Specialty Doctor - Anaesthetics

Job overview

Applications are invited for a Specialty Doctor post in Critical Care and Anaesthesia at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The successful candidate will join a department of 34 Consultants, 40 trainee and Specialty Doctors covering a 5 tier on-call.

Watford General Hospital is a busy District General Hospital situated just outside London.  St Albans City Hospital is an Elective Surgery Centre.

The post is full time 12 PA’s working a full-shift timetable and will include working in ICU, Obstetric Unit and theatres. The post will involve taking part in an out of hours rota (including weekends) at Watford General Hospital as one of the resident doctors.

It is essential that the applicant holds full GMC registration. The post is not recognised for training. Please apply online, the advert will close as soon as we have enough applications.

Please note we are not a sponsoring trust.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will form one member of a full shift, either in ICU, Obstetrics or Senior on call anaesthetist. Daytime work may vary according to the requirements and may include daytime PAs in main Theatre, Day Surgery and Obstetrics or Intensive Care, according to experience.

The Specialty Doctors will be expected to exercise an intermediate level of clinical responsibility but ultimate responsibility for the patients they treat will rest with the relevant consultant. At least one session per week will be under consultant supervision.

All Specialty Doctors in Critical Care and Anaesthesia have a continuing responsibility for the proper functioning of the Department.  As far as is practical, the appointee will be expected to provide emergency cover for colleagues when required.

The successful applicant will be supported to pursue a personal development plan appropriate to them, whether it is studying for exams, training to be a trainer, maintaining skills or developing new ones.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Department of Anaesthesia is part of the Directorate of Surgery, Anaesthesia and Critical Care and provides services throughout the Trust. We are a friendly dynamic department of 32 consultants, 20 speciality grade doctors, and approximately 20 trainees.

We have recently relocated to a newly purpose-built anaesthetic department with multiple rooms dedicated for administrative work and teaching. The centre for elective surgery is at St Albans City Hospital where there are 6 operating theatres catering for General Surgery, Breast, Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology, ENT, Gynaecology and is a busy Day Surgery unit.

The hospital has one of the longest established Preoperative Assessment Units anywhere and this is key to the efficient running of theatres. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is undertaken in conjunction with the department of respiratory medicine.

Watford General Hospital is the acute site for the Trust, and we currently have with 8 operating theatres and a 20-bed combined Critical Care unit. There is a 24-hour emergency operating service with onsite Anaesthetic consultant 8am-9pm Monday to Friday and 8am-6pm Saturday to Sunday.

We provide anaesthesia for Complex orthopaedic surgery, gynae-oncological surgery, Colorectal cancer surgery, urology, upper GI, ENT, Ophthalmology, Maxillofacial and vascular surgery. We also provide anaesthetic services for Cardiology department (Cath lab), Gastro enterology (procedural sedation) and Radiology (CT scan or interventions).

Obstetric Anaesthetic Service - Watford General Hospital All inpatient maternity services for West Herts NHS Trust have been sited at Watford General Hospital since May 2002. The number of deliveries is over 5,500 a year. We have a regional block rate of approaching 40% and a caesarean section rate of 23%. There are two obstetric theatres, a four bedded high dependency unit and in addition to the delivery rooms in the Consultant led obstetric unit, there are 8 delivery rooms in the midwifery birthing centre on the floor below.

There is an elective caesarean section list each weekday morning and an anaesthetic clinic on Monday afternoon when all patients for the lists are seen as well as any patients who wish to speak to an anaesthetist antenatally. An ODP is available to help the anaesthetist with all the theatre cases. Midwives assist the anaesthetists to site regional blocks for pain relief in labour and we provide minimum motor block epidurals for labour with PCEAs, Critical Care Service - Watford General Hospital The 20 bedded combined ICU / HDU was opened in March 2009 and is fully equipped to manage up to 18 Level 3 patients.

There are 5 side rooms, and the main area is light and spacious with pendant services to each bed space giving plenty of room. The unit provides critical care services to all departments in the trust and has a 7 day a week Outreach service and a consultant led follow up clinic.

The hospital has a busy Interventional Cardiology Suite, and the ICU manages patients on Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps with consultant cardiologist support. The unit is an active member of East of England Critical Care Operational Delivery Network The unit has been enrolled in ICNARC since June 1997.There is an active audit and research programme and we have recently finished an RCT as well as 3 portfolio studies.

There is weekly formal teaching of trainees and Speciality doctors and the unit is recognised for basic ICM training. Our speciality doctors regularly go on to gain places on training schemes. There are a multidisciplinary Consultant led ward rounds at 08:00 and 17:00 and a joint round with a Consultant microbiologist daily.

The on-call team involves, one trainee for main theatres, two trainees/ Speciality doctors for Intensive Care, one for Obstetric Anaesthesia and one Senior Anaesthetist (Floater). There is a consultant on call for theatres and Obstetrics and an intensive care Consultant for ICU.