Consultant Emergency Paediatrics

Job overview

A detailed work programme and a job plan will be arranged and agreed by the appointee with the Service Director in Medicine and the Chief Executive of the Trust.

The post holders will undertake fixed clinical and non-clinical sessions according to an agreed timetable with other members of the Consultant Team.

The post will be divided into a ratio 7.5:2.5 direct clinical care (DCC) / supporting programmed activities (SPA). Specific SPA objectives and outcomes will be agreed with the Service Lead within 3 months of appointment.

The current consultant work pattern provides hands on Consultant ‘shop floor’ presence from 09:00 to 21:00 Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 19:00 Saturday and Sunday to directly lead and guide the team to provide a high standard of clinical care for patients attending the Paediatric Emergency Department. There are no on call commitments as part of this post. This will change as the PEM consultant group continues to grow.

The Department is busy, seeing over 169,000 patients per year (20% paediatric) in conjunction with the Urgent Care Centre, achieving a high clinical standard of care and delivering the 95% 4 hour target.  This is achieved through working as a close, co-operative team.

Main duties of the job

• To be responsible for ensuring patients experience an efficient patient pathway in keeping with national Key Performance Indicators except where the patient’s condition prohibits this.
• Supporting the governance programme in the Paediatric Emergency Department
• Trainee supervision, including WBPAs
• The organisation and supervision of minor procedures in the Emergency Department
• To effectively communicate decisions on continuing care to the Patient’s GP
• To engage in innovation and service development
• To attend departmental, governance and other inter-specialty meetings

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Directorate offers a high quality, patient focussed service with a seamless approach all age groups. The expansion of the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust with the acquisition of the West Middlesex Hospital in September 2015 has resulted in the provision of services to children over a wide catchment area.

The two hospital sites bring together a range of general and specialist services in order to provide integrated health care for children and their families in hospital, community and at home.

West Middlesex Hospital

Emergency Services

The Emergency Department (ED) at West Middlesex Hospital sees 169,000 patients a year of which approximately 20% of these are children, providing the service to a large multi-ethnic urban population. We are currently in the top ten preforming emergency departments in the country.

Paediatric Emergency Department

Paediatrics Emergency Department (PED) falls within the Emergency Medicine Directorate and the Paediatric services falls within the Children, Young People’s and Neonatal Directorate. The overall approach of the paediatric service is family and child centred with multi-professional teams including paediatric nurses, psychologists, dieticians, physiotherapists, social workers and the Hospital School working together.

The dedicated Paediatric Emergency Department and the adjoining UCC, is open 24/7, which treats approximately 42,000 children per year with 24,000 are seen and managed in PED.  It is co-located with the main Emergency Department with a separate audio-visual waiting room.

The PEM team is comprised of 4 PEM consultants, PEM registrars, Advanced Care Practitioner, CT3/JCF/FT2 doctors who have designated shifts in the PED, CESR doctors competing their secondments in PEM, as well as being entirely staffed by paediatric nurses.

Our department is a 9 bedded space, including an HDU space, a mental health room, a separate isolation room and a paediatric dedicated bay in the 4 bedded resuscitation area.

The Paediatric Emergency Departments is undergoing major service and workforce review and developments.  The department is establishing a dedicated junior paediatric emergency team including advanced nurse practitioners.

PACS is installed and the department is very well supported by the Radiology Department with ready access to all investigations and prompt reporting.  The department is fully computerised for patient attendances, investigations (radiology & pathology) and results and discharge summaries. Within the department we have Point of Care Testing for FBC, U&E and ABG and several ultrasound machines.

The department is a member of PERUKI (Paediatric Emergency Research in the UK & Ireland) and is commencing it research portfolio, alongside Chelsea and Westminster Emergency Department support with its strong track record. There is a strong track record of supporting trainees to develop projects into presentations at national and international conferences.

There is an active educational program cross site, both undergraduate and postgraduate, is driven by the emergency and paediatric departments creating a wide variety of learning opportunities including weekly simulation and monthly emergency training days.

Teaching duties will include medical students, sessions for the FY2s and middle grade teaching including preparation for RCPCH/FRCEM.

The post holder will be required to participate in the Trust and Directorate’s Clinical Governance activities, with a commitment to audit, annual appraisal for themselves, revalidation and CPD, and regular appraisal and mentoring of other team members.

It is expected that the post holder will engage in specific management tasks and contribute to monthly departmental meetings (sub-directorate and Clinical Effectiveness) and hospital committees in agreement with the Service Lead and the Directorate Policy Board.