Physician Assistant

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Main area Acute Medicine Grade NHS AfC: Band 7 Contract 12 months (fixed term contract) Hours 37.5 hours per week (Full time - 37.5 hours per week) Job ref 197-AJ-R-8901

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of theICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

This advert is for a 12 month fixed term post on Alder ward , which primarily provides care for patients with diabetes, alongside a cohort of general medicine patients.

The post holder will work 09:00 - 17:00 each day Monday to Friday.

The Physician Assistant (PA) plays a vital role in delivering high-quality, patient-centred care across acute and frailty pathways. Working under the supervision of consultants, the PA supports the multidisciplinary team by assessing, diagnosing, and managing a range of medical conditions, with a particular focus on older adults and patients with complex co-morbidities.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work 09:00 - 17:00 Monday - Friday.

The key duties and responsibilities will include:

• Assess and examine medical patients, order appropriate investigations, interpret investigation findings, form a list of differential diagnoses and recommend management/treatment accordingly
• Attend consultant and/or StR ward rounds and provide continuing care for patients on their ward(s)
• Coordinate patients on ambulatory pathways related to their specialty
• Maintain timely and appropriate documentation
• Perform diagnostic/therapeutic procedures, subject to appropriate training and These include, but not exclusively:
  • Venepuncture
  • Cannulation
  • Arterial blood gases
  • Injections
  • ECG
  • Urethral catheterisation
  • Nasogastric tube insertion
  • Abdominal paracentesis

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

• Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
• Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
• Improving the experience of staff with disability
• Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
• Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The key duties and responsibilities will include:

• Assess and examine medical patients, order appropriate investigations, interpret investigation findings, form a list of differential diagnoses and recommend management/treatment accordingly
• Attend consultant and/or StR ward rounds and provide continuing care for patients on their ward(s)
• Coordinate patients on ambulatory pathways related to their specialty
• Maintain timely and appropriate documentation
• Perform diagnostic/therapeutic procedures, subject to appropriate training and These include, but not exclusively:
  • Venepuncture
  • Cannulation
  • Arterial blood gases
  • Injections
  • ECG
  • Urethral catheterisation
  • Nasogastric tube insertion
  • Abdominal paracentesis
• Instruct and counsel patients and their relatives with regard to mental and physical health issues
• Have, develop and maintain specialist medical knowledge related to medicine. Keep up to date with current guidelines and maintain best practice
• Contribute to achieving and maintaining performance within the hospital and department
• To contribute to the development of efficient pathways of care in accordance with current best practice and national guidelines
• Develop clinical guidelines within their specialist area for use with the Trust by other staff
• To be accountable for the care given and to comply with the Fitness to Practice and Code of Conduct standard as established by the Faculty of Physician Assistants for the PA MVR (and subsequently the appropriate statutory regulating body, when this is in place).
• To work within the framework of the scope of professional practice
• Work within the multidisciplinary team to ensure effective team working in the provision of acute medical care to patients on a day-to-day basis
• Support and contribute to timely discharge planning including completing discharge summaries and support optimising bed capacity
• Abide by the Clinical and Corporate Governance policies of the Trust
• Take part in the administration of the department and the involvement in the management of resources
• Fully document all aspects of patient care, and complete all required paperwork

The job plan will be subject to review in line with service developments.

Qualifications

• PG Dip in Physician Assistant Studies from a UK PA programme

Experience

• Clinical experience in general medicine of at least 1 year outside of training

Qualifications

• Member of the Faculty of Physician Assistants at the RCP, which includes registration on the UK Physician Assistant Register (the PA Managed Voluntary Register)

We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women’s staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note: Information provided during recruitment and pre‑employment checks must be accurate. Misrepresentation may be investigated as fraud and could lead to withdrawal from the process, professional sanctions, or criminal action.

Please note: that sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route is subject to Trust allocation and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approval.

Use of AI in recruitment: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support the initial review of applications against the essential criteria for this role. Where AI is used, it will support rather than replace human decision-making, and applications will remain subject to appropriate human review.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Application numbers

To ensure fairness and manageable shortlisting processes, some vacancies may have an application cap. This means the vacancy will close once a set number of applications have been received even if this happens before the advertised closing date.
We recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out. All applications received before the cap is reached will be considered equally and assessed against the person specification.

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