Consultant in Critical Care with a subspecialty interest

Job overview

Consultant in Critical Care Medicine (single or dual specialty applications welcome, including those with a subspecialty interest)

These posts are for Consultants with responsibility to Adult Critical Care (and associated specialty where applicable) at Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (MCHFT) - a busy medium sized district general hospital in Cheshire within an hours' drive of Manchester, Liverpool, Stoke on Trent and Wolverhampton. The posts have arisen due to a retirement as well as a desire from the Trust to strengthen its Critical Care service. The posts would suit motivated applicants who wish to help develop the critical care service as we progress with our new hospital programme and aim to meet the needs of an expanding service. There are additional opportunities to pursue cross specialty links and engage in shared expertise to the benefit of patients and colleagues.

Suitable candidates that apply for these posts will be eligible for an enhanced SPA package to support their professional development in a specific area.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidates will join the existing team of substantive Critical Care Consultants and provide medical cover for a modern 11 bedded Critical Care Unit (combined intensive care and high dependency unit with ability to flex to 18 beds in times of clinical need) in a trust that is in the early phases of an extensive estate renewal programme (part of the New Hospitals Programme). The current Consultant team are a cohesive group with a diverse range of interests (including global health, palliative care, Critical Care airway management, and regional major incident management). Future colleagues of all backgrounds are welcome to make enquiries to discuss how their own interests might fit within this flexible and supportive team.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The contract will be for 10 Programmed Activities (PAs), and it is envisaged there will be a split on average of clinical duties into 5.5 PAs in Critical Care and 2.5 PAs in the associated specialty (if applicable).

However, there is some flexibility in this to accommodate specific clinical interests of the successful candidate.

A consultant of the week model (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm – split as per job planned preference) is the current working pattern with ongoing amendments proposed to improve continuity of care and sustainability. Each morning the duty consultant is supported by a 2nd consultant intensivist (8am to 1pm) who also provides support to the outreach team; this second consultant session is worked by all as part of their regular job plan.

CC1 (Critical Care 1) is currently split into a 3 day and a 2.5-day responsibility to critical care. There are plans in place to change this to a Monday-Thursday “consultant of the week” model to better improve continuity of care whilst maintaining sustainable working patterns. Other DCC (Direct Clinical Care) is split between CC2 (Critical Care 2) and the associated specialty (if applicable).

The current on call rota is on a 1 in 8 basis. There is one consultant on call (non-resident) after 18:00 every day of the week. Weekend on calls are split Fri/Sun and Sat with DCC cover varying depending on time of year.

Summer weekend working consists of a resident morning session (08:00-12:00) and a 3-hour flexible resident session whereby the consultant will reattend site to review the patients. During winter, consultants are job planned to be resident during the hours of 08:00-18:00. The on-call commitment between/ after these hours is non-resident.

There are plans in place to sustainably further recruit to additional critical care posts over time to reduce the frequency of on call commitments.