Locum Consultant in Cleft Lip & Palate Surgery in Leeds

This is a 10PA locum appointment for a Consultant Surgeon with special interests in Cleft Lip and Palate Surgery. This post will be available from March 2026 for a period of 6 months. The post-holder will provide a tertiary Cleft Lip and Palate Surgery clinics across the region. The post will be based at Leeds General Infirmary.

The successful applicant should possess CCST in a recognised cleft surgical specialty or equivalent, and should be on the Specialist Register or within six months of being admitted to the Register for trainees if currently in a training programme within the UK, or have references which have been authorised by the Deputy Medical Director and Clinical Director. Applicants should have established skills in primary and secondary cleft lip and palate surgery in children and adults. Excellent communication and team working skills, a strong commitment to teaching and service development are essential. Consideration will be given to applicants who wish to work full or part time and those wishing to job share. Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit the hospital, which can be arranged by contacting: Mr William Breakey, Consultant Surgeon, Consultant in Cleft, Lip, Palate - Tel: Dr Samantha Calladine Acting Lead Clinician & Lead Specialist Speech and Language Therapist - Tel.

Main duties of the job:

• The Cleft Lip and Palate Service based at Leeds General Infirmary provides all aspects of multidisciplinary cleft care and management across the Yorkshire regional network.
• Whilst all cleft surgery is undertaken in Leeds at the General Infirmary, other aspects of cleft care are provided on a hub and spoke basis with regular network multidisciplinary clinics in Bradford, York, Wakefield and Hull, as well as in Leeds.
• The appointee to this new substantive post will work in conjunction with the incumbent cleft surgeon who has reduced clinical activities to a part-time basis.
• The post is available immediately; however, it is expected that the successful applicant will take up this post within 2-3 months of appointment.
• The service is fully staffed by all members of a cleft multidisciplinary team and is supported by a cleft administrative team including Cleft Co-ordinator and Audit Administrator.

Job responsibilities:

• To deliver care to patients with cleft lip and/or palate and non-cleft velopharyngeal incompetence within the Regional Cleft Lip and Palate Service based at Leeds General Infirmary.
• Supervision of patients.
• Care of Plastic Surgery in-patients on a 1:13 rota.
• Contribute to Specialist Multi-disciplinary team meetings.
• Provision of primary surgical repair for children born with cleft lip and/or palate including cleft lip repair, cleft palate repair and alveolar bone grafting.
• Provision of secondary cleft surgery in children; including surgical management of cleft and non-cleft velopharyngeal incompetence, revisional lip and palate surgery.
• Provision of cleft lip and palate surgery in adult patients (all aspects of revisional cleft lip and palate surgery, speech-related surgery and complex septorhinoplasty). Ability to provide orthognathic surgery in cleft adult patients would be advantageous.
• Delivery of cleft surgeon input to multidisciplinary cleft clinics throughout the network.
• Full participation in speech therapist/cleft surgeon speech investigation meetings.
• Cleft surgical out-patient clinic at Leeds General Infirmary.
• Full participation in Clinical Team meetings and Clinical Audit.
• The post will include on-call/out-of-hours responsibilities for cleft lip and palate.
• It is also anticipated that the successful applicant would participate in the on-call provision for their parent specialty.

Person Specification:

• Well organised and skilled in good time management.
• Effective interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrate ability to relate to work and work within a team.

Qualifications:

• Full GMC Registration.
• Entry on the GMC Specialist Register.
• Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) or CESR (CP) - proposed CCT/CESR date must be within 6 months of interview.
• CESR/Portfolio pathway, or alternative routes to specialist registrations.
• An appropriate higher surgical qualification.
• Higher degree e.g. MD/PhD relevant to the subspecialty.

Experience:

• Must be able to demonstrate a high level of clinical experience and competence in primary repair of cleft lip and/or palate and provision of secondary cleft surgery.
• Experience and competence in cleft surgery for adults including revision cleft lip and palate surgery, speech surgery and septo-rhinoplasty.
• Wide experience and proven ability to work well within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Evidence of continuous career progression consistent with personal circumstances.

Additional Requirements:

• Applicants must be on the Specialist Register or within six months of being admitted to the Register for trainees if currently in a training programme within the UK or have references.
• 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 practice safely.
• 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.