Specialty Doctor in Palliative Medicine/Clinical Fellow

Job responsibilities

Job purpose

To provide high-quality medical care to patients referred to Trinity Hospice and Palliative Care Services, working mainly within the adult Inpatient Unit while also contributing to safe, compassionate and evidence-based care across the wider hospice as required.

The post holder will work within a multidisciplinary team and contribute to clinical care, education, clinical governance, audit and service development. Although the current service need is primarily inpatient-focused, the post holder will be expected to work flexibly across Trinity services and support medical input to community, hospital and other hospice services when required.

A Specialty Doctor appointment is the preferred model for this post. However, appointable applicants who do not yet meet full Specialty Doctor criteria may be considered for appointment as a Clinical Fellow on Trinity Hospice local terms.

Main duties and responsibilities

Clinical care

1. To undertake clinical assessment, review and management of patients predominantly within the adult Inpatient Unit, and across other Trinity services as required by service need.
2. To work collaboratively with medical, nursing and wider multidisciplinary colleagues to develop and review holistic management plans.
3. To communicate effectively with patients, families, carers and professional colleagues to support coordinated, high-quality care.
4. To prescribe safely and effectively in accordance with relevant policies, formularies and prescribing guidance, and to contribute to prescribing audit and improvement work.
5. To undertake appropriate clinical procedures within the limits of competence and local policy.
6. To request or support clinically appropriate investigations within the limits of role, competence and local arrangements, seeking senior advice where required.
7. To maintain accurate, timely and contemporaneous clinical documentation and handover.

On-call / out-of-hours

1. To participate in the first on-call rota for weekday nights and weekends, currently operating at approximately 1:5 to 1:8 frequency, as agreed within the rota and job plan.
2. For the Specialty Doctor appointment, Trinitys on-call package includes a 5% Category A availability supplement and 1.2 programmed activities per week for the on-call work component, including the predictable on-site weekend element.
3. Weekday night on-call is primarily delivered as off-site telephone support, mainly to the Inpatient Unit and occasionally to Hospice at Home, with return to site if clinically required, although this is not expected to be common.
4. Weekend on-call includes the same off-site availability and telephone support, together with a predictable on-site component that is recognised within the job plan.
5. For a Clinical Fellow appointment, rota participation will be more limited and phased. On-call participation, level of responsibility and remuneration will depend on competence, supervision arrangements and satisfactory progression within the role.
6. To review, admit and support discharge of patients as required by service need and competence, escalating appropriately when needed.

Teaching, education and supervision

1. To contribute to education and training for staff, learners and colleagues as appropriate to role and level of appointment.
2. To participate in the supervision, teaching and support of medical students, trainees and other learners where appropriate.
3. To support multiprofessional education and, where appropriate, contribute to supervision of doctors in training, advanced practitioners and other learners.

Audit, research and quality improvement

1. To contribute to clinical governance, audit, quality improvement and service development activity.
2. To participate in research activity where appropriate and feasible, with support from senior colleagues and the research team.
3. To support evidence-based practice, literature review, service evaluation and policy or guideline development where appropriate.

Appraisal, revalidation and job planning

1. Where this post is the doctors primary employment, appraisal and revalidation will be undertaken through Blackpool Teaching Hospitals using the L2P appraisal system, which also supports annual job planning. Trinity Hospice is a small designated body and shares the Responsible Officer arrangement with Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.
2. The post includes 1 core SPA to support the usual core professional requirements, including appraisal, revalidation, job planning, mandatory professional development and associated professional activities.
3. Additional non-core SPA may be agreed separately for areas such as education, research / quality improvement, and leadership / management. Any such additional SPA will be determined through the job planning process and will depend on service need, service development priorities, experience and competence.

Professional development

1. To maintain professional development, participate in appraisal and support revalidation requirements.
2. To maintain a record of training and development and engage with supervision, reflective practice and continuing professional development.
3. To maintain mandatory training, including safeguarding and relevant legal and ethical frameworks.

General responsibilities

1. To comply with Trinity Hospice policies, procedures and values.
2. To raise concerns appropriately in line with organisational policy and GMC Good Medical Practice.
3. To maintain appropriate professional registration, indemnity and fitness to practise requirements.
4. To support a culture of teamwork, wellbeing, resilience and compassionate professional practice.
5. To role model respectful, fair and compassionate professional behaviour in all interactions with patients, families, carers, colleagues and partner organisations.
6. To contribute to a team culture in which people feel valued, supported and able to raise concerns safely.
7. To communicate with kindness, courtesy and professionalism, including when managing challenge, disagreement or emotionally difficult situations.
8. To support inclusive multidisciplinary working and demonstrate awareness of the impact of personal behaviour on others.
9. To demonstrate and uphold Trinitys values of Caring, Adaptable, Responsible, Excellent and Socially Engaged (Trinity CARES).

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