MISSION STATEMENT
To provide for all the quality of service we expect for our families and ourselves.
Job
Description
Title: Specialty Doctor, Cardiology
Specialty: General Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties
Base: Causeway Hospital, Coleraine
Responsible to: Clinical Director Medicine and Emergency Medicine
Reports to: Consultant Physicians Causeway Hospital
The Specialty Doctor will report to a named Consultant Physician based in Causeway Hospital.
Job Summary:
The Northern Health and Social Care Trust plans to appoint four whole-time equivalent Specialty Doctors to develop its medical speciality doctor team at Causeway Hospital. This development is aimed at improving patient safety, quality of care and medical training by providing experienced support for trainee doctors. Each post combines General Internal Medicine with a subspecialty, such as Cardiology or Acute Medicine, and the post–holders will be encouraged to develop their sub-specialty skills and roles over time. Further expansion of this middle grade tier is planned in the near future.
Profile of Hospital:
Causeway Hospital serves a population of 100,000 plus a large tourist population during holiday times, particularly summer months. The town also accommodates a substantial student population.
The largest town in the Causeway Locality is Coleraine, which is
approximately 55 miles from Belfast. The locality includes a large coastal area stretching from Castlerock to Cushendall and reaches inland to the country towns of Ballymoney, Garvagh, Kilrea and Rasharkin. This is an area of outstanding natural beauty with excellent recreational facilities. There are many blue flag beaches close by, with world class golf courses, as well as ready access to the Glens of Antrim, an area of outstanding natural beauty. There is a wide range of superb local schools. Belfast City airport and International airport are within less than 1 hours drive.
The University of Ulster is situated on the outskirts of Coleraine and there is good liaison between the University and Causeway Medical staff. There is potential for further joint research.
The area has a high standard of residential accommodation. There is a wide selection of schools and recreational facilities are excellent.
located in Causeway Hospital, including a Library which is part of the Queens University Library system. There is access to Library, Journals, etc on the Mid Ulster Hospital site as well as to the Post Grad Centre in Antrim Hospital.
Causeway Hospital opened in May 2001. It is a modern hospital, of low-rise design on a large landscaped site.
There are 210 in-patient beds (and 22 day beds) and a dedicated Day Procedure Unit with excellent out-patient facilities with well established medical and specialist medicine clinics.
Clinical Support services on site – include:
o Full accredited (CPA – UK Ltd) diagnostic laboratory
o Multi-slice CT Scanner commissioned in 2007 with 24 hour Consultant Radiologist cover.
o Non-invasive cardiology investigative services o Pulmonary function laboratory on site.
An X-ray PACs system enables viewing of X-rays on any computer terminal throughout the hospital. Isotope scans and MRI scans are available in Antrim Hospital. Angiography services are accessed from Belfast (55 miles
distance).
Bed Complement:
o General Medicine including Medical Assessment Unit – 49beds o Coronary Care/Medical Monitoring Unit – 14 beds
o ICU/High Dependency – 4 ICU beds/2 Surgical ICU and 2 medical ICU beds
o Elderly Care/Rehabilitation Unit – 30 beds Other on-site services
o General Surgery (including Paediatric Surgery and Urology) o Day Procedure Unit
o Paediatric Medicine o Obstetrics/Gynaecology o Acute Psychiatry
Medical Investigation Unit staffed by Clinical Physiologists which provides: o Non invasive Cardiac investigations – echocardiograms, Exercise
Stress Tests and Holter monitoring. o Gastroenterological Investigations o Pulmonary Function Assessment
Endoscopy Facilities in the Day Procedure Unit o Fibreoptic Bronchoscopy
o Gastroscopy
o Small bowel enteroscopy
o Capsule endoscopy (full service anticipated soon) o ERCP
o Colonoscopy o Cystoscopy
Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV) services together with regular training sessions are in place.
There is a weekly Multi-Disciplinary Team Meetings jointly with the Antrim Area Hospital.
Respiratory Exercise Physiology Testing is available at Antrim Hospital.
There is senior specialist nursing posts including Respiratory Nurse post and a British Lung Foundation Nurse Post.
Medical emergencies are admitted continuously and there is currently training grade and nurse support for mobile coronary care.
There is a social work team on site and a range of Allied Health Professional and support staff.
The Resuscitation Training Officer provides ALS courses and on-going training in Basic and Immediate Life Support.
Medical Staff Complement
Consultant Physicians:
One with interest in Respiratory Medicine (Dr L Liam Polley) Plans in place to increase Respiratory Consultants to two in the near future, locum currently in post
Two with interest in Cardiology (Dr C Jack and Dr E Hunter)
One with interest in Orthogeriatrics/Rehabilitation (Dr P Gilmore)
One with interest in Care of the Elderly/Stroke Medicine (Dr F Tracey)
Two with interest in Gastroenterology (Dr P Allen and Dr A Varghese)
One with an interest in endocrinology (Dr Kassim)
Non Consultant Career Grades:
One Staff Grade GIM/ Orthogeriatrics (Dr Nambi)
Newly-Established Specialty Doctor Posts
DOCTOR SPECIALTY/SUBSPECIALTY SPECIALTY DOCTOR POST 1 GIM/GASTROENTEROLOGY SPECIALTY DOCTOR POST 2 GIM/CARDIOLOGY/ACUTE SPECIALTY DOCTOR POST 3 GIM/ACUTE/DIABETES SPECIALTY DOCTOR POST 4 GIM/RESPIRATORY
Educational Supervisors Post 1 – Dr A Varghese Post 2 – Dr C Jack Post 3 – Dr S Kassim Post 4 – Dr L Polley Training Grades:
• 14 Foundation Year 1 Trainees (10 medicine and 4 surgery in Causeway Hospital)
• A mixed economy full shift medical rota comprising 1(more than one grade working together on the same rota):-
7 Foundation Year 2 trainees
7 Core Trainees Grades in Medicine
• 3 ST3 + trainees; GIM/Gastroenterology, Cardiology and
GIM who will participate in the non resident middle grade rota*.
Oncall:
The appointee will also be required to participate in a 2non resident, voluntary resident oncall rota.
*The rota will be Non-resident or voluntary resident. When on call, the post holder must be able to attend the site within 10 minutes to advise trainee doctors and to assist with any aspect of patient care including clerking admissions. Voluntary On call accommodation (single) available free of charge. It is envisaged that there would be a 4% oncall availability supplement associated with this post in line with Terms and Conditions. Key Duties/ Main responsibilities:
• Undertake assessment, diagnosis and treatment, including appropriate investigations, monitoring, etc and follow-up arrangements to ensure a high standard of clinical management
• Ensure continuing responsibility for patients in his/her charge and undertaking appropriate administrative duties
• Act as clinical Lead 3during evening handover for Hospital At Night.
• Contribute to the multi-disciplinary assessment and treatment functions and provide clear and timely communication to patients, carers, General Medical Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals, Community and Social Services staff as appropriate to the needs of the patient
• Ensure safe handover of patients with colleagues
• Co-ordinate leave plans of annual/ study/ professional/ examination leave with colleagues to ensure safe level of cover and adhere to the Trust Leave policy in respect of period of notice of leave
Trust in accordance with the Managing Sickness Absence Policy
• Share cover of teaching duties for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching
• Develop departmental protocols in conjunction with other clinicians and professionals within the Trust and with other health care providers including as a result of audit, national guidelines, etc
The successful candidate will provide Specialty Doctor level of responsibilities and we will have a nominated Consultant Supervisor/Mentor who is based at Causeway Hospital.
Update clinical, managerial knowledge and skills
Participate in regular annual appraisal.
Share with colleagues in the provision of teaching, training and assessment of Training grades in the specialty and
ensure that arrangements are in place to facilitate and protect teaching time
Ensure that rotas in the specialty are properly managed and that a formal schedule of work is planned to meet the training and service requirements, including co-ordination of leave plans to ensure continuity of cover
Undertake professional supervision of Training Grades, Medical Students and approved Clinical Attachments in the specialty
Participate in medical audit, multi-disciplinary audit and in the clinical governance process
Participate in continuing medical education and in research programmes as appropriate and enrol in a recognised programme of Continued Professional Development. The Trust will support Study Leave as contained in the Terms and Conditions of Service. All research must be managed in accordance with the requirements of the DHSSPS Research Governance Framework. Specialty Doctors must comply with GMC guidance ‘Good Practice in Research’, as from time to time amended.
Training
The appointee will be expected to participate in continuing professional development in line with the Trust’s Governance Framework. The appointee will be offered training and
supervision in the skills and procedures that they are expected to perform eg elective DC conversion skills.
Proposed Job Plan:
A rota template is given overleaf. Draft Job Plans for each post holder are given in Appendix 1 page 9.
The following indicates all proposed regular weekly commitments. It does not include activities that occur on an ad hoc basis as these are included in Programmed Activities.
General Responsibilities
Employees of the Trust will be required to promote and support the mission and vision of the service for which they are responsible and :-
At all times provide a caring service and to treat those with whom they come into contact in a courteous and respectful manner
Carry out their duties and responsibilities in a manner which assures patient and client safety
Demonstrate their commitment by their regular attendance and the efficient completion of all tasks allocated to them
Comply with the Trust’s No Smoking Policy
Carry out their duties and responsibilities in compliance with health and safety policy and statutory regulations
Ensure the appropriate governance and risk management arrangements are in place for the services you are responsible for and take appropriate action to identify risk to maintain safety of users, staff and others in accordance with relevant regulations, policies and procedures;
It is essential to ensure that the highest standards of infection prevention and control are maintained to ensure patient and client safety and maintain confidence in the Trust. The postholder will be required to comply with all instructions in regard to infection prevention and control.
Make sure you are trained and competent in the relevant policies and procedures which apply to your role and abide by these policies; seeking advice as necessary from senior management or specialist staff as necessary;
Communicate effectively with staff and maintain productive working relationships amongst staff and with others in a courteous manner;
Promote equality of opportunity for all by personal action, both in the management of your staff and in the provision of care to service users in accordance with the Trust’s Equality of Opportunity Policy and Equality Scheme;
Maintain awareness of Trust policies regarding the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and Records Management and that they must not
disclose, withhold, retain or dispose of any information unless legally authorised.
General Requirements
The post holder must:
• Co-operate fully with the implementation of the Trust's Health and Safety arrangements and report any accidents/incidents, defects with work equipment or inadequate safety arrangements..
• Accept individual responsibility for ensuring a suitable, clean, uncluttered and safe environment for members of the public, staff, patients/clients and their relatives.
Records Management
All employees of the Trust are legally responsible for all records held, created or used as part of their business within the Trust including patient/client, corporate and administrative records whether paper-based or electronic and also including emails. All such records are public records and are accessible to the general public, with limited exceptions, under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Data Protection Act 1998. Employees are required to be conversant with the Trust’s) policy and procedures on records management and to seek advice if in doubt.
This Job Description is subject to review in consultation with the postholder in the light of changing circumstances, it should be regarded as providing guidance within which the individual works rather than something which is rigid and inflexible.
Salary Terms And Conditions
• The National Terms and Conditions of Service for Specialty Doctors will apply.
• £34,584 - £64,632 - the current salary scale under National Terms and Conditions of Service for Hospital staff as updated via DHSSPS circular on rates of pay, the most recent HSS (TC8) 3/2008, with effect from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 and all uplifts thereafter.
• The full-time appointment will be for 10 PAs per week.
• The successful applicant will normally be appointed to the grade for a one year probationary period which, if confirmed, will be extended without term and held until retirement under the terms and conditions of service.
• The appointee will maintain registration with the General Medical Council (London).
• Annual leave entitlement is 5 weeks (25 days) per year until 2 years service have been completed in the grade and 6 weeks (30 days) thereafter for practitioners remaining in the grade. Where the appointee in his/her immediately previous regular appointment attracted the 6 weeks annual leave per annum, this entitlement would remain.
• Public and Statutory Holidays – Ten Public Holidays and 2 statutory holidays or days in lieu thereof. The two statutory days may by local agreement, be converted to a period of annual leave.
• You are required to live within a distance of 30 minutes or 10 miles by road from your base place of work unless the employing organisation agrees that you may reside at a greater distance.
• Your private residence shall be maintained in contact with the public telephone service
• He/she will be expected to be flexible and to co-operate with reasonable requests to cover for their colleagues’ absences where they are safe and c competent and where it is practicable to do so. Where doctors undertake duties in accordance with this paragraph and such duties take place outside of their contracted hours, they will receive either an equivalent off duty period or remuneration.
• The post will be subject to termination at any time, by three months notice in writing given on either side
• Medical – The appointment will be subject to a successful pre-employment health assessment.
• Pension – the post holder can participate in the Health and Personal Social Services Superannuation Scheme.
PERSONNEL SPECIFICATION
POST: SPECIALTY DOCTOR, CARDIOLOGY
FACTOR ESSENTAIL CRITERIA
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
Candidates must:
A. Hold (or be eligible to apply for) Full Registration with the GMC (London);
B. (i) Have at least 4 years’ full-time postgraduate training (or its equivalent gained
on a part-time or flexible basis) at least 2 year of which will be in Medicine and the remaining 2 years in a specialty training or equivalent OR
B (ii)Have equivalent experience and competencies;
Information to be obtained from
Application Form
ELIGIBILITY Eligibility to work in the UK. Application Form and
evidence to be provided FITNESS TO
PRACTICE
Is up to date and fit to practice safely. Appointment subject to signature of
declaration form LANGUAGE
SKILLS
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:
That applicants have undertaken
undergraduate medical training in English; OR
Have the following scores in the academic International English Language
Testing System (IELTS) – Overall 7, Speaking 7, Listening 6, Reading 6, Writing 6.
However, if applicants believe that they have adequate communication skills
but do not fit into one of the examples they need to provide evidence.
Question at interview and evidence to be obtained of IELTS or other scores
HEALTH Meets professional health requirements (in
line with GMC Standards/Good Medical Practice) – subject to pre employment
Pre employment assessment by Occupational Health
Health Assessment by Occupational Health Department of Northern Health and Social Care Trust
CLINICAL SKILLS Appropriate knowledge base and ability to apply sound clinical judgement to problems
Ability to assess, investigate and manage complex acute emergencies;
Competent in clinical procedures (pleural & peritoneal aspiration, lumbar puncture, etc)
Ability to organise and prioritise workload effectively
Ability to plan strategically and exercise sound judgement when under pressure;
Understands the need for audit and clinical governance and research
Interview Questions in respect of each clinical skill listed
OTHER WORK RELATED
REQUIREMENTS
Access to a form of transport which will permit the candidate to meet the
requirements of the post in full.
Question at interview
Applicants please note: Shortlisting will be carried out on the basis of the essential criteria set out above, using the information given on the application form. You should therefore address the requirements when completing the application form, as failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted. Appointments are subject to verification of appropriate qualifications.
1:8 Voluntary Resident, Non Resident On-Call Mixed Rota with ST3+/Specialty Doctors
This oncall work pattern is in addition to the weekday duty PAs detailed in the job plan
DOCTOR/DAY MON TUE WED THUR FRI SAT SUN
Doctor 1 O/C O/C O/C
Doctor 2 O/C OFF OFF
Doctor 3 O/C OFF OFF
Doctor 4 O/C OFF OFF
Doctor 5 O/C OFF OFF
Doctor 6 OFF OFF
Doctor 7 OFF OFF
Doctor 8 OFF OFF
**RESIDENT WEEKDAY/WEEKEND HRS 9pm-10.30 pm
**RESIDENT WEEKEND HRS
9.00am-3.00
pm
NON RESIDENT WEEKDAY ON-CALL 5pm-9am
NON RESIDENT SATURDAY/SUNDAY ONCALL
9.00 am-9.00
am
1 PA 9am-1pm
1 PA 1pm-5pm
**Resident weekday/weekend hours – are included as part of the predictable oncall PAs detailed on page 13.
JOB PLAN
Specialty Doctor GIM/CARDIOLOGY/ACUTE
This job plan is subject to review once per year by you and your Clinical manager. In the case of a new employee a review of the job plan will take place 3 months after commencement and annually thereafter.
HOURS
DAY TIME WORK ACTIVITY LOCATION
DCC SPA
Total Prem
AM 9-1
CARDIOLOGY CLINIC, DR JACK XRAY MEETING CWY 1 Mon PM 1-5 CPD
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES, AUDIT AND CLINICAL GOVERNANCE MEETINGS
CWY 1
AM 9-1
CCU WARD DUTIES CWY 1
Tues
PM 1-5
SPECIALTY INVESTIGATIONS,
TREADMILLS/TILT TABLE* CWY 1
AM 9-1
CCU WARD DUTIES
UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING (TERM-TIME) CWY 1 Wed PM 1-5 CARDIOLOGY OPD
DR JACK/DR HUNTER CWY 1
AM 9-1
MAU POST-TAKE WARD ROUND
AND WARD DUTIES CWY 1
Thur
PM 1-5
1:2 WARD DUTIES/ADMIN
1:2 ROSTERED OFF CWY 0.5
AM 9-1
CCU WARD DUTIES
PATIENT ADMIN CWY
0.5 0.5 Fri PM 1-5 FREE Sat
Oncall work including weekend ward rounds 1:8 (9am-3pm). Attendance at HAN Meeting and being available on-site from 21.00-22.30, 7 nights weekly
Sun
Oncall work including weekend ward rounds 1:8 (9am-3pm). Attendance at HAN Meeting and being available on-site from 21.00-22.30, 7 nights weekly
TOTAL PAS 7.5 1 8.5
AVERAGE PAS 10
Predictable Oncall arisinig from oncall duties–
9.00pm - 10.30 pm Monday to Sunday on a 1:8 basis = 0.4375 PAs 9.00 am – 3.00 pm Saturday and Sunday on a 1:8 basis = 0.5PAs
Unpredictable Oncall work arising from oncall is not expected to exceed one hour fifty five minutes per night (1.55) on a 1:8 basis = 0.559 PAs
Total Oncall Equating to 1.5 PAs (to one decimal place)
The appointee will also be paid an oncall availability supplement of 4% (which is based on the frequency of rota commitment)
SUMMMARY OF PROGRAMMED ACTIVITES ALL POSTS
Programmed activity
Number
Direct clinical care (including unpredictable on-call) 9.0
Supporting professional activities 1.0
Other NHS responsibilities
External duties
TOTAL PROGRAMMED ACTIVITIES 10
The appointee will also be paid an oncall availability supplement of 4% (which is based on the frequency of rota commitment).
