Emergency Medicine Consultant

Job overview

The Emergency team currently consists of a dynamic team of 5 Consultants who are supported by regular input from the Acute Medicine Consultants. The team already has a reputation for driving improvement and all new appointments will be offered the opportunity to take up lead roles within the department.

The Emergency Department at Hereford County Hospital currently has approximately 70,000 attendances per year.  It is a Major Trauma Unit and incorporates a Children & Young Peoples’ Emergency Department.  We currently have 16.59 WTE Specialty Doctors, 15.21 WTE Doctors working on the Junior tier, 4 ACPs and 8 ENPs.  We have recently been able to secure funding to expand the Specialty Doctor tier to 24 WTE and increase to 8 ACPs, as well as staffing our Urgent Treatment Centre stream 0800-1800 5 days a week.

The post could be filled on a whole or part-time basis, and any candidate who is unable to work full time will still be considered for the post.  If such a person is appointed, modification of the job plan will be discussed.

One of our consultants shared their experience , stating "I found and continue to find the team at Hereford ED to be supportive, friendly and dedicated to improving patient care despite the many challenges we face."

Interview Date - 28th  Feb  2025

Main duties of the job

The Consultants are based at the Hereford County Hospital site and provide Emergency Services for patients attending the Emergency Department. This service will include the reception, resuscitation and initial diagnosis of patients, together with the provision of treatment, appropriate referral and discharge of the patient - either back to the community, General Practitioner, Outpatients, or admission. As a Senior Leader within the Trust we are looking for motivated and forward thinking engaged Clinical staff to work within the teams to develop and encourage this new way of working. A key role of the shop floor Consultant is to support the single clerking and to support flow.

Together with the other EM Consultants, the post holder will be required to provide 24hr out of hours cover for the Emergency Department. This is currently provided by mutual arrangement on a flexible rota of 1:6, although increasing recruitment will allow this frequency to be reduced.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Participation in clinical meetings and post-graduate activities in the Trust
• Supervision, teaching and training of junior medical staff, nurse practitioners, physicians' assistants, nursing and other staff in and out of the department. This will include training of students attached to the department
• Contribute to postgraduate and continuing education locally and nationally
• Assisting in the provision of managerial and administrative services to the ED
• Delivery of duties in the Major Incident plan and contribution to further updating of this in conjunction with the Major Incident Planning Group

The post-holder will also demonstrate a firm commitment to the principles of clinical governance, including:

• Developing and maintaining appropriate systems and practice to ensure effective clinical audit in Emergency Medicine
• Attending and contributing to the Trust's Clinical Effectiveness Programme
• Participating in the Trust's Clinical Incident Reporting system
• Support Quality Improvement Projects and the introduction of new technology/advances in clinical practice
• Developing a programme of personal continuing professional education, development and, if appropriate, research within available resources and within the workload and priorities of the service as agreed with Consultant colleagues and senior managers