Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice
JOB DESCRIPTION
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197-NHCA28
Locum Appointment for Service (LAS) ST1/2 Level
Palliative Medicine
Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice
Purpose of the Post
A vacancy has arisen to cover maternity leave from 9 May - 4 August 2015 in Palliative
Medicine as part of the Greenwich GP Specialist Training Programme.
This post will provide the post holder with expertise in the holistic management of patients with
malignant and non-malignant life limiting illness. They would then be equipped with the relevant
knowledge to provide palliative care to patients in primary care.
This post will increase the doctor‟s exposure to patients with terminal illness and gain further
experience in their management.
The Hospice
The Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice is a purpose built independent Hospice which
opened in 1994
The purpose of Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice is to offer people with advanced Cancer,
and other advanced progressive diseases, the opportunity to live as fully as possible and those
close to them the opportunity of support. We receive referrals for patients living within the boroughs
of Greenwich and Bexley and on occasions from patients living outside these boroughs who would
benefit from access to the hospice (e.g. for family visiting or tertiary services such as
Lymphoedema management)
The Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice provides an Inpatient Unit comprising 19 beds and a
purpose built Day Care facility that is available to 30 community day care patients 3 days a week.
Other aspects of the service offered include a Lymphoedema Service, a rehabilitation service and
a Bereavement and counselling service.
Through the outreach services the hospice support patient and families with life limiting illness
living within the boroughs of Greenwich and Bexley and those currently an in-patient in the Queen
Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich.
The post holder will primarily be responsible for the day to day running of the Inpatient Unit. The
monitoring of patient's symptoms and assessment of their clinical needs is undertaken by the junior
medical staff supported by the Consultant team. A Consultant is on site 5 days a week and can be
contacted by phone when not present.
The referrals for inpatient bed use come broadly under three categories,
Symptom control
Respite
Terminal care
The aims of this post are:
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In short:
1. Become familiar with the multi-disciplinary assessment process of patients with life
threatening or terminal illness.
2. To gain experience in the range of problems affecting patients and their families as they
approach the end of their lives.
3. Obtain experience in the management of pain and other distressing symptoms as they
present to the hospice, community and hospital.
4. To develop skills to facilitate team working with hospice, community and hospital multiprofessional teams.
5. To compare learning with other GP ST trainees and attend weekly half day release
course
Duties and Responsibilities
The post holder will be an integral member of the hospice multidisciplinary team, a Consultant
lead team. There will be involvement in the day-to-day management of patients in the hospice
working closely with nursing staff and other members of the multi-professional team. The
trainee will have responsibilities admitting and assessing new patients and ensuring the
development of a care plan. There are daily handover meetings to ensure continuity of care.
There will be an opportunity to participate in the care of patients in the community alongside the
consultant and clinical nurse specialists as well as involvement in the assessment and
management of patients requiring palliative care in the hospital. There will be appropriate
access to the consultant as well as the clinical nurse specialists and there is a highly trained
team of staff nurses at the hospice.
Daily routine:
The post holder will spend the mornings attending the handover sessions with the nurses then
reviewing the patients with the other members of the junior staff. Formal consultant ward rounds
take place twice weekly. Consultant patient review at other times is available depending on
clinical need. There are on average 1 to 3 admissions a day to the hospice and these would be
shared amongst the medical staff. The post holder would be responsible for establishing a care
plan and liaising with the family and other professionals involved in the patients‟ care. Case
conferences are scheduled to suit the participants and trainees would be expected to lead on
their own patients.
The remainder of the time would be spent either in the community or hospital as well as
attending Wednesday afternoon VTS sessions and in house teaching opportunities
.
Clinical work would be very flexible so as to best meet the patients and family needs. One to
one teaching from the Consultants would be an integral part of the weekly routine. The post
holder will be expected to take part in relevant clinical and non clinical audit as appropriate.
Out of Hours work
The post holder will be expected to provide non resident first on call cover to the hospice at no
more than a 1 in 4.5 routine (with the confines of the European working time directive). This will
include a need to return to the Hospice where clinical need dictates.
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Timetable and Teaching
TIMETABLE
a.m.
Monday
Consultant wardround
Tuesday
Multi-disciplinary
meeting
Wednesday
Ward work
p.m.
Ward work
Ward work/
Medical teaching
GP ST halfday course
Thursday
Ward
work/wardround
Ward work
Friday
Consultant
ward-round
Ward-work
Consultant teaching is part of the ward-round.
Supervision
Throughout the attachment the post holder will have a named educational supervisor who will
be responsible for:
o Ensuring appropriate induction
o Agreeing learning objectives.
o Direct Hospice Supervision
Dr Brendan O‟Neill, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, will oversee the post
Terms and Conditions of Employment
The post is covered by the Terms and Conditions of Service of Medical and Dental Staff (England
and Wales).
The salary will be paid on the MN37 Specialty Registrar pay scale £30,002-£47,175 per annum
whole time, plus an on-call allowance and London Weighting £2,162 per annum whole time.
Annual leave entitlement is 27 days per annum for those on MN37.0-MN37.2 and 32 days per
annum for those on MN37.3 or above. Six week‟s notice is required and leave requests should
be made by completing and submitting the appropriate forms to the Directorate Office.
There is no automatic entitlement to study leave attached to this post. However days off and/or
funding may be granted at the discretion of the department.
GMC Registration is a condition of appointment and the onus is on the employee to maintain
registration.
The passing of a medical examination is a condition of appointment.
The post holder will have a personal responsibility for the management of clinical risk and must
abide by the Trust‟s risk management strategy and relevant policies.
Emergency Cover
The post holder accepts that he/she will also perform duties in occasional emergencies in
unforeseen circumstances at the request of the appropriate Consultant, in consultation where
practicable, with his colleagues both junior and senior. It has been arranged between the
professions and the department that while juniors accept that they will perform such duties, the
Secretary of State stresses that additional commitments arising out of this sub-section are
exceptional, in particular the junior should not be required to undertake work of this kind for long
periods of time.
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General Responsibilities
This job description is intended to be an interpretation of the general scope and proposed
responsibilities of the post at the time of writing and does not form part of the contract of
employment. Therefore, you may be required to undertake other duties and responsibilities
commensurate with your role. The job and priorities for action will be periodically reviewed.
This will be done by the line manager in consultation with the post holder.
Health & Safety
The post holder, like all other employees must take reasonable care at all times, and be aware
of their responsibilities under Health & Safety at Work Act (1974), infection control and other
legislation and ensures that agreed safety procedures are pursued in a way that maintains a
safe environment for all employees, patients and visitors at all times.
Child/Adult Protection
The post holder will be familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures
and the associate guidance and protocols of Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust. The post
holder has the responsibility to ensure that the welfare of all children and vulnerable adults is
paramount and prioritised at all times and must be prepared to share information with the
statutory agencies. This duty will be prioritised at all times.
Data Protection Act
The post holder must maintain the confidentiality of information about patient, staff and Health
Service business in accordance with the Data Protection Act (1998).
All employees of Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust must not, without prior permission, disclose
any information regarding patients or staff. In circumstances where it is known that a member
of staff has communicated to an unauthorized person, those staff will be liable to dismissal.
Moreover, the Data Protection Act (1998) also renders an individual liable for prosecution in the
event of unauthorized disclosure of information.
Confidential Information
All staff of Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust have a legal obligation to comply with all
appropriate legislation in respect of Data, Information and IT Security and to comply with
guidance issued by the Department of Health and the NHS Executive. This includes but is not
limited to the Data Protection Act 1998, the Department of Health Confidentiality NHS Code of
Practice, Records Management NHS Code of Practice, and Information Security NHS Code of
Practice.
This clause applies to any information you may acquire or have access to during the course of
your employment with Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust including but not limited to patient/staff
records and details, information relating to organisation or business contracts, information
relating to financial affairs, service or commercial contracts and information relating to
confidential policies of Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust and its successor organisations
(“Confidential Information”). Equal responsibility will apply whether working on or off site
(including home working and remote access working.)
You shall not, during the continuance of your employment or at any time after its termination for
any reason, use or disclose to any person or persons whatsoever (except the proper officers of
Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust or under the authority of the Board) any trade secrets,
secret information or confidential information and you shall use your best endeavours to prevent
any such use or disclosure.
You are required to know and follow Trust Information Governance policies and procedures and
to recognise that good records management and data quality is vital to the Trust and is the
responsibility of everyone working on behalf of the Trust. You must not act in any way that
would compromise records management, data quality, data protection, information security or
confidentiality.
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You should ensure that any actions that may contravene Information Governance standards are
brought to the attention of management.
Any breach of the conditions outlined in the Trust‟s Information Governance Policies and
Procedures may result in suspension of access to Trust information and systems. Formal action
may also be taken in line with the Trust Disciplinary Policy.
Infection Control
Infection Prevention is everyone‟s responsibility. All staff, both clinical and non clinical, are
required to adhere to the Trusts‟ Infection Prevention and Control Policies and make every effort
to maintain high standards of infection prevention practice at all times. In particular, all staff
have the following key responsibilities:
Staff must observe stringent hand hygiene, and be bare below the elbows in clinical
areas, as per policy. Hand hygiene must be performed using soap and water, or alcohol
hand gel in line with Trust policy.
Staff members have a duty to attend infection prevention training provided for them by
the Trust as defined in the trust training needs analysis.
Staff members who develop an infection that may be transmissible to patients have a
duty to contact Occupational Health for advice.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust aims to promote equality of opportunity for all with the right
mix of talent, skills and potential. Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust welcomes applications
from diverse candidates. Criminal records will be taken into account for recruitment purposes
only when the conviction is relevant. Having an „unspent‟ conviction will not necessarily bar any
candidate from employment. This will depend on the circumstances and background to the
offence(s).
Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust meets the requirements in respect of exempted questions
under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all applicants who are offered employment will
be subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) before the
appointment is confirmed. This will include details of cautions, reprimands or final warnings, as
well as convictions.
The Local Area
Greenwich and Bexley are located in a pleasant part of South East London/Kent Borders, with
easy access to Central London, the Kent Countryside and Channel Ports. There are a wide
range of residential areas with excellent local facilities and schools.
Equal Opportunities
Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer and we welcome
applications from all sections of the community.
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