Locum Consultant in Adult Cardiology

We are looking for an individual to fill this replacement post within the Cardiology Department at the Leeds General Infirmary. The echocardiography and valve service is led by Dr Dominik Schlosshan together with Dr Ananth Kidambi, Dr Kate Gatenby and Dr James O'Neill. The purpose of this appointment is to continue core cardiology clinical activity following departure, and support further expansion and innovation within the echocardiography, support for the structural valve disease programme and valve services.

The successful applicant must hold a CCST or equivalent, and have completed higher specialist training (or equivalent). Applicants must be eligible to apply for inclusion on the specialist register. Applicants should have established skills in Cardiology and its related specialties including echocardiography and heart valve disease.

This appointment will be based at the Leeds General Infirmary, one of the largest and most modern tertiary cardiac centres in the UK, serving a population of over 3 million. There are 6 state of the art Cardiac Catheter laboratories, with over 2000 PCIs, including 24/7 primary PCI, over 900 invasive electrophysiology/cardiac ablations and in excess of 700 implantable device procedures per annum, making the West Yorkshire Heart Centre one of the highest volume units in the UK. The Valve clinic and interventional TAVI service is the largest in the UK outside of London.

The department consists of 2 inpatient wards (one acute admissions cardiology ward), a day case interventional ward, a day case seated suite, 6 lab catheter suite and a 10 bed CCU. The post is fixed term for 6 months starting as soon as possible, with options to extend if mutually agreed.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit the department and are invited to contact any of the following persons:

• Dr Andrew Hogarth - Clinical Director
• Dr Dominik Schlosshan - Lead Clinician
• Dr Kate Gatenby - Lead Clinician
• Mrs Gina McGawley - General Manager

About us: Come and join our team in Leeds and become part of The Leeds Way sharing our vision and values. Our Trust is recognised for our staff engagement, great care and rated GOOD by the Care Quality Commission. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest acute health providers in the UK and based in one of the fastest growing and vibrant cities in the north.

At Cardio-Respiratory CSU, we aim to be a fair and supportive CSU with positive, caring teams who are champions of the Leeds Way values. Our values are part of what make us different from other trusts, so we see this as a strength, as well as a responsibility. They have been developed by our staff and set out what they see as important to how we work. Our five values are:

• Patient-centred
• Collaborative
• Fair
• Accountable
• Empowered

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.

This is a 10 PA locum appointment for a Locum Consultant Cardiologist with a focus on valvular heart disease and echocardiography. Applicants with specialist interests in other elements of the cardiology service will be welcome to apply. This post holder will flexibly deliver 10 PAs of valvular heart disease outpatient and echocardiography with up to 1.5 PAs negotiable for other specialist interests, if mutually agreed.

The Cardiac imaging department in Leeds offers all cardiac imaging modalities including Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR), Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (CTCA) and is led by Dr Dominik Schlosshan, clinical lead for cardiac imaging. The Cardiac imaging department is supported by 10 imaging consultant cardiologists dedicated to cardiovascular imaging with a broad range of expertise.

The Cardiac Ultrasound department performs over 25,000 transthoracic echocardiograms, including all specialty techniques such as 3D and strain imaging, more than 2,000 stress echos and in excess of 500 transoesophageal echos (TOE) and interventional TOE. The department actively supports a tertiary heart valve disease service with pre-procedure imaging and interventional TOE for trans-catheter and surgical valve intervention. Leeds provides one of the largest valve services in the UK.

Leeds offers one of the largest trans-catheter aortic valve implant (TAVI) programs in the UK with over 500 TAVI implants annually. There is a growing mitral intervention program and Leeds is a commissioned regional centre for transcatheter edge to edge repair (TEER) performing around 50 TEER procedures annually. There is also interventional TOE support for LAA closure, paravalvar leak closures, post MI ventricular septal defect closures, TAVI in MVR and percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC).

The department actively participates in valve multidisciplinary meetings, peri-operative TOE and after care in patients with valve disease. There is also a highly regarded congenital and adult congenital echo service that supports PFO and ASD closures. Leeds has a strong record of innovation and is involved in several multinational clinical trials in trans-catheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) and tricuspid valve replacement.

The CMR department is led by Prof Plein and performs over 2,500 clinical CMR scans covering all indications from congenital to stress CMR. The department uses two state of the art Philips MRI scanners (1.5 Ingenia and 3 Tesla Achieva) and a 3T Siemens scanner. The Cardiac CT service is led by Radiology with Cardiology participation and uses a Siemens Force scanner performing over 1200 CT coronary angiograms and a large number of gated scans for interventional planning of structural interventions.

There are active Teaching and Research links with the Leeds School of Medicine and the University of Leeds, both well situated on adjacent sites. The CMR research group has a world leading reputation for its clinical research including large single and multi-centre imaging trials and currently employs 8 clinical fellows.

The post is fixed term for 6 months starting as soon as possible, with options to extend if mutually agreed.

Person Specification

Clinical Experience and Career Progression

• Essential: Should have completed a recognised training programme in Cardiology. Must be able to demonstrate a high level of clinical experience and competence in management and assessment of valvular heart disease. Experience of performing transoesophageal echo to support structural cardiac procedures, including experience of mTEER, tTEER, valvuloplasty, TAVI in mitral, LAA occlusion device.
• Desirable: Working towards accreditation in CT and cardiac MRI.

Qualifications

• Essential: CCT or equivalent with eligibility to join specialist register. MRCP or equivalent. Must have TOE and TTE accreditation (EACVI or equivalent).

Eligibility, Fitness to practice, and Language Skills

• Essential: Eligible for full registration with the GMC at time of appointment and hold a current licence to practice. Eligibility to work in the UK. Is up to date and fit to practise safely. All applicants to have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English adequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with patients and colleagues.

Clinical, Academic, and Personal Skills

• Essential: Evidence of the ability to carry out medical research. Experience in training undergraduate medical students and postgraduate doctors. Well organised and skilled in good time management. Demonstrate ability to relate to and work within a team. Effective interpersonal skills.
• Desirable: Previous experience of supervising research by junior staff.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.

Employer name: Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address: Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds, LS1 3EX