Hospice Doctor

Non-resident out-of-hours medical cover: one weekday night per week and approximately every 56 weekends

Face-to-face assessment and review of inpatients

Admission of new patients and ongoing management of existing patients

Communication with relatives and the wider multidisciplinary team, including allied health professionals

Medical degree with GMC registration

Minimum of 2 years post-GMC registration experience (CT1equivalent grade or above)

Strong communication skills

Ability to work effectively within a team

Able to prioritise workload and perform under pressure

Interest in palliative care

Desirable Criteria

Previous palliative care experience

Formal palliative care qualifications

We are looking for an individual who is:

Compassionate, kind, and empathic

Honest, trustworthy, and committed to providing high-quality specialist care

Able to work autonomously when required

Motivated, hardworking, and collaborative

North Yorkshire Hospice Care is a registered charity in England and Wales (518905) with a family of services operating as Herriot Hospice Homecare, Just B, Saint Michaels Hospice and Talking Spaces.

Saint Michael's Hospice is an established independent voluntary sector provider of a range of specialist and general palliative care services including a 10 bedded specialist palliative care inpatient unit. It also provides @Home care; HCA care for patients with fast track funding in the community, lymphoedema clinics, bereavement services for children and young people, as well as adults (Just B), a hospice Allied Health Professional outreach team, a volunteer visitor scheme and a specialist community based nurse for patients living with Motor Neurone Disease.

Medical staffing within the hospice services consists of 1 part time Palliative Medicine consultant and 2 part time hospice doctors. Two hospice doctor posts are based on the inpatient unit. The medical team provides specialist palliative care as part of a wider multidisciplinary team with access to physiotherapy, occupational therapy and chaplaincy support. There is a weekly MDT meeting to plan patient care.

Patients over the age of 18, with an advanced, progressive, terminal illness may be admitted to the inpatient unit for symptom control, terminal care and crises of care.

The medical on call rota is up to a 1 in 7 frequency of weeknights and weekends. The role of the on-call doctor is to provide out of hours advice to hospice inpatient unit, community teams, Harrogate and District Foundation Trust (HDFT) hospital teams and Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS). Face to face reviews are provided when needed for the hospice inpatients out of hours. The weekday on call hours run from 5pm until 8am. Weekends on call involve seeing any hospice inpatients that require review on both days from approximately 9.30am until all required face to face reviews have been completed. There is access to advice from the 2nd on call Palliative Medicine Consultant, who can provide a further face to face assessment if required.

This post is to fill a current vacancy on the on call rota. This is a permanent post subject to satisfactory completion of the 6 month probationary period.

There is an opportunity to access the online symptom management tutorials that we will provide for the GP registrars on rotation at the hospice.

There will be additional on call telephone and if needed face to face support provided by the hospice consultants for the first three months of the post. The hospice has a policy of a six-month probationary period for all employees with an organisational appraisal at the end of this period.

Hospice (nonclinical) appraisals are conducted every 6 months. All doctors must share revalidation ready appraisal outputs with their line manager. Contact meetings are held every 2 months and can be conducted remotely.

There is the opportunity to access the virtual journal clubs every month.

The post holder is required to complete relevant hospice mandatory training on WeLearn (accessible from home). The hospice will recognise any relevant raining undertaken in other healthcare settings if evidence is provided.

The post holder is encouraged to spend two whole days (paid) each year working on the inpatient unit alongside other doctors to help update clinical skills and knowledge. There is the offer to work on inpatient unit to cover leave and to increase knowledge and skills.

Access to professional supervision is available for issues that arise from work related to the hospice.

Depending on previous palliative medicine experience, we encourage the post holder to enroll on the European Certificate of Palliative Care home-based learning programme. This is run by St Gemmas Hospice and part funding may be available.

The post holder must hold their own medical indemnity that will also cover the hospice work and provide evidence of this cover once appointed and annually thereafter.

To provide effective, high quality medical care and advice for patients of Saint Michaels Hospice and the surrounding community as identified in the job plan.

1.To provide effective high-quality medical care for all inpatients within Saint Michaels Hospice whilst on call.

2.To participate in the hospice doctor first on call rota.

3.To provide effective medical advice and support over the telephone, ensuring palliative care support is available within the hospital and community to other members of the specialist palliative care services, generalist teams and Yorkshire ambulance service. Advice to be recorded using agreed template and care record system.

4.To play an effective role within the multi-disciplinary team to ensure that holistic care of a high standard is available to all patients.

5.To liaise with other health care professionals in hospitals and communities to ensure seamless provision of palliative care for the patients.

6.To commit to continuous professional development to extend knowledge and skills in specialist palliative care.

7.To attend and participate in team education and business meetings (quarterly).

8.To play an effective personal role in all structures and forms of clinical governance and outcome measurement to ensure the maintenance and development of high standards.

To carry out all duties in accordance with the law, Hospice philosophy and Hospice policies on equal opportunity and collective responsibility.

The above is indicative of the tasks required as at the date the job description was written, however it may be subject to change in line with service need and development.

Terms and conditions

Line managed by - Medical Director

Line management - No line management responsibility

Salary - Pro rata on call payment for on call duties undertaken.

Hours - up to a 1 in 7 on call rota

Essential Education and Qualifications

Registered doctor

Essential Experience

2 years post registration experience

Essential Knowledge Skill

Excellent interpersonal skills

Effective communication skills

Good team player

Understanding of collective responsibility

Note and report writing skills

Organising and planning skills

Assessment skills

Able to remain calm in situations of pressure

Able to pay attention to detail

We put the people who use our services at the heart of everything we do

We are caring and compassionate

We are personal and supportive in our approach

We engage positively

We are responsive

We are driven to do better

We are fair

We are professional

We work collaboratively

We are accountable

Living out our values

Our behaviour framework puts our values in the context of our everyday work. See what this includes atsaintmichaelshospice.org/behaviour-framework

We positively encourage applications from all areas of the community, regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age, or sexual orientation and from users of mental health services. This is part of our commitment to equality and reflecting the diversity of our communities.

We believe that children, young people and adults should never experience abuse of any kind. Our safer recruitment and safeguarding processes help protect those accessing our services, please see our safeguarding statement on our website:https://saintmichaelshospice.org/safeguarding-statement/

If you require any support or adjustments to be able to apply for this role, please let us know by emailing people@saintmichaelshospice.org.

We will need to complete satisfactory pre-employment checks before appointing you. These include but are not limited to identity checks, DBS clearance at an appropriate level for the role, verification of right to work in the UK, employment references and employment history. We will cover the cost of these.

Qualifications

Desirable: - Desirable Criteria; - Previous palliative care experience; - Formal palliative care qualifications