Autonomous General Practitioner — Flexible Hours & On-Call

The post holder will be employed by Greenwich Health, the GP Federation in Greenwich. Greenwich has 7 primary care networks (PCNs) with list sizes of between 30-80,000 patients. The post holder will work for Valentine PCN. The PCN is looking to expand our team by seeking two or more General Practitioners to work alongside our practices and PCN staff, offering a minimum of 4 sessions per week, and a maximum of 8 sessions per week.

The GP will perform as an autonomous general practitioner working independently and with other healthcare professionals to assess, diagnose and treat the conditions of patients attending within a primary care setting. Provide expert professional advice to patients, carers and colleagues and ensure the maintenance of clinical excellence. To be professionally accountable and responsible for all elements of clinical practice in accordance with the GMC code of conduct ensuring the safety of patients and quality of their care is primary.

The role may also involve the following:

• To be involved in the provision of education and training to GP Registrars and other staff.
• To work in PCN wide schemes/services including some extended hours and some potential hub working.

The post holder will need to be capable of independent travel across the Greenwich Borough and work flexibly to meet the needs of the Business.

Main duties of the job:

• The post-holder will make him/her-self available to undertake a variety of duties including surgery and online consultations, telephone consultations and queries, visiting patients at home, checking and signing/authorising repeat prescriptions and dealing with queries, paperwork and correspondence in a timely fashion.
• 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.
• Compiling and issuing computer-generated acute and repeat prescriptions.
• Prescribing in accordance with the practice prescribing formulary (or generically) whenever this is clinically appropriate.
• The post-holder will be required to visit patients during surgery time in an emergency if clinically indicated.
• The post-holder will undertake a fair % of On Call sessions per week as allocated on the practice rota and participate in the extended hours enhanced service.
• The post-holder will undertake a fair share of home visiting sessions per week as allocated.

The successful candidate will be offered between 4-8 sessions per week, based on the individual's availability.

About us:

Greenwich Health is committed to providing quality of care to our patients whilst building resilience for General Practice and delivering services and programmes of work to deliver care at scale to the Greenwich Population.

Valentine Health Partnership is a large state-of-the-art GP Training Practice based in the multicultural borough of Greenwich, with a list size of +32,000 patients and two surgeries, based in Woolwich & Shooters Hill. The practice is friendly, supportive and innovative. At Valentine we are committed to health promotion & actively involved in a range of schemes & services to provide high-quality care to the local population. We have a strong team ethos with a close-knit clinical team & family-friendly working environment.

We offer competitive remuneration as well as other benefits including:

• Private Medical Insurance
• Study leave paid in addition to CPD hours (pro-rata)
• Sick Pay
• Flexible start & finish times
• Excellent administrative services including Clinical assistants supporting clinicians with admin tasks
• Support from allied health professionals: Strong nursing team with HCA support, Clinical Pharmacists, Paramedic, Physio, Mental Health workers & Social Prescribers
• Regular in-house clinical training/learning sessions and workshops/meetings
• Free snacks & Lunch on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays & festive dates
• Company Events
• On-site free Parking
• Onsite compact Gym

Job responsibilities:

• 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 may 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.
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the Practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the Practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.
• Create opportunities to address patients care needs in the most expedient way, taking into account that continuity of care and access to services are often in direct conflict.
• Encourage patients to be aware of the service pressures within primary care and to manage their expectations of what we can realistically deliver in a manner that is fair and proportionate for all care priorities.
• Make improved use of the telephone and other technologies. Encourage patients to rely on face-to-face consultation only where there is a clinical need to do so.
• Communicate and reassure patients of the need to offer alternative care options where appropriate and safe to do so.
• To immediately highlight any concerns you may have in respect of safety or quality of patient care to the PCN Clinical Director/Practice Partners/PCN Manager.

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.

Equality & Diversity:

• Acting in a way that recognises the importance of people's 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.
• Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings, priorities and rights.

Personal/Professional Development:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of 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.
• Attend all relevant annual updates.
• Inform the lead GP of any concerns regarding the role and any professional development needed.
• Be aware of own professional boundaries and what to do when you have reached them.
• Awareness of and compliance with all relevant practice policies/guidelines, e.g. prescribing, confidentiality, data protection, health and safety.

Quality:

• The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the Practice, and will alert other team members to issues of quality and risk.
• Work to practice protocols.
• 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 team's performance.
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients' needs.
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.

Communication:

• The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to communicate effectively with other team members.
• Be familiar in all mediums of communications such as email, tasks, telephone etc.
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers.
• Recognise people's needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.
• Communicate effectively to outside agencies.

Contribution to the Implementation of Services:

• Research and Development - Is able to identify, critically appraise and present significant events related to own performance and discuss within the clinical team.
• Actively contributes to Practice/Service/Team audit/Research activity as required.
• Instigates audit activity as required e.g. new services.
• Contributing to evaluation/audit and clinical standard setting within the organisation.

The post-holder will:

• Apply Practice policies, standards and guidance.
• Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work.
• Participate in audit where appropriate.
• Share of visits when required (normally completed by Paramedic).
• Mix of telephone, face-to-face appointments.
• Provide high-quality patient care.
• Ensure that each patient encounter is maximised to attain contractual target requirements.
• Work collaboratively & contribute to the management and completion of general clinical administration, including bloods, tasks, urgent enquiries, medical reports.

Person Specification:

Skills:

• Good interpersonal and customer service skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Clear, polite telephone manner.
• Competent in the use of Office and Outlook.
• Effective time management planning and organising.
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously.
• Problem solving and analytical skills.
• Ability to follow clinical policy and procedure.
• Experience with audit and able to lead audit programmes.
• Experience with clinical risk management.

Qualifications:

• Qualified GP.
• MRCGP Vocational Training Certificate or equivalent.
• JCPTGP General Practitioner (Certificate of Completion of Training CCT).
• Full GMC registration.
• National Performers List registration (England).
• Appropriate defence indemnity (MPS/MDU).
• Evidence of current validation.
• Evidence of last appraisal.
• Eligibility to practice in the UK independently.

Experience:

• Experience of working in a primary care environment.
• Experience of continued professional development.
• Experience of QOF and clinical audit.
• Not previously been substantively employed at a GP Practice.
• Experience of medicines management.
• Experience of ICB initiatives.
• General understanding of the primary care contract.
• Outstanding level of clinical knowledge and skills commensurate with that of an experienced GP.
• Experience of providing primary care in and out of hours.
• Experience in development of areas of clinical expertise.
• Experience of audit and improving care for patients.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check:

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.