Consultant Neonatologist

Job overview

The successful applicant(s) will join the current team of 9 consultants and 2 SAS Doctors, working in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) within the Southwest Neonatal Operational Delivery Network. The service undertakes approximately 3500 Intensive Care and High Dependency Care days and in around 4500 Special / Transitional Care days per year. The service benefits from a team of 1 Nurse Consultant, 9 ANNPs, 6 ENNPs as well as a two-tier team of junior medical staff whose cover duties are exclusively to the neonatal service. The unit supports the nursing team to train as Qualified in Speciality (QIS) adhering to BAPM staffing guidance.

The appointee will participate in providing cover to the neonatal service in a week on service model of care, providing consultant delivered care in 4 types of attending weeks in an 8-week cycle (NICU Service, Neonatal Transport and Transitional & Perinatal Care/Medical Education) and on call weeks Mon-Thurs. During attending weeks, other activities will be suspended to allow commitment to the acute daily workload and service needs of those clinical domains. There are opportunities to gain additional experience in neonatal transport by participating in the multi-centre collaborative on-call roster for the Southwest Neonatal Advice and Retrieval Service (SoNAR).

Main duties of the job

NICU Service

The NICU Service Consultant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the neonatal unit, including morning and afternoon handover ward rounds and supervision of junior medical staff. All admitted patients are allocated to the NICU Service Consultant of the week.

Transitional & Perinatal Care / Medical Education

The Transitional Care Consultant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the transitional care ward, including morning ward rounds and supervision of junior medical staff. Fetal medicine liaison and antenatal counselling services are also provided by this consultant.

see JD for full duties

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

NICU Service

The NICU Service Consultant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the neonatal unit, including morning and afternoon handover ward rounds and supervision of junior medical staff. All admitted patients are allocated to the NICU Service Consultant of the week.

Transitional & Perinatal Care / Medical Education

The Transitional Care Consultant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the transitional care ward, including morning ward rounds and supervision of junior medical staff. Fetal medicine liaison and antenatal counselling services are also provided by this consultant. All inborn infants are allocated to the TCW Consultant of the week unless admitted to NICU. Undergraduate medical student teaching including an end-of-week formal feedback session is delivered by the TCW Consultant, as are the multi-professional education sessions for the NICU nursing and junior medical staff.

Southwest Neonatal Advice and Retrieval Service (SoNAR)

The Transport Consultant undertakes telephone liaison with all Peninsula units each morning as well as the SoNAR North Hub to co-ordinate and undertake neonatal transfers as necessary during working hours Monday to Friday. Out-of-hours medical cover is provided from the North Hub. Opportunity exists to partake in this voluntarily outside job-plan, remunerated by extra-contractual arrangements.

On Call Week

The fourth service week consists of Mon-Thurs on call cover resident until after the 9pm NICU ward round and then non-resident.

It is expected that the consultant will be fully available to respond to clinical service needs during on-service weeks (external commitments must not compromise this).

Continuing responsibility

The new consultants will have continuing responsibility for the care of their patients and for the proper functioning of the department. However, it is expected that the appointee will wish to embrace the team-based approach to patient care and parental communication that the consultant neonatologists work to. The new consultants will share in the provision of cover for consultant colleagues on leave.

Subspecialty interest

The job plan for the new consultants will include time for the development of a special interest, which will be encouraged and welcomed. Subspecialty interests complementing the department’s existing range are cardiology, respiratory, developmental outcome, nutrition, transport medicine, research and medical education.

Non-clinical duties

The new appointees will be expected to take part in the non-clinical activities of the department including full participation in the training and supervision of junior doctors and other staff, participation in clinical audit, continuing professional development as defined by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, clinical governance, and annual appraisal / revalidation. The consultants will undertake the administrative duties associated with the care of their patients and the running of the clinical department.