Job overview

This is a comprehensive regional unit serving Essex and Northeast London.  The population catchment area is 2.4 million for Neurosurgery.  It is located on the outskirts of London within easy reach of central London.  Trains run every very frequently from Central London and Stratford to Romford Station, is a 10-minute walk.   Travel time from Queens Hospital to London is 15-30 minutes.   

Neurosurgical bed base comprises:

•            12 Neuro Critical Care beds. 6 ITU, 6 HDU.

•            38 level 1 beds – Neurosurgery

•            We also operate at the Northeast London Treatment Centre (simple spinal surgery).

There is a daily teaching session (8am) based upon the on-call referrals at which there is excellent attendance from the junior staff and consultants. 

The Neurosciences Group is managed within the Division of Specialist Medicine and includes colleagues with expertise in: Neurology, Stroke, Neurophysiology, Neuropsychology, Neuropathology, Interventional and Diagnostic Neuroradiology and Neuro-intensive care. 

The unit has a very good regional reputation for the training of junior Neurosurgeons which the post holder will be encouraged to develop.  There is a steady output of publications from the unit and research, audit and quality improvement are actively encouraged.

The Neurosciences Unit participates in teaching 4th and 5th year medical students from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, QMUL. 

Main duties of the job

The appointee will be expected to provide a full range of clinical services in Neurosurgery using a team-based approach and be responsible for good clinical governance within their practice and the Department. 

The post holder will be encouraged to develop their area of specialist interest, whilst helping to achieve RTT targets. 

The Department of Neurosurgery are committed to equitable working conditions for all employees. 

The appointee will be expected to:

·       Maintain full registration with the GMC and on the Specialist Register in Neurosurgery

·       Have a broad experience in all areas of the specialty

·       There will be shared on-call responsibility, providing advice via an image system accessible from home covering referring hospitals in Essex.

·       Have good academic qualifications and appropriate research record

·       Can work as a member of a team together with, Clinicians, Technologists, Clinical Scientists, Nursing, Clinical Neurophysiologists, Managerial and Secretarial staff

It is anticipated that the successful applicant will have an interest in contributing to the provision of a specialist clinical service related to complex spinal Neurosurgery.

The timetable will allow flexibility between the Consultant Neurosurgeons and also scope for the post holder to develop their specialist interests.

This role will include 2 clinics per week with at least one day of theatre, including operative time at Queen’s and King George Hospitals

Working for our organisation

We’re an organisation that is getting better and better. We were the most improved Trust in England for A&E performance in 2023/24; we’re no longer in special measures; and Matthew Trainer, our Chief Executive, has been named the top CEO by the Health Service Journal. Our improvements are driven by a determination to deliver care we’re proud of and that our patients are happy with.

Many of our 8,000 staff – who come from 146 different countries - live in the three diverse London boroughs we serve and the majority are from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. More than 400 of them are on apprenticeship programmes and we’re proud to be a London Living Wage employer.

We operate from two main sites - King George Hospital (KGH) in Goodmayes and Queen’s Hospital in Romford. We have two of the busiest emergency departments in London – more than 300,000 people visited our A&Es in 2023.

Patients across north east London are benefitting from two new state of the art theatres at KGH and our Community Diagnostic Centres at Barking Community Hospital and St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub will significantly increase the number of scans that can be carried out.

We’re looking forward to introducing an electronic patient record next year. This will mean the records of any patient visiting one of the seven hospitals run by BHRUT and Barts Health will be accessible to the clinical teams. It’ll make things easier for staff and will be better for patients.