Locum Consultant Haematologist

Job overview

As part of a collaborative venture between The Christie NHS Foundation Trust (CFT) and Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (MCHFT) we are pleased to be able to offer the opportunity for an experienced and enthusiastic Locum Consultant to join The Christie haematology clinical team based at Leighton Hospital. The post will support the service to provide an excellent and high-quality patient focused service to meet the demand from our patients and referring centres.

This job role is for 10 PAs per week plus on call for a Christie Clinical haematologist based at Leighton Hospital to provide clinical support to The Christie Haematology @ Leighton service. The post holder will join a team of 3 other experienced clinicians and a Lead Consultant.

Flexibility may be considered for those who are unable to work full-time due to personal reasons.

Main duties of the job

The successful post holder will be responsible for providing consultant level support to The Christie clinical haematology service and to implement best practice in Haematology.

The role will include three outpatient clinics per week, responsibility for outpatients attending the Macmillan Cancer Care Unit for treatment and provision of specialist input into the care of inpatients at Leighton Hospital. The post holder will have considerable liaison with local General Practitioners for haematological advice and will join the existing consultant’s rota to manage this.

The post holder will be a core member of the haematology and lymphoma multi-disciplinary teams and the post also offers the opportunity to develop a special interest to suit the interests of the successful applicant and the unmet needs of the clinical haematology service.

A full and extensive overview of the responsibilities are detailed in the job description attached.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For more details please see the attached Job description and person specification.

The Christie Clinical Haematology service at Leighton will receive most referrals to the service from the Crewe/Nantwich and Northwich areas, with small numbers received from elsewhere across Cheshire and North Staffordshire; the catchment area is approximately 300,000. The clinical haematology service activity delivered at Leighton Hospital was around 1,300 first attendances patients and for the financial year of 2023-2024 and approximately 10,000 follow up attendances. All outpatients are managed from the Leighton Hospital site either as face-to-face or telephone appointments.

The clinical haematology inpatient and outpatient case mix consists of general haematology, low grade haematological malignancy which includes chronic myeloid and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, low grade non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, high grade NHL, Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma plus myelodysplasias and a variety of haemostatic and thrombotic problems. Cases of acute leukaemia in younger patients requiring intensive chemotherapy, and lymphoma/myeloma requiring stem-cell transplantation are referred to the main Christie site in Withington.

The treatment of haematological malignancies is by protocol and is also based on the BCSH and North West Haemato-Oncology guidelines. There is a designated pharmacy service for preparing some cytotoxic chemotherapies and some will be supplied via a third party provider. Chemotherapy is electronically prescribed using the iQemo computerised system. Currently patients with low and high grade Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma receive intravenous chemotherapy on the Macmillan Cancer Unit. Increasing use is made of the availability of novel chemotherapy agents via the Cancer Drugs Fund and by individual funding requests. During out of hours the medical team on-call provides cover for inpatients including arranging emergency admissions but will liaise with the on-call haematologist for appropriate advice.

When appropriate, patients with haemoglobinopathies are referred to the Sickle cell and Thalassaemia Centre at the Central Manchester Hospital. Patients with haemophilia and other congenital bleeding disorders are referred to the Thrombosis and Haemostasis Centre at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Multidisciplinary teamwork is provided by two excellent weekly meetings (separate lymphoma and Haematology multidisciplinary team meetings) via video link with the Christie Hospital which includes histopathology and radiology support.

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.