Adult Neurosurgery Spinal Fellowship (Leeds)

Job summary

Adult Neurosurgical Spinal Fellowship (RCS Approved) in the Department of Neurosurgery

We are inviting applications to fill our STR level vacancy at The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in the Department of Neurosurgery.

This post is available for 6 months

We are looking for a dynamic individual to meet the demands of this fellowship post in a high profile area of complex and demanding surgery.

The Department of Neurosciences in Leeds provides World-Class Spinal services within an integrated Neurosurgical and Orthopaedic Spinal department. The service is consultant-led and delivered through dedicated sub-specialty services. The fellowship has approval from the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is designed for Neurosurgical clinicians towards the end of training and will provide all aspects of sub-specialty training in complex spinal surgery in preparation for a consultant role sub-specializing in this field.

Main duties of the job

The Neurosurgical Spinal post will include a thorough grounding in the clinical management, investigation and surgical techniques for optimally managing adult patients with all forms of spinal surgical disease. Leeds General Infirmary operates a strong MDT approach to spinal disease with close and collaborative links between specialist neurosurgical and orthopaedic spinal consultant teams. There are significant further opportunities to develop research, and work with researchers and the clinical nurse specialist team is expected. The fellow will gain independent competencies in dealing with adult patients presenting with acute and elective spinal disease including cranio-cervical pathology, spinal cord and intradural tumour pathology and multilevel congenital and degenerative spinal disease.

About us

Candidates must be fully registered with the General Medical Council and hold a license to practice at the time of application. Candidates must also have a current up to date ALS certificate

Consideration will be given to applicants who wish to work full or part time and those wishing to job share.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact:-

Mr Chris Derham, Consultant Neurosurgeon & Spinal surgeon on c.derham@nhs.net

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying \’at risk\’ members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Details Date posted

06 June 2025

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

£70,425 a year

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

6 months

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

C9298-MED-766

Job locations

Leeds General Infirmary

Great George Street

Leeds

LS1 3EX

Job description Job responsibilities

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS trust is one of the largest trusts in the UK and provides comprehensive secondary services to Leeds and tertiary services to West and North Yorkshire. The General Infirmary at Leeds is situated in the centre of the city, adjacent to Leeds University, with which there are strong links

INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The Departments of Neurosurgery and the Integrated Spinal Service provide a comprehensive neurosurgical and spinal surgery service to the 2.5 million people of West and North Yorkshire. The Departments are housed within the Jubilee Wing of the General Infirmary at Leeds.

The Departments have 68 adult beds in two dedicated wards with an additional 7 bedded dedicated Neuro-intensive Care Unit as well as a 7 bedded dedicated High Dependency Unit. There are four adult operating theatres including one dedicated to emergency surgery 24 hours per day. There are separate beds, operating theatres, and intensive care facilities for Paediatric Neurosurgery. The integrated spinal service offers all aspects of spinal surgery and is made up of 4 Neurosurgical and 8 Spinal Orthopaedic Consultants.

The surgical services within the CSU have close links with the other neuroscience specialties that are all on site including Neuroradiology, Neurology, Neuroanaesthetists and Neurophysiology. The Neuro-pathology department for Yorkshire is now based at St Jamess hospital but continues to provide a full histological and post-mortem service including facilities for inter-operative histopathology.

The Neuro Radiology Department is based at the Leeds General Infirmary and comprises 7 Consultants, three of whom provide Endovascular services.

The General Infirmary at Leeds is a level 1 trauma unit (MTC status) and there are close links with other associated surgical specialties including trauma, maxillofacial, plastics, cardiothoracic and ENT surgery.

The department\’s work has continued to increase over the past years. The current caseload is some 3000 inpatients per year and approximately 2000 operative cases per year.

The Centre for Neurosciences in Leeds provides world class adult Neurosurgical and Orthopaedic spinal care. The service is consultant led and delivered through dedicated subspecialty services. The spinal services have very strong links with Neurology, Neuroradiology, Neuropathology, and Leeds University.

As would be expected, to support spinal surgery, all the theatres have BrainLAB neuronavigation, CUSA, Sonopet, Zeiss microscopes (including navigated), X-ray support, intra-operative frozen section, and intra-operative ultrasound. All patients are discussed in a weekly MDT that conforms to the BASS standards and all patients are entered into the National Spinal Database.

The Neurosurgical Spine consultants (Mr Pal, Mr Derham, Mr Selvanathan, and Mr Sinha, and Mr Kellet) integrate with the Spinal Orthopaedic consultant team (Mr Gummerson, Mr Rao, Mr Khan, Mr Rudol, Mr Loughenbury, Mr Borse, and Mr Dunsmuir) and run a combined on-call rota. There is a designated specialist Cervical Spine MDT clinic which runs on a weekly basis. All patients undergoing operative intervention are discussed at a weekly Neurosurgical spine and Spinal MDT. All aspects of Spinal surgery are offered within the department. The department currently supports 3 fellowship posts in spinal surgery including the Stryker Industry Fellowship and the National Spinal Fellowship. This new fellowship post is intended to allow an experienced trainee, from a Neurosurgical background and peri-CCT the opportunity to gain more experience over a one-year period in this sub-specialty within spinal surgery with a specific interest in craniocervical and intramedullary microsurgery. It is expected that sufficient experience will be obtained from this fellowship to allow a successful fellow to offer themselves for appointment to a consultant position involving a substantial commitment to this specialist area of surgery. It is expected that through the fellowship program, experience is gained in the assessment, investigation and operative management of patients presenting with both acute and elective complex spinal pathology. It is also expected that the Fellow will gain experience in the management of degenerative, neoplastic, infective, and traumatic disorders of the spine. The Fellow will be expected to perform most of the complex spinal cases (depending on their level of experience) and will be trained in techniques including complex cranio-cervical junction and sub-axial spine reconstruction, microsurgical techniques in relation to the spinal cord, minimally invasive techniques (MIS, Vertebroplasty, XLIF), and spinal fusion techniques. Participation in a weekly Spinal MDT consisting of Neurosurgeons and Spinal Orthopaedic surgeons, Radiologists, and specialist nurses will be expected. The Fellow will be encouraged to participate and conduct research into complex spinal disorders and attend national and international meetings. The Fellow will be expected to participate in the general neurosurgical registrar on call rota, to provide continuity of care for patients, and maintain a general emergency skill set in neurosurgery. As such, preference will be given to candidates applying with base specialty skills in Neurosurgery or FRCS (SN). It is expected that the Fellow will share responsibility for the neurosurgical patients in their area of sub-specialist interest outside of strict rota commitments.

There are very strong links with Leeds University and local brain tumour charities. There is a dedicated Spinal Research Nurse.

Job description Job responsibilities

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS trust is one of the largest trusts in the UK and provides comprehensive secondary services to Leeds and tertiary services to West and North Yorkshire. The General Infirmary at Leeds is situated in the centre of the city, adjacent to Leeds University, with which there are strong links

INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The Departments of Neurosurgery and the Integrated Spinal Service provide a comprehensive neurosurgical and spinal surgery service to the 2.5 million people of West and North Yorkshire. The Departments are housed within the Jubilee Wing of the General Infirmary at Leeds.

The Departments have 68 adult beds in two dedicated wards with an additional 7 bedded dedicated Neuro-intensive Care Unit as well as a 7 bedded dedicated High Dependency Unit. There are four adult operating theatres including one dedicated to emergency surgery 24 hours per day. There are separate beds, operating theatres, and intensive care facilities for Paediatric Neurosurgery. The integrated spinal service offers all aspects of spinal surgery and is made up of 4 Neurosurgical and 8 Spinal Orthopaedic Consultants.

The surgical services with