Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see Job Description and Person Specification attached for further details

The CAU and ward is a bright and cheerful environment for children, parents and staff alike.

The unit comprises a 9 bed Children’s ward with isolation cubicles linked to a Children’s Short Stay Assessment and Observation Unit (CAU) with 6 beds and cubicles. The beds are used flexibly to accommodate paediatric medical and surgical patients. There is an HDU room, to allow intensive monitoring of children.  We have good relations with the adult ITU staff at the hospital and admit critically sick children there for stabilisation, prior to transfer to PICU (usually Addenbrooke’s Cambridge).  The department aims to provide comprehensive care for all patients under the age of 16 years but liaises closely and transfers, when appropriate, to Addenbrooke’s Hospital those patients who require regional services.  Where Addenbrooke’s are unable to offer regional services (for example, cardiology or nephrology), or if they require supra-regional services, patients are transferred to or discussed with hospitals outside the region, usually London. 

There is a twelve cot Special Care Baby Unit with two fully equipped intensive care cots.  The SCBU has been upgraded and re-equipped to provide a more efficient and comfortable working environment.  The number of deliveries at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust continues to rise and is currently around 2,629 per year.  The SCBU is equipped with vapotherms and 2 Dragers ventilators, together with appropriate monitoring equipment, which includes facilities for invasive blood pressure monitoring.  Dr Aamir is the Consultant with special responsibility for SCBU. 

Paediatric Out-Patient Clinics are held in the purpose built Paediatric Out-Patient department. 

The following sub specialist paediatric clinics are currently held : diabetic clinics, baby follow up clinics, neurology/epilepsy clinics, baby (new born follow up) clinic, asthma clinic, allergy clinic, urology/nephrology clinics, echocardiography clinic, dermatology, diabetes/endocrinology, oncology and psychology. 

Joint clinics are also held in paediatric cardiology with visiting specialists from the Brompton and from Guy’s (Evelina) and in paediatric endocrinology, neurology, orthopaedics, genetics and paediatric urology/nephrology with visiting specialists from Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge and Norfolk and Norwich hospital. 

The Trust delivers services to patients seven days a week and aims to provide equality of treatment and outcome regardless of the day of the week.  To meet these aims and changing service requirements, the Trust may need you either to work temporarily outside of your core hours or to permanently change your core working days and hours.  The Trust will give you reasonable notice, where possible, of temporary changes to your days or hours of work and will consult with you and/or your staff representatives about substantial permanent changes, but ultimately, these are changes which may be required of you