Consultant in Older Peoples Services- *Welcome Bonus- £12K*

A Vacancy at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust is looking to recruit two Consultants in Geriatric Medicine, based at Colchester Hospital, to join the existing Consultant workforce. It is expected that the new appointee will participate in the development of Older Peoples Services and the provision of care to elderly patients. Other subspecialty interests are also welcome including movement disorders and Parkinson's disease, acute frailty service, community interface and orthogeriatrics.

The key elements of the role include:

• Inpatient care
• Frailty work
• Outpatient clinics
• Acute medical on call
• Teaching and training junior medical staff

Our frailty service is provided by community at the front door, in reaching to the emergency department. The Frailty service is predominantly outpatient based for the provision of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment of frail elderly patients. The Frailty Service is staffed by a nurse consultant, middle grade doctor, GP trainee, nurse practitioners, senior nurse, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, pharmacist and healthcare assistant.

The post is full time (10 PAs). The job plan will be divided into direct clinical care (DCC) 8.5 PA and supporting professional activities (SPA) 1.5 PA. Of the 1.5 SPA, 1 is allocated for revalidation, with the additional 0.5 PA for additional activities, such as clinical and educational supervision. The on call acute medical commitment equates to an additional 1 PA. The frequency of on call is 1 in 8.5 weekends.

The Post-holder will:

• Work with colleagues to provide a Consultant-led service with the highest standard of care
• Work with the multi-professional team to develop care pathways and clinical guidelines
• Develop and maintain good working practices with wards, out-patients and the Emergency Department (ED)
• Collaborate and promote close working links with colleagues, other departments and primary care
• Offer educational, clinical support and leadership to junior medical colleagues, nursing colleagues and other members of the multi-disciplinary team
• Ensure appropriate information is made available to staff to measure clinical performance and enable meaningful benchmarks to be established and evaluated within your area of responsibility
• Ensure there is a robust process for reviewing the quality of services provided, explaining the causes of success and failure and ensure the highest standards are maintained
• Provide a role model of professional leadership, which underpins the corporate values and behaviours agreed by the organisation, ensuring these are understood and demonstrated by the medical workforce within your area and take remedial action where poor behaviour is demonstrated
• Ensure that junior doctors' training conforms to College requirements
• Participate in the appraisal of medical staff within the department in line with the Trust's agreed policy

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) provides hospital and community health care. We serve a wide geographical area with a population approaching 800,000 residents. We deliver care services from two main hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, six community hospitals, high street clinics and in patients' own homes. We have nearly 10,000 staff, with an annual budget of over £650 million. We are the largest NHS organisation in East Anglia.

We are building for better care with an exciting capital development programme across our sites totalling £100 million over the next five years. We are building a new elective orthopaedic centre for ESNEFT at Colchester Hospital. It will be one of the biggest centres in the country and will ensure we can retain complex and low volume cases locally for the people we serve. We are also now building a £7 million specialist interventional radiology and cardiac angiography unit at Colchester. At Ipswich, we are investing £35 million in a new Emergency Department and co-located Urgent Treatment Centre, with additional diagnostic imaging kit (MRI and CT). There’s a £5.3 million molecular diagnostic laboratory soon to open at Ipswich, and works begin soon for a new Breast Care Centre and a Children's Unit.

Take part in the acute medical intake working. Provide ongoing medical supervision for those patients admitted under his/her care following the acute take. There are four Older Peoples Services wards and a nurse led medically optimised ward with consultant in-reach as required. A ward-based system for junior doctors and patients currently operates so patients admitted under one consultant are often transferred to the care of another once they move off EAU and onto another ward. The appointee will be supported by a Registrar and a team of resident doctors including foundation trainees, IMT and GP trainee doctors. He/She will be responsible for managing in-patients on their allocated ward.

Work closely with the other consultants in Older Peoples Services to share in the care of patients in all aspects of care including acute care. Liaise with consultants within the department on the development and implementation of protocols and guidelines for the management of elderly patients and the development of clinical audit. Provide a consultant advisory service to colleagues in other specialties in the trust as well as those in the mental health trust. Participate in the Postgraduate and Undergraduate teaching programmes, and teaching of other health professionals, within the department. Participate in the appraisal and assessment of junior medical colleagues, as delegated by the Unit Training Director; and participate in teaching of Registrars and other resident doctors. To support cross cover for consultant colleagues during periods of annual leave.