We are looking for an individual to fill this six month locum post within the Ophthalmology Department at St Jamess University Hospital.

This post will deliver 10 PAs supporting the Medical Retina team. This post is based at St James Hospital but may include working at other LTHT sites when required.

The successful applicant should possess accreditation in Ophthalmology by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (FRCOphth) or equivalent, and should be included on the Specialist Register or within 6 months of CCT at the time of interview, if currently within a training programme within the UK. In accordance with the consultant appointment regulations, all other categories of doctors must be on the Specialist Register.

Applicants should have established skills in Ophthalmology. Excellent communication and team working skills, and a strong commitment to teaching and service development are essential. A strong commitment to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and a research interest is desirable.

Main duties of the job

Provide a wide range of Ophthalmology care and subspecialty care for medical retinal conditions.

Be active in leading and developing the medical retina service.

Help train and supervise non-medical staff working within the retina service

Collaborate with other surgical and non-surgical members of the team to achieve the best outcome for the patient

Attend general and subspecialty ophthalmology clinics within the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Assessment, treatment and management plans are appropriate, clearly documented and auditable.

All surgical interventions, observations, designated tests and treatments are documented and follow established guidelines.

Day Case care may be provided within the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust facilities.

Documentation is appropriate, timely, accurate and legible.

Patient assessments and treatments meet expected best practice guidelines

General practitioner and specialist referrals are accepted and prioritised based on the agreed service referral criteria.

Ensure provision of a high standard of care to patients in operating theatre, inpatients, day cases and outpatients for both acute and elective conditions.

Referrals to other specialists, departments and hospitals are timely and appropriate.

To undertake research and teaching.

Preparation of reports as required i.e. police, coroner, Trust, GMC.

About us

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is part of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across West Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible care for our patients.

By bringing together the wide range of skills and expertise across West Yorkshire and Harrogate we are working differently, innovating and driving forward change to deliver the highest quality care. By working for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust this is your opportunity to be a part of that change.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Job description
Job responsibilities

Service Delivery

General

The Trust expects consultants to deliver clinical service as agreed with commissioners and other stakeholders. This will include:

meeting the objectives of the post (see above)

continuously improving the quality and efficiency of personal and team practice

working with other staff and teams to ensure that the various criteria for service delivery are met.

Consultants in LTHT are line managed by their specialty Lead Clinician working in conjunction with a Business Manager. This specialty team is then managed alongside a number of other specialties in a Clinical Service (or Support) Unit (CSU) led by a Clinical Director as the responsible person and supported by a full time General Manager and a full time Head of Nursing.

The Clinical Director and their team report operationally to the Chief Operating Officer (COO). The Clinical Director will work closely with the Chief Operating Officers team which includes the Medical Director for Operations, Nurse Director for Operations, Director of Operations, Assistant Directors of Operations (ADOs) and a Performance Team, with each ADO aligned to specific CSUs.

3.2 Quality

The Trust has a programme of activities that are designed to help consultants improve the quality of the service they offer. This includes a range of activities shown below as examples not all activities can be undertaken every year! Consultants are expected to routinely engage in relevant activities in their specialty that are focussed on quality improvement. This participation should be reflected at annual appraisal and job planning and will be discussed in specialties as part of clinical governance programmes and meetings.

Clinical Audit and standard setting

Clinical audit projects

Development and application of agreed clinical guidelines

Ensuring compliance against relevant national specifications, e.g. NICE guidelines

External Peer review and relevant national audits.

Clinical outcome review

Mortality and morbidity review

Monitoring of outcomes reflected in routinely collected data

Participation in clinical coding review and improvement

Improving patient safety

Participation in Trust-wide programmes

Implementation of local improvements as defined in e.g. mortality review

Improving service effectiveness and efficiency

Service or system improvement projects, including small scale change, lean or other recognised improvement methods

Conducting or considering reviews of the evidence to plan better service delivery

Where agreed, working with commissioners to match service delivery with requirements of relevant populations

Improving the patient experience

Implementing service improvements on the basis of individual or service feedback from patients or carers

Raising the profile and impact of patient participation in decisions about their own care

Involvement in understanding and improving the ethical basis of care provided

3.3 Research

The Trusts Research Strategy encourages all clinicians to participate in high quality, nationally-recognised clinical research trials and other well-designed studies, with a particular emphasis on work supported by the National Institute for Health Research. The Trust has a number of major programmes in experimental medicine and applied health research, developed in partnership with the University of Leeds, which reflect particular strengths described in the Strategy and clinicians are encouraged to participate in these programmes.

3.4 Teaching

The Trust is a Teaching Hospital and therefore considers the active participation of consultant and other medical staff in teaching and training to be part of our core activities. Not all consultants will have regular and substantial teaching commitments, but all will be involved in related activities from time to time, if only through informal opportunities, for example as part of service quality improvement (see above). It is therefore expected that all consultants will be familiar with the principles of effective teaching and will enable the service and colleagues to fulfil their obligations to learn and teach about effective care.

The remainder of this section concentrates on teaching and training for medical colleagues, but the Trust actively supports and encourages consultant medical staff to participate in and deliver teaching and training to any colleagues, within and outside of the Trust, where this is agreed as an appropriate time commitment.

Undergraduate medical teaching

The Trust actively promotes links with the University of Leeds, School of Medicine for teaching medical undergraduates and all consultant medical staff are required to participate to the level agreed within their service.

Where it is agreed by the Clinical Director that the postholder will be significantly involved in delivering undergraduate medical teaching, the following requirements have been agreed with School of Medicine, University of Leeds.

Postgraduate medical teaching

As with undergraduate teaching, consultants are expected to contribute to overall programmes of postgraduate teaching in their service. Where there is a lead or significant role agreed as part of the consultants job plan, the following expectations apply:

Consultants will be expected to act as a clinical supervisor for any or specified junior doctors working with them. All consultants must undergo clinical/educational supervisor training from July 2016. Training is envisaged as needing renewal every 5 years.

Consultants may take up specific educational roles in the speciality which includes educational supervisor, college tutor, speciality educational lead and CSU educational lead. Where the current allocation for educational supervisors in 0.25 SPA per trainee (subject to change in further iterations of job planning guidance), the SPA allocation for the other roles are for negotiation with the CD.

If consultants have a role in either under- or post-graduate medical education, the GMC expects that evidence of the quality of this education is presented at annual appraisals and for revalidation.

3.5 Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

In the discharge of their responsibilities, the consultant will be expected to maintain and update their skills and knowledge through appropriate continuing professional development.

The Trust fully supports the requirement for CPD by the relevant Royal College and the GMC. This essential component of a consultants professional activities will be reviewed during the appraisal process. Time and financial support for these activities will be allowed in accordance with the Trust policy.

3.6 Leadership

All consultants are senior members of the Trusts staff and are therefore seen by colleagues as leaders. Consultants are expected to make allowance for this, given that the most powerful leadership influence they exert is the example they set.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• MB BS (or equivalent) FRCS or equivalent qualification. ATLS

Desirable 

• DCS Higher degree e.g. MD/PhD relevant to the subspecialty

Experience
Essential 

• Must be able to demonstrate a high level of clinical experience and competence in the management of acute Ophthalmic Conditions Specifically, he/she must demonstrate higher training in Ophthalmology

Clinical, Academic, and Personal Skills
Essential 

• Evidence of the ability to carry out medical research

Desirable 

• Previous experience of supervising research by junior staff.

Eligibility, Fitness to practice, and Language Skills
Essential 

• Eligible for full registration with the GMC at time of appointment and hold a current licence to practice. Eligibility to work in the UK.

Other criteria
Essential 

• * Hold full GMC Registration with a license to practice. * Entry on the GMC Specialist Register via: - CCT (proposed CCT date must be within 6 months of interview) - CESR (or) - European Community Ri 

BMJRef: BMJ-115914/298-C9298-MED-162