Microbiology specialist doctor

University Hospitals Plymouth wishes to appoint a full-time Specialist Doctor working in the Microbiology Department. This is an exciting new opportunity that has arisen due to Consultant Microbiologist retirement. This role will allow the Department to start to work towards a new and innovative staffing model. The successful candidate will form part of a team of Consultants plus one substantive Clinical Scientist and one in training. The post comprises 10 programmed activities a week. The appointee will together with other members of the clinical team be responsible for the provision of a comprehensive and effective clinical microbiology, mycology and virology service to the Trust, local GPs and other service use.

Rotation of lead roles within the Department e.g. Head of Department, Infection Prevention & Control, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Bone & Joint Infection, Virology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Cardio-thoracic surgery, Infective Endocarditis, Intensive Care, Neurosurgery, Renal Transplant and Sepsis occurs by mutual agreement. Supplementary roles may attract further programmed activities over and above the standard contract according to the needs of the service and mutual agreement. Any applicant who is unable, for personal reasons, to work full time will be eligible to be considered for the post in which case modification of the job content will be on a personal basis with the employing body in consultation with consultant colleagues.

Day-to-day supervision of diagnostic methods and examination of specimens, Authorisation and interpretation of results, Clinical audit . Policy/standard operating procedure (SOP), clinical guideline preparation and maintenance of quality across the hospital and laboratory, achieving and maintaining full accreditation with UKAS, Active management of the laboratory including business planning, assessment and introduction of new tests. UKHSA in relation to the prevention, detection and management of outbreaks in the community. Other managerial and administrative duties as agreed with HOD and/or Service Line Director. A 1:7 on call rota with prospective cover. This is paid at the “A” rate. The appointed person will be required to be in the Department on Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday mornings, to advise biomedical scientist staff, review inpatients and deal with significant results as required and also provide, supported by an on call Infection Control Nurse, out of hours Infection Control advice. The operational practicalities are almost exclusively managed by the nursing team, with medical support for the most complex issues.

The parameters of the posts are 8.5 DCC PAs and 1.5 SPA Pas but individual activities will be flexible within these limits by agreement with the other Medical Staff and are subject to a job planning process.

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust is the largest hospital in the south west peninsula and a major trauma centre, providing comprehensive secondary and tertiary healthcare.

Our geography gives us a secondary care catchment population of 450,000 with a wider peninsula population of almost 2,000,000 people who can access our specialist services. The population is characterised by its diversity – the rural and the urban, the wealthy and pockets of deprivation, and wide variance in health and life expectancy. Population ageing is a recognised national trend, but is exacerbated locally by the drift of younger people out of the area and older people in. The proportion of our population aged 85 or over is growing ahead of the national average by approximately 10 years, giving Plymouth the opportunity to innovate on behalf the nation in services for the elderly.

We work within a network of other hospitals to offer a range of specialist services:

• Kidney transplant
• Pancreatic cancer surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Cardiothoracic surgery
• Bone marrow transplant
• Upper Gastro-intestinal surgery
• Hepatobiliary surgery
• Neonatal intensive care and high risk obstetrics
• Plastic surgery
• Liver transplant evaluation

The appointee will be expected to liaise in a timely manner with clinicians, hospital staff, Medical Microbiologists, General Practitioners and Health Protection Teams concerning the diagnosis and management of patients and control and prevention of infections, including the provision of telephone advice out of hours. The appointee is expected to encourage good antibiotic stewardship and admission avoidance. The appointee will develop relationships with the staff in the clinical areas for which they are responsible which will include attending multi-disciplinary team meetings and participating in other clinical or audit meetings as required. Other clinical and laboratory areas covered will be agreed between medical staff to make maximum use of individual’s skills and interests.

Members of the Department take part in the meetings of the Laboratory Management Team, Pathology committees, Medicines Governance Committee, the Hospital Infection Prevention and Control Committee and the Antimicrobial Stewardship Steering Group and liaise closely with the local UK Health Security Agency Health Protection Team.

The appointee will assist with the development and implementation of the Infection Prevention and Control programme for the Trust which is led by the Director of the Infection Prevention and Control.

During first and second on call clinical liaison days, the appointee will take primary responsibility for incoming requests for advice and work arising from positive laboratory results. The workload is shared with the other consultants who continue to oversee their specific areas of interest when available. Attendance in the laboratory on weekends and Bank Holidays is required; duties include authorisation of laboratory results and communication of urgent preliminary work.

The job plan includes 7-8 on-call weekends/year (Friday 5pm-Monday 9am) and 29-30 on-call weeknights/year (Monday through Thursday, 5pm-9am the following morning), which includes internal cover, assuming all posts are filled.