Fixed Term General Paediatrician - Locum Consultant

Job overview

Applications are invited for the post of a Consultant General Paediatrician. We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated colleague to join our established team of general paediatricians.

This post is for a fixed term of 3 months pending a substantive appointment.

There are 10 programmed activities available for this post. However, applicants wishing to work less than full time are also encouraged to apply.

It involves working predominantly on our Paediatric assessment unit together with a 1:12 ward service and on-call and some outpatient rapid access clinics.

The successful candidate will join 14 existing General Paediatricians in providing general paediatric cover in a hot-week rota 1:12 with 1:12 on call. The neonatal unit is covered by six other consultants on a separate rota.

Main duties of the job

In summary the post holders will contribute to the following clinical services:

• Inpatient care for general paediatric wards.
• Paediatric Assessment Unit shifts
• Paediatric Clinics
• Late shifts on a 1:12 basis, corresponding with on call (additional to a middle grade or nurse practitioner)
• Supervision of junior doctors.
• The care and support of other team members and colleagues.

•                      SPA activity

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The postholder will provide consultant cover as a “hot-week “on the general paediatric ward on a 1:12 basis, supervising junior staff, as well as 1:12 consultant on call for general paediatrics. When on call Monday-Friday, the post holder will be resident on a late shift (5pm-10pm) covering the paediatric wards to support the SpR in delivering high quality care for the acutely unwell children and young people.

Admissions during the day are seen on the Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU) sited next to the ward which is managed by a separate PAU consultant to the consultant managing the ward. This post involves working on PAU, as the consultant senior decision maker,  from 10:00-18:00hours Wednesday ,Thursday and Friday when not on ward service. The PAU is open 7 days a week. Weekends are staffed by nursing staff and the on call medical team from April to September. From October – March, there is an additional PAU weekend consultant working 10:00-18:00 hours. All consultants contribute to this in addition to their 1:12 on call. It equates to an additional 2 weekends over the winter months. This way of working allows us to step up cover during the winter months supporting each other and creating a safer service with better patient experience and flow.

The postholder will also provide rapid access general paediatric outpatients clinics on site at Musgrove Park Hospital. This could be rapid access clinics or a special interest clinic ( An interest in epilepsy would be especially welcome)