General Practitioner - Homeless Health Team (Maternity cover)

Croydon is a busy, exciting and diverse place to work. The borough has one of the youngest populations in London and continues to grow. Croydon Health Services cares for local people at Croydon University Hospital, Purley Memorial Hospital and in clinics and people's homes all across the borough. We are a very close-knit and friendly organisation where everyone of our 3600 members of staff is valued. We strongly believe that our employees are our greatest asset and so through Listening into Action - our way of engaging staff - we empower everyone at any level to initiate and bring about real improvements in our care. Join us and be a part of the team that is making Croydon proud.

Job overview

To provide an efficient and effective General Practitioner service which will reflect the values of the practice, meet patient needs and support the GP Lead, the nursing team and other colleagues in their work. This post will require close working relationships with District General Hospitals, Specialist Services, Home Office Voluntary Sector and community teams to ensure the service is provided in line with national guidance from NHS England and Public Health England. The post-holder will manage a caseload and deal with a wide range of health needs of our homeless, asylum seekers, and refugee population in a primary care setting, ensuring the highest standards of care for all registered and temporary patients. The post holder will have clear responsibility for identifying gaps in provision and supporting developments to ensure optimum service delivery. The post-holder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team to support the delivery of a Primary Care Service to the borough's homeless, asylum seekers and refugee population with a focus on delivering services that are inclusive.

Main duties of the job

• Clinical Duties:

• In accordance with the Practice timetable, as agreed, the post-holder will be available to undertake a variety of duties including face-to-face consultations, telephone consultations, visiting patients at home, checking and signing repeat prescriptions and dealing with queries, patient test results, paperwork and correspondence to deadlines.
• Making professional, autonomous decisions in relation to presenting problems, whether self-referred or referred from other health care workers within the organisation.
• Assessing the health care needs of patients with undifferentiated and undiagnosed problems.
• Screening patients for disease risk factors and early signs of illness.
• In consultation with patients and in line with current Practice disease management protocols, developing care plans for health.
• Providing counselling and health education.
• Admitting or discharging patients to and from the caseload and referring to other care providers as appropriate.
• Recording clear and contemporaneous consultation notes to agreed standards.
• Collecting data for audit purposes.
• Compiling and issuing computer-generated acute and repeat prescriptions.
• Prescribing in accordance with the Practice prescribing formulary (or generically) whenever this is clinically appropriate.
• In general, the post-holder will be expected to undertake all the normal duties and responsibilities associated with a GP working within primary care.

Working for our organisation

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust provide hospital and community services from a number of community and specialist clinics throughout Croydon. The Trust was formed on 1st August 2010 through the integration of Croydon Community Health Services and Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust. Around 4,100 staff provide services for a population of over 360,000 people who are relatively young with a high level of ethnic diversity. Our main hospital site, Croydon University Hospital is one of the busiest in London. We're also leading the way in providing more healthcare outside hospitals at clinics, specialist centres and in people's homes. Our experienced district nursing teams, Allied Health Professionals and community matrons look after people of all ages across Croydon and our Children's Hospital at Home cares for children with long-term conditions without them having to come to hospital. Across the NHS everyone is working hard to meet growing demand and we're no exception. But with the right people on board, we are rising to this challenge, putting our people in the driving seat, encouraging innovation and transforming our services to give local people the quality of care they deserve. Croydon Health Services puts a great deal of importance on education and training throughout the careers of all of our staff. As well as offering access to a range of core skills training and professional development.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

All applications, whether for full-time or part-time positions, will be taken into account for this role.

Person specification

Education & Qualifications

• Essential criteria: Vocationally trained and accredited GP with MRCGP, Current registration with GMC and appropriate representation with a recognised medical defence organisation.
• Desirable criteria: MSc, PhD, PGCE.

Knowledge & Understanding

• Essential criteria: A good knowledge of and interest in general practice and primary care.
• Desirable criteria: Specialist knowledge of issues pertaining to the health needs of vulnerable groups.

Experience

• Essential criteria: Experience of working in a primary care/health care team, Experience of and proven ability to manage a busy and varied primary care case load.
• Desirable criteria: Experience of working with Homeless, Asylum Seekers and Refugees.

We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as there is an under-representation at senior level within Croydon Health Services NHS Trust. We offer many flexible and part-time working opportunities and all of our substantive & Fixed Term employees can enjoy a range of staff benefits, including parking, a gym, an active health and wellbeing programme, an on-site nursery and a cycle to work scheme. We value diversity and promote equality of opportunity.