Locum Consultant Anaesthetist

Job overview

We are looking for a motivated candidate interested in anaesthesia for major general surgery and peri-operative medicine.

This is a general locum anaesthetic consultant post and the successful applicant will cover major general surgery lists which include hepatobiliary, upper GI, renal, urology, endocrine and major gynae-oncology surgery.

The Hammersmith Hospital provides complex cancer surgical services in the areas of gynaecology, endocrine, hepatobiliary, upper GI and thoracic specialties and is a regional and national referral centre for these specialities. The Hammersmith Hospital is also a busy kidney and pancreas-kidney transplant centre. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to deliver peri-operative care to patients undergoing these complex and challenging procedures, including providing anaesthesia for these specialties in our new robotic theatre suite.

The Hammersmith Hospital is also a cardiac centre but the successful applicant will not be expected to deliver anaesthesia for open cardiac surgery. However, there is an expanding workload of electro-physiology and structural heart procedures including TAVIs and PFOs, and there will be opportunities to deliver sessions in these areas by mutual agreement.

Main duties of the job

This post is intended to support the group of anaesthetic consultants providing anaesthesia and peri-operative care to patients undergoing major cancer surgery in hepatobiliary, upper GI, thoracic, gynaecology and endocrine surgery. The job plan will be flexible and formulated in partnership with the successful candidate. This arrangement allows us to respond to service requirements efficiently, as well as facilitating CPD, educational and annual leave requirements.

In addition to cancer cases, the Hammersmith Hospital is home to the West London Renal and Transplant Centre, and performs around 200 kidney transplants per year. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to deliver peri-operative care to patients undergoing all these complex procedures. We particularly encourage candidates who have an interest in developing our peri-operative medicine service which includes pre-assessment and pre-habilitation.

The job includes a 1:8 on call component which covers general emergencies in theatres. At the Hammersmith, this is mostly kidney transplants, benign gynaecology and re-operation for surgical complications. There is a separate on call consultant covering cardiac and thoracic emergencies. There is a resident anaesthetic registrar (ST4-7 level) and CT2/3 covering theatres out of hours.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The content of the job plan will reflect an interest in major cancer surgery and peri-operative medicine. Some sessions are delivered flexibly depending on service needs and the skills and interests of the successful candidate.

Each ‘session’ attracts 1.25 PAs to include pre- and postoperative care. Scheduled elective theatre work will comprise 8 PAs. The on call commitment for the post holder will be a 1:8 non-resident rota and attracts 1 PA.

The SPA allocation will be 1 per week (4 hours). SPA time is given to support continuing professional development, teaching, clinical governance and preparation for appraisal.

The anaesthetic department at Hammersmith Hospital is one of three anaesthetic departments within Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. The successful candidate may be asked to cover anaesthetic work at Charing Cross Hospital or St Mary’s Hospital, depending on need.

This is an example weekly job plan:

Week A

Week B

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.