We are looking for three Consultant Spinal surgeons with expertise in Adult trauma, Adult deformity, Adult metastatic spinal tumour management and Adult degenerative spinal management, to join a closely-knit team of existing seven consultants.

You will join a symbiotic team of colleagues, who collectively work to manage outpatient and inpatient spinal referrals. Nobody works alone and excellent communication skills are an essential aspect of this job.

Our radiology colleagues provide all imaging support for the spinal service and there is currently no provision for spinal consultants to conduct their own imaging, such as intraoperative fluoroscopy, for example. The radiology team performs according to the radiology safety regulations and we are required to abide by these same rules.

Main duties of the job

You will provide comprehensive spinal management between three hospitals: Neath Port Talbot hospital, Singleton hospital and Morriston hospital. While complex spinal and unscheduled spinal surgery will remain in Morriston hospital, scheduled and uncomplex surgery will be developed in Neath Port Talbot hospital, which is growing as a specialist Orthopaedic and Spinal Elective Surgery unit.

The new members to the existing team will need to maintain the excellent communication and team working skills which already thrive in our unit. The service is consultant-led and consultant-delivered, with support from Allied Medical Practitioners. The Welsh Deanery also allocates a Specialist Registrar to the Trauma and Orthopaedic Unit, with some of the timetable spent within the spinal unit. The On Call spinal rota is hosted by the Trauma and Orthopaedic On Call team, with referrals for spinal opinions requested by the Orthopaedic Registrar On Call as necessary. This means that non-operative and non-complex spinal admissions to hospital are mainly managed by the admitting Orthopaedic and Trauma team, with spinal support as required.

Research and Development and teaching are fundamental to the service as a result of close working links with Swansea University Medical School, currently ranked 4th in the UK.

About us

We believe staff are our best asset and we want you to be happy and confident about starting your career here in Swansea Bay University Health Board.

As one of the biggest healthcare groups in the UK we can offer a wealth of professional training and development opportunities in an innovative, forward-thinking organisation.

You might be a nurse or doctor, maybe you specialise in a health science/therapy or can offer skills in one of our support services - we have a job for you.

There are also apprenticeships, work placements and volunteering roles available.

We are an inclusive employer and welcome applications from everyone whatever their sex; religion or belief; race; age; sexual orientation; gender identity or, whether they are pregnant or have recently been on maternity leave, married or are in a civil partnership; or, whether they are disabled.

Our values - Caring For Each Other, Working Together and Always Improving, show that our commitment to equality is at the heart of everything we do.

If you want excellent career and training opportunities while living on the doorstep of some of Europe's most spectacular scenery, with all the benefits of a thriving and cosmopolitan city - look no further.

Job description
Job responsibilities

It is no secret that working in the NHS has never been more challenging as we continue to deal with the additional burden of the COVID pandemic backlog, along with economic crisis restricting resource availability. The well-being of our colleagues as well as our patients is of fundamental importance, since a challenging environment can become even more challenging when poor behaviours are introduced. As consultants, we pride ourselves on teaching and training our colleagues so that we can deliver the best possible spinal surgical management. We have monthly audit meetings, as well as Morbidity and Mortality reviews, whereby our MAPs log each and every potential negative aspect of the clinical work done and this is reviewed by the whole team. The process is meant to be a positive learning experience, with early detection of worrying trends such as surgical site infection rates picked up in good time and mitigated. We work together in a clear and transparent way along with necessary humility.

As per your medical license to practice, you should be familiar with your responsibilities as documented in the General Medical Council (GMC)s Good Medical Practice booklet, which is due to be updated imminently in 2023. The spinal unit has a good reputation with mandatory health board training compliance as well as prompt Appraisal and Revalidation, using the NHS Wales Medical Appraisal and Revalidation System (MARS), hosted by the Health and Education Improvement Wales (HEIW) and funded by Welsh Government (WG). Job planning should be conducted with the Spinal Clinical Lead every year, especially as the service is reacting flexibly to the changing working environment during the COVID Recovery Period. As such, each consultant should help to shape the spinal service by engaging in the regular spinal business meetings, held monthly. This often involves consultants volunteering to draft various supporting documents and we endeavor to share this administrative burden between the team.

The spinal on call rota has traditionally been allocated to specific consultants on specific week days, with each consultant contributing equally to the Friday- Monday morning on call weekend. As the consultant body grows, however, this on call arrangement will be reviewed, so that each consultant can contribute fairly to the unscheduled spinal service provision.

Given that there are currently significant service constraints throughout the NHS, there may be occasions when you will consider travelling to Carmarthenshire in order to physically assess a spinal referral patient, rather than consider ambulance transfer. You will be able to claim travel expenses for mileage in these circumstances and there is no compulsion for you to travel outside the spinal units bases of Morriston, Neath Port Talbot and Singleton hospitals.

Swansea Bay University Health Board has signed up the Bare Below the Elbows policy and consultants are expected to lead by example on this dress code.

Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Registered with GMC
• Licensed to Practice

Experience
Essential 

• Evidence of teaching and training of post/undergraduate clinical staff
• Evidence of initiating, progressing and completing audit

Desirable 

• Evidence of working with management and clinical colleagues to improve a service 

BMJRef: BMJ-116610/130-MSG9840S