Consultant - Palliative Care

Job overview

The Specialist Palliative Care Team at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has an exciting opportunity to join their team as they are seeking to appoint an additional Specialist Palliative Care Consultant with a specific focus on inpatient work. The successful candidate will join a clinical team of 3 Consultant Colleagues, 1 WTE Band 8a Practice Development Nurse, 7.2 WTE Band 7 Specialist Nurses and 2 WTE Band 6 Specialist Nurses cross site.

The Specialist Palliative Care Team are based at both Luton and Dunstable Hospital and Bedford Hospital and support patients across the hospital sites, visiting patients on the wards when required.  The post holder will provide consultant advice in palliative care to specialist nurses, specialty doctors, GPs, consultant colleagues in other specialties and other health care professionals within the hospital as required. The Specialist Palliative Care Team at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust work closely with all hospice services within the area.

Main duties of the job

• Provision with Consultant colleagues of a service to Luton and Dunstable Hospital with responsibility for providing and advising on Palliative Care within the hospital
• To work with the palliative care team and wider team on Trust wide development of the palliative pathways
• To support the Community Teams and the wider system through regular board rounds and virtual ward

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Bedfordshire Hospitals Foundation Trust is an anchor organisation in the BLMK Integrated Care System. The Bedfordshire Care Alliance (BCA) is a collaborative of health and care providers working across the county of Bedfordshire to reduce inequalities and drive up improvements in population health outcomes.  The BCA and BLMK ICB have both identified palliative and end of life care as a priority area. There is a recognition across system partners that we need to improve how we coordinate our services and also how we work together to avoid crisis hospital admissions. The BCA working group is developing a new model of care with our hospice collaborative and community partner organisations to support development of a coordination service and virtual ward as well as an unscheduled care hub to support calls before hospital conveyance.

This post holder will be key to shaping further developments and building a team of medical expertise to work across acute, community and hospice services.

We recognise that consultant posts require variety and a balance of work both specialist/ subspecialty interest. We are therefore keen that any new post holder develops their interest and contributes to patient care across different settings.

The trust aims to design and implement services, policies and measures that meet the diverse needs of our service, population and workforce, ensuring that none are placed at a disadvantage over others.

Further Responsibilities

• To take part in research and education and looking at new ways to teach End of Life Care.
• Cover for colleagues' annual leave and other authorised absences
• Any responsibility, which relates to a special interest
• Participating in medical audit, the Trust’s Clinical Governance processes and in CPD
• Willingness to undertake additional professional responsibilities at local, regional or national levels
• The post holder must at all times carry out his/her duties with due regard to the Trust’s Equal Opportunities Policy
• It is the responsibility of all employees to maintain a safe and healthy environment for patients, visitors and staff.
• It is the responsibility of the post-holder to ensure that all duties are carried out to the highest possible standard, and in accordance with current quality initiatives within the area of work
• All staff who have access to or transfer data are responsible for that data and must respect confidentiality and comply with the requirement of the Data Protection Act 1998, in line with the Trust’s policies.
• The post-holder is responsible for data quality and complying with the policies, procedures and accountability arrangements throughout the Trust for maintaining accuracy and probity in the recording of the Trust’s activities.
• (Staff is required to comply with the requirements of the Freedom of Information of Act 2000 in line with Trust Policy.
• Any other duties, which may be required from time to time.

Closing Date:              28/05/2026

Assessment Date:    03/07/2026 TBC

Interview Date:         17/07/2026