Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Along with the clinical responsibilities listed above, the post will have a commitment to the education of junior staff and medical students when working with you. You are encouraged to consider being educational supervisors  for the deanery .

Clinical Audit and Clinical Governance

Participate in clinical audit across the department in line with Trust policy and guidelines

Implement audit and research findings across the department

Comply with the Trust clinical governance processes in a timely manner

Continuing Professional Development

Supporting Professional Activities are undertaken by all Consultants in a collaborative manner based on SDU needs

Job plan

The post will be 10 PAs under the “new” consultant contract.  An indicative job plan and timetable can be found below. The final job plan for the post will be agreed with the SDU lead and will be subject to renegotiation at least annually.  

The existing general paediatric consultant rota is designed around a 45 week rolling cycle. There is a planned change if requirement to all posts are successful to a 60 week rolling rota . Paediatrician of the Week (POW) and Neonatologist of the Week (NOW) weeks are shared equally between 15 consultants. 1^st on call nights (non-resident) are shared equally. During the day there is a 2^nd on-call (non-resident) consultant who covers the Children’s Day unit at Wycombe hospital and is available at night as back-up for the 1^st on consultant in the event of e.g. simultaneous neonatal and paediatric emergencies.

With the opening of our New children’s ED department in April 2023 we are also doing on call weeks Monday -Friday  between the team.

Each consultant has 10.5  on-call weeks in each year. The NOW and POW  weeks runs from Friday-Thursday. 3.5 times a year the consultant will also cover the new Children’s observation unit (COU), Monday to Friday, which is co-located with the new Children’s ED department. This number may change to be 1.5 with redesigning the rota.

We are currently looking at redesigning the rota (60 week rolling rota instead of 45)  with some colleagues doing only COU weeks as part of their acute service commitment. This will decrease the amount of on call  weeks for the rest of the 15 on call team .We may also be stopping 2^nd on call overnight duties which will decrease the supplement to 3% from 5% above . Daytime responsibilities for 2^nd on call at Wycombe Hospital will continue.

8 consultants share weekday evening twilight shifts. Fixed days are covered across the year by paired consultants doing 26 shifts per year. Additionally, each of the 8 consultants cover 2.3 twilight weekends. During the twilight shifts patients requiring admission are reviewed by the twilight consultant to ensure appropriate management and early planning for discharge to protect capacity. The remainder of the twilight weekends are covered by the other 7 consultants. This post is within the latter group of 7 consultants.

In combination the 1^st and 2^nd on-call shifts mean that the rota is 1 in 7.5 and therefore attracts a Category A - Medium Frequency (5%) on call supplement. This may change as above to a 1 in 15 category A- low frequency (3%)

Provisional Job plan

 Provisional Timetable excluding POW/NOW weeks

Annual Leave Arrangements:

Leave should be arranged by mutual agreement of consultant colleagues and approval of the clinical director and/or general manager, in accordance with standard Trust and NHS regulations.  It is essential that six weeks’ notice is given to allow for proper planning and prevent cancellations of patients' appointments/surgery. 

The post holder has a responsibility to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to cover his/her clinical duties during any absence and that all leave is coordinated with colleagues to ensure adequate cover arrangements. This includes all forms of leave.