research fellow Oxford, England
Job description
Overview of post
2 Vacancies (1 for 6 months and another for 12 months)
This post will provide sub-specialty experience in Interstitial Lung Disease and would be suited to a Respiratory trainee as out-of-programme experience during specialist training The post is based in the Oxford Centre for Respiratory Medicine, at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Oxford Interstitial Lung Disease Service is a designated regional specialist centre and an anti-fibrotic prescribing centre, delivering comprehensive care to the Oxfordshire and Thames Valley region. The post holder will play a key role, under supervision, in the care and diagnosis of patients with Interstitial Lung Disease, with the support of the ILD MDT. The post holder will also support the clinical administrative responsibilities associated with the delivery of a regional ILD service. In addition to this clinical experience, the post-holder will have the opportunity to participate in departmental education meetings and teaching within the Oxford Centre of Respiratory Medicine and to be involved in research projects relevant to interstitial lung disease
Principle Activities
The post holder’s principal duties are based in Respiratory Medicine outpatients which is currently located on the Churchill Hospital site, with an approx. 1 week in 7 contribution to the respiratory ward rota based at the JR site and provision of night care around 1:52 weeks. The main role of the post holder will be to provide consistent support to the Interstitial Lung Disease service as required under the supervision of the Interstitial Lung Disease consultants Dr Rachel Hoyles (clinical service lead), Prof Ling-Pei Ho (academic lead), Dr Peter Saunders and Dr Emily Fraser. The team participate on national ILD clinical and research advisory groups, have a clear publication record in clinical trials, translational and basic science ILD research, and are speakers at international/national ILD symposia
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trustis one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. Find out more here www.ouh.nhs.uk
The Trust comprises four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.
Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community. We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence and its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence. These values put patients at the heart of what we do and underpin the quality healthcare we would like for ourselves or a member of our family. Watch how we set out to deliver compassionate excellence via the OUH YouTube channel.
Specifically, such duties may include:
General ILD clinics
Sarcoidosis Clinics
Joint rheumatology-ILD clinics
Progressive fibrosis specialist clinics (including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis)
Weekly Interstitial Lung Disease MDTs (with pathology and rheumatology colleagues)
Pulmonary hypertension MDTs
IPF Trial recruitment via the Oxford Respiratory Trials Unit (with GCP certification)
Bronchoscopy lists
Respiratory ward duty (1 week in 7, pattern may vary) – specialist ward/Respiratory high care cover
Out of hours on call rota (respiratory offsite oncall and general medicine nights)
Contribution to local and national ILD databases
Review/action test results
Contribution to the ILD patient helpline
Involvement in audit
The ILD team comprises four dedicated ILD consultants, two ILD specialist nurses, ILD MDT coordinator, two ILD secretaries and an administrative assistant. The ILD service is supported by three radiologists and two pathologists with an interest in ILD, academic and clinical rheumatologists, research nurses, and when required three on-site thoracic surgeons. Community respiratory nurses provide funded ILD community palliative and psychosocial support to end-stage ILD cases. Allied support to the ILD service include physiotherapy outpatient support for pacing advice and breathlessness control, the home oxygen assessment service provide ambulatory assessments and community oxygen follow-up, direct access to pulmonary rehabilitation (Oxford city and >5 county sites), and access to a senior respiratory pharmacist with an ILD interest. Further support is provided by a comprehensive lung function laboratory, and BAL differential cell count service. The OUH Trust biologics unit facility delivers cytotoxic, immunosuppressant and biologics therapies
Supervised training will be provided to the post holder as required. Training requirements will be reviewed at start and mid-way though post. It is envisaged that the post-holder will gain significant clinical experience in all aspects of Interstitial Lung Disease management. It will be necessary for the post holder to work closely with the rotational specialist registrar (or equivalent) flexibly to ensure adequate middle grade cover
Teaching/Research
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust is a teaching hospital Trust, and the post-holder will be required to participate in programmes for teaching clinical students, training junior doctors and in clinical examinations. It is expected that this will be an integral part of every day clinical activity
There is also potential for the post-holder to become involved in research. Prof Ling-Pei Ho leads the ILD research programme which is linked with the MRC Human Immunology Unit and the Immunology Theme of the Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre with focus on sarcoidosis and IPF basic and translational science. We have active research collaboration with rheumatologists. An on-site Integrated Oxford Respiratory Trials Unit provides fully-staffed infrastructure for participation in clinical trials in ILD; we have recently contributed to 6 IPF multinational pharmaceutical trials, and two CTD-ILD trials
Clinical Governance
The post-holder will participate in all clinical governance activities, including clinical audit, clinical effectiveness, risk management, quality improvement activities as required by the Trusts, and external accrediting bodies
Personal and Professional Development
The post-holder will be required to keep himself/herself fully up-to-date with their relevant area of practice and to be able to demonstrate this to the satisfaction of the Trusts. Professional or study leave will be granted at the discretion of the Trusts, in line with the prevailing Terms and Conditions of Service, to support appropriate study, postgraduate training activities, relevant CME courses and other appropriate personal development needs
Management
The post-holder will be required to work within the Trusts’ management policies and procedures, both statutory and internal, accepting that the resources available to the Trusts are finite and that all changes in clinical practice or workload, or developments requiring additional resources must have prior agreement with the Trusts. He/she will undertake the administrative duties associated with the care of his /her patients and the running of his/her clinical department under the direction of the lead clinician and/or directorate chair
