General Practitioner in Whitley Bay

Reporting to: GP Partners Practice Manager on organisational and administrative issues. Accountable to: GP Partners.

Hours of work: 4-6 sessions per week. Contract type: Salaried GP.

Role summary: The post-holder will provide general medical services to the patients and deal with a wide range of health needs in a primary care setting, ensuring the highest standards of care for all registered and temporary patients.

Location: Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

Annual leave: Six weeks annual leave plus public/bank holidays (FTE). Study leave: Three days per annum pro rata. Salary: Estimated salary 11,000 per session.

Main purpose of the role: to manage a busy and interesting clinical caseload. The appointee will also have the opportunity to take part in leading on key disease areas (monitoring trends in the Quality and Outcomes Framework, treatment, staff training and prescribing) and assist in developing appropriate healthcare services for a diverse patient list. Closely supported by the partners clinical and management teams, the post holder will work alongside the practice team. The postholder will be able to influence and contribute to the development of this forward-thinking partnership. There will be a requirement to cover on call as part of a rota.

Key Working Relationships:

• GP Partners
• Pharmacist Teams
• Practice Nurses
• HCAs
• Practice Manager and support staff
• Community Nursing Teams
• Community Mental Health Care Teams
• Social Services
• Statutory and voluntary services in the local community
• Local GP colleagues and the Primary Care Network
• Local emergency, secondary and tertiary care services

Clinical responsibilities:

In accordance with the practice timetable, as agreed, the post-holder will make themselves available to undertake clinical sessions. A clinical session is normally composed of 14 morning appointments and 10 afternoon appointments, followed by a variety of duties including patient queries, visiting patients at home, checking and signing repeat prescriptions, actioning test results, actioning clinical correspondence from secondary care, medical reports and examinations on behalf of the Practice. The above duties should be performed in a timely manner. Appointments length and starting times can be customised to individual preference. The practice has personalised lists; this post will cover GP absences as well as routine and same day appointments.

You will be required to:

• Act upon most alerts (e.g. QOF) and reminders during a routine consultation.
• Provide all GP services required as part of the GMS contract.
• Respond to medical problems presented by patients, including history taking, examination, investigation, diagnosis, treatment and referral where appropriate.
• Provide appropriate preventative health care and advice.
• Provide medical support as required to patients referred by nursing staff.
• Adhere to the practice prescribing formulary, local and national guidelines.
• Make professional, autonomous decisions in relation to presenting problems, whether self-referred or referred from other health care workers within the organisation.
• Record clear and contemporaneous I.T. based consultation notes to agreed standards.
• Collect data for audit purposes.
• Compile and issue computer-generated acute and repeat prescriptions (avoiding hand-written prescriptions whenever possible).
• In general, the post-holder will be expected to undertake all the normal duties and responsibilities associated with a GP working within primary care.

Other responsibilities with the practice:

• Engaging in appropriate lifelong educational and audit activity in order to maintain clinical competence and performance.
• Actively participating in the training and development of nurses, medical students and GP trainees in the practice.
• Supporting the practice staff and responding to requests for advice and assistance from the practice reception, secretarial and nursing staff.
• Attend prescribing, palliative care, safeguarding, clinical and practice meetings.
• You will be expected to take part in monthly MDT meetings.
• Attend practice team meetings and learning events (external and internal).
• Awareness of and compliance with all relevant practice policies/guidelines, e.g. prescribing, confidentiality, data protection, CQC compliance, health and safety, annual QOF Assessment of the practice.
• Meet all tight timescales/deadlines for audits and written returns to ensure that the practice meets quality standards and receives the designated funding (e.g. Quarterly Enhanced Services returns, annual QOF audit etc.).

General Duties:

The above responsibilities will be undertaken upholding the following:

• To provide morning and afternoon surgeries and, as part of a rota, cover on call days.
• To continue to work until all clinical tasks have been completed.
• To make arrangements with others to cover when planning to leave before the end of the session.
• To maintain the financial security of the organisation by ensuring accurate and efficient responses to income generation such as reports, dispensed prescriptions and private forms.
• At all times to behave in a professional way that encourages quality care and the development of a team spirit.
• 360-degree feedback is used to assess clinicians and you will be required to participate in this.

Confidentiality:

In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately. In the performance of the duties outlined in this Job Description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They will also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.

Flexibility:

This job description is not intended to be exhaustive. The post-holder will be expected to adopt a flexible attitude towards the duties outlined which may be subject to amendment at any time in consultation with the post-holder and in line with the needs of the organisation. The post holder may be required to fulfil other duties, as agreed with the other partners or practice manager to meet the needs of the organisation.

Health & Safety:

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the practice Health & Safety Policy, to include:

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines.
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks.
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills.
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards.
• Reporting potential risks identified.

Equality and Diversity:

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

• Acting in a way that recognises the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation.
• Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues.

Personal/Professional Development:

In addition to maintaining continued education through attendance at any courses and/or study days necessary to ensure that professional development requirements are met, the post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review at practice level and an external annual NHS GP Appraisal including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of their own personal and/or professional development.
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

• Participate in clinical governance activity and contribute to the improvement in quality of health outcomes through audit and the Quality and Outcomes Framework.
• Alert other team members to issues of Clinical Governance issues, quality and risk.
• Participate in Significant Event Analysis reviews.
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance.
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patient's needs.
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.
• He/she will also contribute to the overall team-working of the Practice putting the needs of the Practice first.
• Participate and contribute to the practice achieving other quality standards to include CQC standards.

Communication:

The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members.
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers.
• Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.