Consultant Paediatrician - Community Child Health

The post holder will be part of the Community Paediatric Medical Team aiming to lead, provide and co-ordinate with Consultant colleagues an effective, high quality specialist community paediatric service to the children and families in Mid Essex. The successful applicant will join a team of 5 Consultant Community Paediatricians (5 WTE), 1 Associate Specialist (1 WTE) and 2 Specialist Registrars.

The post holder will be expected to work closely with primary care health teams, the acute paediatric team and also with other key agencies, in particular with Children and Young People’s Services (Education and Social Care). They will be expected to hold one or more areas of special clinical interest and take at least one lead role, providing clinical care for the children and young people of Mid Essex working within the Acute and Community Consultant framework and will have a responsibility for the innovative development of children and young people’s health promotion.

Main duties of the job:

• Providing specialist advice for prevention, assessment and diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders/physical neuro-disabilities.
• Working closely with other Community Paediatricians in the team.
• To work as a part of the multi-disciplinary team, providing diagnostic service to children presenting with possible Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• To participate in the MDT clinic to provide diagnostic service to children presenting with physical neuro-disabilities.
• Safeguarding/Child Protection Assessment and management of both pre-school and school age children with special educational needs with particular reference to the Education Act.
• To take a non-clinical lead role to complement the Lead Role provided by the existing team members.
• Will work closely with Care Coordination Centre which is situated in the Headquarters and participate in the weekly rota to triage the referrals coming to the Community Paediatric Department.
• Will participate in regular departmental operational meetings, Medical Staff Advisory Committee and Local Negotiating Committee meetings.
• Will attend Safeguarding Peer Review Meetings in mid Essex with hospital paediatricians, at SARC and also Essex wide safeguarding training/peer review meetings.

Provide is a highly respected award-winning health and social care provider. We are growing in size and influence, transforming lives by treating, caring and educating people. We recognise the value of recruiting a diverse, multi-cultural workforce by encouraging diversity through our recruitment practice. We believe in investing in our staff and rewarding high standards of care. We offer development opportunities as well as a wide range of benefits. This post is eligible to join the NHS Pension Scheme.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• There is no out of hours on-call commitment.
• The organisation encourages continuous service improvement and development.
• The post holder, in conjunction with management, consultants and other professional colleagues, is expected to deliver evidence-based service in line with NICE and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health guidelines.
• Each consultant will have responsibility for leading one or more specialities in the service that is mid Essex wide and not restricted to a patch.
• The post holder should be an innovator and strive for continuous quality improvement of the Specialist Children’s Services in line with the vision and values of the organisation.
• The post holder will work with the ICS with the possibility of developing a single service across Mid & South Essex.
• The post holder will support the ambition to introduce a Clinical Nurse Specialist Role within the service.
• This new role will enhance the ASD and ADHD offer.
• The post holder will be expected to be registered for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Continuing Professional Development Programme and to maintain the CPD activity as per RCPCH guidance.
• Medical Staff Training Meetings take place within the department on a monthly basis.
• Clinical Governance is the responsibility of everyone.
• All incidents are to be reported through the incident reporting procedure.
• The post holder is expected to carry out and present audit projects within Children and Young Peoples and Therapy Service/hospital and community audit meetings.
• Complaints must be handled in line with the organisation’s policy for complaint handling.
• The post holder is required to be accountable and responsible for the Prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections by complying with all Infection Prevention and Control policies and procedures in line with legislation.
• Safeguarding is a key priority of this organisation.
• All staff must follow the Safeguarding policies and guidelines, know how to seek specialist advice and must make themselves available for training and supervision as required.
• The post holder has a responsibility in the promotion of a Risk Management culture by ensuring that all risks in the workplace are identified, assessed and reported for inclusion in the Risk Register.
• The post holder is expected to comply with the provisions of Incident Reporting & Management Policy and to attend mandatory training provided to support implementation.
• The post holder is required to maintain the confidentiality of information about patients, staff and organisations business in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1984.
• In the event of a major incident or emergency situation, the post holder will be expected to undertake any other duties as required to support the work of the organisation to maintain business continuity.

Person specification:

• Qualifications: MBBS (or equivalent), MRCPCH, Full registration with GMC with licence to practice, Entry on Specialist Register in Paediatrics or for Doctors in Training to be within 6 months of CCT at time of interview, MD/PHD, MSc in Community Paediatrics.
• Experience: Broad in-depth experience of Community Child Health, Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team, Experience in Child Protection/Safeguarding issues, Experience of partnership working.
• Training: 2 years or more higher professional training in Community Child Health or Neurodisability.
• Skills: Good written and verbal communication skills, Basic IT and computer skills, Competent to work under pressure.
• Abilities: Ability to communicate effectively with all levels of staff, patients and carers, Ability to manage time effectively, Ability to work flexibly and adapt to change.
• Management: Understanding of NHS systems, providers and commissioning structures, Evidence of clinical leadership diplomacy and management skills.
• Personal: Awareness of individual limitations and training needs, Ability to take advice and support from Lead Clinician and Managers.
• Other: Clearance by Occupational Health Department, Able to travel to meet the demands of the job, Valid driving licence.

All correspondence for this post will be by email or text messaging. Please register for text messages on your TRAC account. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly to ensure that email filters are set to allow our mails.