Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post is open to all applicants who meet the essential criteria as detailed in the person specification below. It is open to all doctors who hold Full/limited registration with the GMC and successfully completed foundation year 2 training, who wish to gain further experience in the management of critically unwell patients with a wide range of medical and surgical conditions. 

This post is whole time and is covered by the Medical and Dental Staff Terms and Conditions of Service. Doctors applying for this post from overseas should note that prior NHS experience is a prerequisite and we would recommend applying for one of our Trust Grade posts in the first instance.

The Salary for this post will be at MT03

This post is not recognised for training by the Postgraduate Dean, the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine or by the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

All successful applicants are allocated a clinical supervisor who will support the individual to develop their clinical and non-clinical skills and offer advice on how to achieve any specific individual goals the fellow may wish to achieve. We recommend that the appointee maintain a logbook of experience, complete appropriate assessments and participates in the wide range of non-clinical opportunities detailed below.

Critical care is part of the Clinical Support division. 

There are 3 distinct adult critical care areas managed by clinical support across both QMC and City campuses. We aim to rotate you through both campuses so that you are exposed to a wide range of pathologies and speciality experience.   

Queen’s Medical Centre Campus (QMC)

On the Queen’s campus Critical Care is divided into a 29-bedded Intensive Care (level 3 beds), and a 20-bedded level 2 High Dependency Unit. At QMC critical care receives referrals from major trauma and the following surgical specialties: neurosurgery, spinal, emergency orthopaedics, hepatobiliary, vascular, lower GI, maxillofacial and ENT. It also receives referrals from acute medicine (including acute gastroenterology). Of note, NUH became the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre in April 2012 and is the busiest Major Trauma Centre in the UK. 

Nottingham City Hospital Campus

The critical care unit at the City campus has 17 beds that are used flexibly to accommodate up to 9 level 3 patients, the remaining beds are for level 2 admissions. The major subspecialty interests at City are thoracic surgery, upper GI surgery, elective orthopaedics, urology, burns and plastics, renal medicine, infectious diseases, oncology, haematology and respiratory medicine. The City campus also houses the separate Trent Cardiac Unit with its own dedicated intensive care unit.                 

There is a well-established critical care outreach team on both campuses. Across NUH CCOT provide support to all medical and surgical areas, seven days a week 24 hours a day.

Medical Staffing 

There are 75 Junior Staff in Critical Care 

There are 35 Critical Care Consultants at NUH with an extensive range of subspecialty clinical and nonclinical interests and roles.

Non Clinical Opportunities

Within NUH Junior Critical Care Fellows have the opportunity and paid time (15 Days of CPD) to pursue their interest in a variety of clinical and non-clinical areas. This can include simulation, teaching, governance and quality improvement.

Educational opportunities 

The departments offer extensive learning resources. There are several regular educational meetings each week including journal clubs, ITU rounds and morbidity meetings. There is a monthly protected teaching day for our Fellows which cover the clinical aspects of critical care in addition to optional teaching days which cover generic non-clinical topics (e.g. ethics, medical law, professionalism, interview skills). There are hospital and departmental libraries at both sites including IT facilities. 

FICE & FUSIC

There is plenty of opportunity for trainees to gain their FICE and FUSIC accreditation. The department is supported by several FICE & FUSIC mentors as well as consultants with experience of TOE.

Research opportunities 

Available by special arrangement. Critical Care has links with the Academic Departments of Anaesthesia and Surgery and participation in on-going research and audit programmes will be encouraged.  

Time for Continuing Professional Development CPD

There are 15 days of CPD allowance per 6 months. Fellows should alternate with a single day of CPD leave one week followed by a two days of CPD leave the following week. These days may be used toward any educational activity, including preparation for postgraduate examinations. They must be used constructively and your clinical supervisor must be appraised of your CPD activities. While the days should fit around the on-call rota, the Rota Coordinator will try to facilitate any particular plans that the Fellow has in advance with sufficient notice (however no guarantees can be made). CPD days are allocated on a 44 week working year pro-rata basis. The days cannot be taken more than two days consecutively without special prior arrangement with the Rota Coordinator and this would be granted only in exceptional circumstances.

This time may also be utilised to prepare for post-graduate examinations (e.g. FRCA).

Applications for training posts

The department has an excellent reputation for successful recruitment into higher speciality training posts. Trainees are encouraged to develop their portfolio and identify and utilise opportunities to increase their success in subsequent recruitment. We are also fortunate to have a number of consultants who interview for example for National Anaesthesia Recruitment and therefore are in a position to support applicants during interview preparation.  

Internal cover and Locums

The current banding allocation of this post includes an allowance for internal cover to cover the normal leave allowance of colleagues.  In exceptional circumstances and for short periods only, Clinical Fellows may be requested to provide additional cover, for example, to cover sickness.  Locums may also be employed in this instance.

Contact

If you would like further information about this post please email [email protected]