Consultant in Neurological Rehabilitation

Job overview

This post consists of 10 Programmed Activities (PAs), annualized as 8.5 Direct Clinical Care (DCC) and 1.5 Supporting Clinical Activities (SPA). This is an appointment by the Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with license to attend at Imperial College NHS Trust. The post holder must hold full MRCP and a certificate of completion of training (CCT) in Rehabilitation Medicine. We welcome application from trainees in Rehabilitation Medicine who are approximately 6 months from CCT.

Main duties of the job

The appointee will join two consultants in Rehabilitation Medicine and a team of neurologists as part of a friendly and reputable service that works across Hillingdon Hospital and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to provide seamless transition for patients from tertiary care into secondary care and community services. This post provides an excellent opportunity to provide high quality neurological rehabilitation care for patients with spinal cord injury, in a busy District General Hospital or in a tertiary setting at Imperial. 6 of the DCC PA’s will be based at the Hillingdon site and 4 PA’s will be based primarily at Imperial.

The post holder will provide consultant input to the London Spinal Cord Injury Network and the Major Trauma Network in North West London. The post holder will be responsible for improving the care of spinal cord injury patients needing rehabilitation in the North West London sector. There is scope to develop integrated care across secondary and community services in partnership NW London ICB. This will involve linking with community teams and outreach visits to community settings.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Role Deliverables for the role:

• To provide a high-quality, patient-oriented care for patients across all ages diagnosed with spinal cord injury, both as a result of traumatic and non- traumatic events including those with additional needs e.g., mental health, polytrauma
• To provide diagnosis and medical management of care of the spinally injured patient including management of spasticity and pain.
• To evaluate potential to gain from rehabilitation and prognosis for recovery.
• To define rehabilitation needs and direct patients to appropriate rehabilitation services.
• To coordinate care and collaborate with other medical, nursing and therapy teams.
• To communicate with families to provide information, support them in distress and manage expectations.
• To work closely with the regional spinal cord injury centres supporting referrals and contributing to collaborative clinical discussion
• To support the pan London spinal cord injury network educators, to ensure a cohesive education program is promoted and offered to all staff looking after individuals with spinal cord injuries with a particular interest in rehabilitation needs and interventions.
• To be an active member of the multidisciplinary Spinal Cord Injury network/team
• To provide expert advice to the other members of the network offering support in relation to patient assessment, care planning, clinical outcomes, and evaluation. To support improvement of individualised outcomes for the individual their family and carers
• To facilitate and coordinate improved standards of care through collaborative working and expert advice.
• Integrate effective monitoring of standards and outcomes in collaboration with others across the network to ensure and demonstrate better outcomes for service users and carers.
• Actively involve service users and their carers in feedback groups, audits, and coproduction opportunities to improve service provision, patient/carer experience and understanding.
• To contribute to the SCI education and training program to evaluate its impact and coordinate the delivery.
• To work with the NHSE and NWL ICB to develop Hillingdon Specialist Rehabilitation Service as a provider of specialist spinal rehabilitation.

The post holder will provide strategic clinical insight and leadership working with specialist spinal therapy and nursing colleagues to facilitate and support the development and adoption of agreed Spinal Cord Injury patient pathways in London and ensure the delivery of agreed clinical standards.