Job summary
- Main area
- Palliative Medicine
- Grade
- NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 10 sessions per week
- Job ref
- 359-8208562ONC
- Employer
- Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital (Cross Site)
- Town
- Maidstone
- Salary
- £113,565 - £150,569 per annum pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 15/10/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Consultant in Palliative Medicine
NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
Job overview
This is a post for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. The successful candidate will work with the existing palliative medicine consultant and support the Specialist Palliative Care (SPC) and Enhanced supportive Care (ESC) services on both sites of the Trust. The post is part of the Oncology directorate and the post will be based at Maidstone hospital, the main site for Kent Oncology services.
Main duties of the job
1. To provide a high standard of care to any patient for whom you have clinical responsibility. This will include any patients referred to you and cared for by you personally or by members of your team, and, in addition, any patients of consultant colleagues when you are covering on-call or for annual leave.
2. To participate in clinical and other service activities and development to ensure a high standard of patient care across the Trust.
3. To work in close co-operation with other medical, professional and managerial colleagues, both within and outside the speciality, to provide high-quality health care to the Trust’s patients, and to contribute to future thinking about the Trust’s strategic direction.
4. To participate fully in and share leadership of the clinical governance of the speciality covering its Trust-wide activities. To attend clinical governance half-days as detailed in the Trust’s Guide to job planning, unless on agreed leave or while attending emergencies.
5. To participate actively in departmental audits, sharing co-ordination of audit activities within the department and implementation of change.
Working for our organisation
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust ranks among the top 10 NHS Trusts nationwide and was named the second-best Trust to work for in the South East in the 2023 and 2024 NHS Staff Survey.
We are a large acute hospital trust in south-east England, providing general hospital services and specialist care to around 600,000 residents in West Kent and East Sussex. With a dedicated and diverse team of over 8,000 staff we are proud to offer specialised cancer services to over two million people through the Kent Oncology Centre.
Fordcombe Hospital, near Tunbridge Wells, became part of the Trust in October 2024. Specialising in planned care, it offers two operating theatres, 28 inpatient and day-care beds, diagnostic services (X-ray, MRI, CT, and endoscopy), and consultation/treatment rooms.
Looking for flexible working?
We are a flexible working-friendly organisation. Whether it’s adjusting your hours or exploring other flexible arrangements, we want to work with you to find the best solution for you, our patients, and the Trust. Talk to us about how we can accommodate your working needs.
Click here to hear what our staff say.
Joining us includes a comprehensive benefits package:
- Generous annual leave entitlement
- Membership in the NHS Pension Scheme, with a employer contribution of 23.7% and life assurance benefits
- Blue Light card eligibility
- And more, additional benefits can be found in the benefits documents below
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. The post-holder will be accountable to the Clinical Director, who in turn is accountable to the Medical Director and the Chief Executive.
2. The post-holder will be a member of the Trust Consultant’s Committee and will be expected to represent colleagues at various committees.
3. The post-holder will have full clinical responsibility for patients in their care
4. The post-holder is expected to communicate widely, including:
Chief of Service
Clinical Director
Consultant Oncologists
Hospital Consultants
Lead nurse for Palliative and End of Life Care
General Manager Kent Oncology Centre
General Manager Specialist Services Division
Cancer Lead Nurse
Oncology Site Managers
Commissioners of Health Services
GPs
Specialist Palliative Care Services
Agencies concerned with Health Care Services and those representing consumers’ interests.
Medical Director
Chief Nurse
Acute oncology Team
Cancer site specific Nurses
Clinical Responsibilities
1. To clinically manage patients requiring specialist palliative and enhanced supportive care within MTW.
2. To maintain continuing clinical responsibility for the patients in the post-holder’s charge allowing for all proper delegation to, and training of, medical staff.
3. It is anticipated that in the future that the post holder may wish to rotate to the role of lead palliative care clinician, this will be facilitated through job planning.
4. To participate in and contribute to the Trust and Oncology Centre Clinical Governance programme.
5. To participate in Clinical Trials and R&D programmes in order to ensure that clinical practice is evidence based.
6. To prepare business cases for new / developmental therapies for network / trust approval.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Full registration and a licence to practise with the GMC:
- MRCP (UK) or equivalent
- Entry on the GMC Specialist Register for Palliative Medicine by CCT or Portfolio Pathway in Palliative Medicine, or training to a level commensurate with the award of Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), or within six months of award of CCT by date of interview
Desirable criteria
- Research degree in allied fields (MD/PhD)
Experience
Essential criteria
- Ability to take full and independent responsibility for clinical care of patients
- Clinical training and experience equivalent to that required for gaining UK CCT in specialty.
- Experience in working effectively within a multidisciplinary team and specialist palliative care unit.
- Ability to provide palliative care advice and support to other healthcare professionals in the palliative care team, hospital and community settings.
Desirable criteria
- Experience in Clinical Audit and/or Research
- Experience in medical education
- Experience in Enhanced Supportive Care or equivalent
Skills
Essential criteria
- Enthusiasm for development of service.
- Ability to organise and manage workload.
- Ability to undertake palliative care assessments in a variety of settings including hospital wards and outpatient clinics.
- Ability to undertake training & mentoring of staff in junior grades
- Ability to use IT equipment (e-mail, word processing etc) and learn clinical IT systems use
Desirable criteria
- An interest and a capacity to teach and learn from members of the multidisciplinary team
- Sound knowledge of NHS Management structures/systems
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Beth Mackay
- Job title
- Consultant in Palliative Medicine
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01622 225024
- Additional information
Prospective candidates are invited to visit the Trust by appointment with Dr Beth Mackay, Consultant in Palliative Medicine
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