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Job description

We are looking for 2 new colleagues to join our friendly, supportive department. The posts will be based either in Brighton at the Royal Sussex County Hospital or at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, with some scope for cross-site working. This job involves day-to-day care of patients living with frailty on the Geriatric medicine wards, acute floors, Rapid Access Clinic for Older People and within other specialist roles such as dementia care, Parkinson’s care, community sessions or surgical liaison.

UHS is an exciting place to work, with our department due to move into the brand new Louisa Martindale Building at RSCH in June 2023. We are developing a frailty service at PRH and with the Trust’s recent merger to form University Hospitals Sussex, there are many opportunities. As an academic department we support research and innovative projects, such as Small Acts of Friendship, which has gained national attention.

We are a teaching hospital and are supportive of developing our consultants as educators. We operate a shared leadership model within the department which means we all participate in the running of the department. This provides an excellent space for support, with a mix of experience and skills within our group.

We operate a hybrid rota and can accommodate full-time or less than full time working. We use Healthrota software for an annualised rota within the department, which increases flexibility while still working within the agreed number of PA’s.

The clinical duties of the post include the following:

• Day to day care of patients on one of the new wards in LMB
• Rapid Access Clinic for Older People
• Other specialist roles such as community sessions, surgical liaison or other clinics as per the candidate’s interests
• At RSCH “Frailty week” (1 in 8) Acute Assessment Unit (patients identified as living with frailty: Clinical Frailty Scale >5), 1 in 8 weekends on-call and evening shifts on acute floor 4-7pm (maximum 1 in 6)
• At PRH there is an on-call consultant system (General Internal Medicine) with a mid-take and post-take ward round

The non-clinical duties of the post include:

• Engagement in Shared Leadership of the department via weekly leadership meetings
• Participation in clinical governance, service improvement and audit, this is supported by the safety and quality team within the Trust
• Clinical supervision of trainee doctors and participation in LFG and local educational meetings
• Keeping up to date with knowledge and skills via CPD
• Engagement with yearly appraisal and revalidation (this is well supported by the medical appraisal and revalidation (MAAR) team in the trust)

At UHSussex we’re proud to be at the heart of the NHS. As one of theUK’s largest acute Trusts, we’re a leading example of the excellence, the ambition and the values that have embodied the NHS for over 70 years.

Improving lives: We are a vibrant and inclusive organisation, with hardworking, talented and dedicated individuals, who work together towards a common goal, to always put ourPatient First. Our mission is summed up by our ‘where better never stops’ motto and no matter the role at UHSussex, you will play a part in driving us forwards and in improving the lives of patients across Sussex. We treat our patients and staff with the same compassion and empathy we expect for ourselves. We’re here for them when they need us, and we go above and beyond to meet their needs. This can be seen in ourwellbeing programmefor staff which is extensive and designed to support you when you need it because we know that to look after others we must first look after ourselves.

Build a career with us: As a university trust and a leader in healthcare research, we value learning, teaching and training so that we can be the best that we can be. From the moment you start with us and throughout your career we will help you to grow and develop. We hope that in choosing UHSussex you are choosing a long and happy career where you will be able to see the difference you make and feel valued for all that you do.

The Royal Sussex County Hospital is undergoing major redevelopment, with the Geriatric medicine wards a key part of the new 3T’s project which is taking shape before our eyes and expected to open in 2023. The department is very excited about this massive improvement in facilities for our staff and patients. More information can be found here: https://www.bsuh.nhs.uk/about-us/hospital-redevelopment/about-the-redevelopment/

We have a very strong relationship with the Friends of Brighton and Hove Hospitals and have worked with them on a £100,000 project “Small Acts of Friendship” which has positively transformed the patient experience on our wards. More information can be found here: https://www.brightonhospitalfriends.org.uk/support-us/donations/small-acts-of-friendship/

At RSCH our acute assessment unit has been reconfigured to be a true assessment unit, with an aim for patients to stay on the Unit for 24 hours or less and for their care to be provided by the acute medical team and acute frailty team.

At PRH the acute frailty model is under development and in pilot phase. It will be fully implemented when we have appointed to these new consultant roles.

The post holder would have their own desk space and computer in an office shared with other consultants in the department. They would have secretarial support and access to all Trust IT systems needed to do their job. We also offer peer-mentoring via our shared leadership model and shared office space, with regular formal and informal meetings where clinical, leadership or other work-related issues can be discussed with colleagues across both sites. We also meet regularly with colleagues from all sites including RSCH, PRH, Worthing, Chichester and Newhaven for education and governance purposes.

We are a dynamic department and are rapidly developing the care of frail patients within our hospitals and with community services including virtual wards. We maintain a strong presence at the “front door”, and at RSCH have a system whereby one consultant will cover the daytime acute admissions for older patients throughout the week, sometimes with a second colleague supporting them on the acute floor. We have daily MDT board rounds on all wards and the acute assessment unit, working closely with the Integrated Discharge Team (IDT) and the acute medical team.

We care for patients across 5 specialist acute Geriatric medicine wards, including the Emerald Unit, an award-winning unit treating medical problems in patients with cognitive impairment. This will move to level 8 of the Louisa Martindale, across 3 wings in June 2023.

At PRH there are two Geriatric Medicine Wards, one incorporating the award winning Poynings dementia unit. There are plans to develop an acute frailty unit. We support inpatient rehabilitation for patients following discharge on Newhaven Ward at Newhaven Hospital, and at Uckfield community hospital.

On each site there is a Rapid Access Clinic for Older People (RACOP) which, due to its success, has been expanded to incorporate general outpatients for Geriatric medicine. With the opening of the Louisa Martindale Building RACOP RSCH will be moving to level 8 to be co-located with the short stay frailty ward and will be evolving into a Frailty SDEC. There are separate specialist clinics in Parkinson’s disease on both sites.

The department works closely with colleagues in stroke medicine and orthogeriatrics and is developing surgical liaison services.

There is a strong research and education base through Academic departments at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, led by Professor Rajkumar, Dr Ali and Dr Levett. There are many opportunities to get involved with research (both quantitative and qualitative) and/or teaching and assessment of undergraduate students.

We have 1 session of SPA dedicated to CPD for each consultant, protected and supported by the trust executive team. There are weekly grand round and departmental education meetings to help achieve this. Our department education meetings happen every Thursday lunchtime and are a mixture of discussion of cases for learning, talks from experts and journal club. There are also numerous other opportunities for CPD across both sites, including RCP updates and other lectures and workshops via the medical school and educational/clinical supervision training. Other activities such as teaching, supervision and leadership roles will be assigned additional SPA time. The postholder will have 2 sessions of SPA, 1.5 of which are expected to be used for activities related to revalidation (including audit, CPD and appraisal).

The post holder accepts that they will also perform duties in occasional emergencies and unforeseen circumstances at the request of the appropriate consultant, in consultation, where practicable, with their colleagues, both senior and junior. While it has been agreed between the professions that they will perform such duties, the Secretary of State stresses that additional commitments arising under this sub-section are exceptions and you should not be required to undertake work of this kind for prolonged periods or on a regular basis.

For a full job description with much more detail please see the attached document.