.loo@nhs.net.

Working for our organisation

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.

Duties And Responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Consultants in the department currently spend approximately 85% of their time involved directly in clinical service provision and 15% undertaking supporting professional activities (audit, QA, CPD, management, research, teaching etc). Each consultant contributes 43 weeks to the rota with remaining weeks allocated to annual leave, study leave etc.

The advertised post is a replacement 10 PA post, NHS-based, although there may be an opportunity for a candidate with an appropriate academic profile to participate in research activities at the Newcastle University. This would be negotiated with the university at the time of appointment. Where appropriate an application will be made for the appointee to be granted the title of Associate Clinical Lecturer in Cellular Pathology. The department undertakes a significant amount of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and you will be expected to participate in these teaching programmes.

Autopsy Pathology

In the region of 2,000-2,500 autopsies are performed every year at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH). The vast majority of these are carried out under the direction of HM Coroner and we have a centralised service covering the jurisdictions of Newcastle and North Tyneside and County Durham and Darlington. NUTH is also a major trauma centre and tertiary referral centre and as a result we also receive a number of cases from other regions. We frequently take requests from other Coroners for our post-mortem CT scanning service.

The majority of autopsies receive a whole-body CT scan before the autopsy, with over 1,000 post-mortem CT scans carried out each year. These are reported by an enthusiastic and experienced team of in-house NUTH Consultant Radiologists. Many cases are sudden community deaths though being a tertiary referral centre this also includes trauma and post-operative cases. The Trust has two modern, well-equipped mortuaries at both the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Freeman Hospital sites; most cases are carried out at the RVI site, which is where integrated post-mortem CT scanning also takes place. We have a large, dedicated team of Anatomical Pathology Technologists in the mortuary, some of whom are trained to carry out the post-mortem CT scanning including administration of contrast for angiography.

The routine adult autopsy service is currently provided by a combination of three consultant forensic pathologists and six consultant histopathologists who perform the autopsies as part of their salaried workload. There are also two forensic pathology resident doctors in the department at any one time as well as histopathology residents. Clerical support is provided by a dedicated team of five whole-time equivalent staff. NUTH also provides perinatal pathology and neuropathology services for the North East region, and three of the four forensic pathologists for the North East are based at NUTH. There are monthly mortuary performance meetings, separate monthly mortuary governance meetings, as well as monthly Consultant Autopsy Pathologist meetings, and there is also regular autopsy teaching for histopathology resident doctors.

Within the department, you will have a high-quality microscope, and a personal computer with digital dictation and the option of voice recognition. You will also have access to the Departmental secretaries. The department has good facilities for digital photography of macroscopic and microscopic specimens. There is also equipment and technical support for production of material for educational, audit and research presentations. The Department is in the process of introducing Digital pathology for reporting, but this will not be compulsory.

You will be expected to participate in audit and in relevant EQA schemes. You will also be expected to take part in continuing professional development and annual appraisal (the latter including annual job plan review). Time and funds will be made available by the Trust for attendance of professional and educational meetings etc. and appraisal familiarisation courses are provided in-house. Current study leave entitlement is 30 days over 3 years. Time will be made available for necessary individual preparation to support the annual appraisal procedure. You will share responsibilities with existing consultant staff for the training and supervision of trainee medical staff and will be required to devote time to these activities on a regular basis. You will be required to undertake administrative duties contributing to the running of the Cellular Pathology Department in co-operation with the Head of Department.

You will have full and specialist registration (or a licence to practise) with the General Medical Council (GMC) or the General Dental Council (GDC) (or be eligible for registration within six months of interview). You will also be expected to hold the FRCPath or an equivalent qualification.

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
Entry onto the GMC Specialist Register (within 6 months from the date of the AAC)
FRCPath or equivalent
Certificate in Higher Autopsy Training (CHAT) or equivalent

Desirable criteria

Higher Degree (MD or PhD)

Clinical Experience

Essential criteria

Has broad general experience in all areas of autopsy pathology
Able to write coherent autopsy reports including detailed clinic-pathological correlation in a form useful to Coroners and clinicians
Able to perform different autopsy types to a high quality
Able to take independent responsibility for different autopsy types
Able to give clear coherent evidence in court

Desirable criteria

Has some experience of Neuropathology
Has some experience of Forensic Pathology
Has some experience of giving evidence in court

Management and Administration Experience

Essential criteria

Involvement with management and project leadership within the specialty
An understanding of Clinical Governance

Desirable criteria

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

Teaching

Essential criteria

Experience of supervising junior medical staff
Experience of participation in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching

Desirable criteria

Attendance at courses to develop teaching skills
Postgraduate qualification in medical education

Research

Essential criteria

Evidence of involvement in and understanding of research methodology and publication of findings

Desirable criteria

Higher degree

Audit

Essential criteria

Evidence of participation in audit

Desirable criteria

Evidence of having changed practice as a result of audit

Personal Attributes

Essential criteria

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 a more flexible pattern of working in the future if required, including evening and weekend work

Whilst Newcastle Hospitals are a forward thinking and highly innovative organisation, the use of Third-Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity of your individual application or to the recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e‑mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.

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