Consultant in Medical Microbiology/ Infectious Diseases

Job overview

We are looking for a medical microbiologists to join our existing team of  consultants in the department of Microbiology at Great Western Hospitals.

The appointee will cover 10 PAs , with flexibility over how this is divided depending on individual requirements.  Over the next year, we are aiming to broaden the scope of microbiology services offered at Great Western and are therefore particularly interested to hear from infectious diseases/medical microbiology jointly trained candidates who would be interested in helping us to drive transformation and service improvements for our patients. GWH is part of the South 4 Pathology Partnership and works in close collaboration with Oxford University Hospitals, Buckinghamshire Healthcare, and Milton Keynes in the delivery and development of microbiology services.  The appointees will be encouraged to develop strong working relationships with the medical microbiology team at OUH, and to take advantage of academic research and ongoing CPD opportunities offered. More formal support or mentoring could also be explored if desired for early career consultants.

Main duties of the job

Clinical practice and liaison

Taking a leadership role within the Trust/ hospital / Health Board in matters relating to infection management.  Provision of a comprehensive infection service. This includes direct clinical care and proactive liaison in a timely manner with consultant colleagues, other hospital staff, medical microbiology colleagues, Genito-Urinary Medicine physicians and lead respiratory physicians for tuberculosis management, general practitioners, antibiotic pharmacists, IPC nurses, health protection consultants and CCDCs concerning the diagnosis and management of patients, and control and prevention of infection.  Regular departmental visits and commitments to specific units including Intensive Care, Haematology/Oncology, Medical/Surgical admission units, regular and ad hoc visits to wards, and departmental commitment to IPC.  Regular departmental commitments to committees such as IPC meetings, Medicines Management Committee, Antibiotic Working Group, Sepsis Working group, Pathology Directorate meetings, Microbiology Management Committee Regular commitments to Orthopaedic multidisciplinary team (MDT), Diabetic/ High Risk Foot MDT, Cardiology and antibiotic pharmacy rounds. Development of sub-specialty interests that fit in with Division needs and the strategic direction of the Trust.  Responsibilities for teaching, examination and accreditation duties are required, and for contributing to undergraduate and post-graduate and continuing medical education.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

All consultants will be expected to contribute to the following:

Day-to-day supervision of diagnostic methods and examination of specimens. Authorisation and interpretation of results. Involvement in Policy and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) preparation. Responsibility for quality assurance performance within the department, including taking part in all relevant External Quality Assurance programmes. Responsibility for achieving and maintaining full accreditation with United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) ISO15189 or equivalent. This also includes accreditation of Infection During Pregnancy Screening (IDPS) services by UKAS. Business planning, including the assessment and introduction of new methods, and forward planning for staff and equipment requirements.

Further details regarding this post can be found in the attached job description.