Locum Consultant in Acute Medicine +/- complimentary specialty

The Acute Medicine Unit (AMU) at St George's Hospital was established in 2000. Since then the unit has undergone several reconfigurations in order to modernise our ambulatory unit. The AMU comprises:

The 51 bedded AMU, which includes a 15 bedded Acute Dependency Unit (ADU) with 5 dedicated Level 2 beds, which benefits from daily Consultant led ward rounds and intensive care consultant involvement.

The Medical SDEC Unit also known as the Ambulatory Assessment Area (AAA) consists of 10 chairs, 6 trolleys and 4 clinic rooms. One of the trollies in a side room. We benefit from a dedicated ultrasound service on a daily basis within the unit and also rapid access (same day/next day) CT scanning slots. The unit is supported by a team of experienced advanced nurse practitioners/nurse practitioners, nurses and co-ordinator. The AAA team are working to develop further our Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) pathways.

Amyand is a 28 bedded short stay ward for patients with a predicted length of stay of less than 5 days, which is run as part of the Acute Medicine Unit.

The Acute Medicine rota will be based on a 14 WTE model, all of whom are dedicated acute physicians. We operate an Acute Physicians of the day model. The post-night consultant period begins with non-resident on-call, followed by a post-night ward round commencing at 08:00, and then an MDT triage meeting and an afternoon ward round. The on-call Physician starts at 08.30 and is then responsible for admissions until 21:00hrs. All referrals from primary care and SDEC are received by the on-call consultant and are triaged to ambulatory care or admission avoidance clinics, which run daily. Referrals from the Emergency Department are taken by the on call SpR, with support from the consultant where required. We currently operate a process model for patients from the Emergency Department in order to maximise productivity and in order to avoid admission where possible. Our ambulatory care team consists of nurse practitioners, nurse co-ordinator, triage nurse, bay nurses alongside the on call team.

On day two of a patients stay, we attempt to preserve continuity with the on call consultant from the previous day being responsible for the ongoing care of the patients admitted in the prior 24 hours.

The Acute Medicine Care Group has continually evolved in recent years in order to meet the demand for acute care. This has increased consultant input within the initial 24-48 hours following admission. This post is pivotal to the assessment and management of acutely unwell adult patients. We are also striving to continually improve geriatric and frailty services which most recently has seen integration across the acute and community based teams

The current job plan has been designed to provide a sustainable post in Acute Medicine with or without a complementary specialty. The job plan is designed on an annualised basis which allows some flexibility. There will be an expected commitment to all aspects of the service including; the acute medicine on call rota, physician of the week and Amyand ward rotas, weekend working and the medical SDEC (Same Day Emergency Care).

The appointee is expected to participate in undergraduate, postgraduate and multi-disciplinary education programmes and to play a full part in Clinical Governance.

Qualification

Essential: - MRCP or Equivalent; - Full registration with GMC; - Entered on the Specialist Register for General/Acute Medicine +/- complimentary medical speciality

Desirable: - Higher Research Degree

Experience

Desirable: - Demonstrable experience in teaching; - Demonstrable experience in research with an appropriate publication record

Skills

Knowledge

Essential: - Detailed knowledge of Acute Medicine; - Understanding of modern medical curricula and of learning assessment tools

Desirable: - Detailed knowledge of specialist skills in the relevant area

Personal Disposition