Locum Consultant Neonatologist

Job overview

We are looking for an exceptional Locum Consultant to join our team of 11 WTE neonatologists in our tertiary level medical NICU in St. Peter’s Hospital, Surrey. This is a full time (10PA) post on an initial fixed term contract for one year with an aim to commence from December 2026.

There is a plan for a subsequent substantive post to be advertised thereafter. We are a friendly and supportive team, and welcome pre-interview visits / meetings, so please do contact us if you are interested.

Main duties of the job

The successful post holder will participate fully in the consultant rota, covering the Neonatal Unit at St Peter’s Hospital and the Surrey Neonatal transport service.

The new post holder will provide direct consultant-led clinical care to patients, across all areas of the neonatal inpatient and outpatient service, assisting clinical decision-making and sharing equitably in the workload. The post holder will act as a clinical leader and senior member of the clinical team, supporting the wider multidisciplinary team to deliver cohesive care.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The successful post holder will share in the neonatal attending rota equitably as per their job plan. A successful post holder would:

• Provide direct consultant led clinical care to patients, across all areas of the service, including NICU, High dependency, Special care and Transitional Care.
• The post holder also provides consultant led clinical support to Surrey NTS team, who work on a rotational basis with other KSS transport teams. Whilst most of this will be remote cover, the post holder is expected to go out on transfers on an ad-hoc basis to support the team as required.
• Provide neonatal out-patient services and specialist clinics as necessary (eg: neurodevelopment or cardiac).
• Have a continuing responsibility for the care of patients in his/her charge, ensuring safe handover as appropriate.
• As part of the Consultant team, will provide comprehensive senior clinical cover to the Neonatal Service with an aim to promote and continue to develop a regional perinatal service by working jointly with Maternity team.
• Work with existing Consultants and the multi-disciplinary team to provide a high-quality well-led service for patients/families of Ashford & St Peter’s, including the diagnosis, investigation, treatment and management of patients, in accordance with Trust policies and practices.
• Engage fully with the care of relevant patients outside the department and provide a prompt opinion on request from consultant colleagues in other specialties when required.
• Engage with medical, nursing, AHP’s, management and all relevant co-workers in the delivery of service objectives: to provide clinical leadership, improve the patient experience and ensure the highest quality clinical care.
• Actively participate in and support other staff with education, research, quality improvement, audit and clinical governance activities, leadership and management roles involving a multi-disciplinary workforce across the service.
• Participate in the professional training of the staff in the department, both medical and non-medical, and contribute as required to teaching sessions for other hospital staff as well as undergraduate and postgraduate staff. This includes educational and clinical supervision of junior medical staff and Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (ANNPs).
• Support recruitment, appraisal, development and mentoring activities to a multi-disciplinary, multi-professional team.
• Undertake any other duties appropriate for a consultant.

Any changes will be by negotiation and will be reflected in the job plans of the team.

The job plan will be broadly based on the information below. The timings of the sessions indicated may alter slightly, but the overall composition of the job plan is not expected to change significantly without expansion of the team/further team discussions.

The Consultant Neonatologist (10 PA post) will continue to follow a 11-week cycle. This advertised post will have a line on the rota which includes covering Surrey NTS service. There may be additional clinical hours required to cover the DCC activities based on the service needs as the new post holder develops more expertise in other SPA lead roles. Transport cover in daytime (09:00 – 16:00) is onsite and is expected to be able to go out for transport to support middle grade doctors and nursing team. The equivalent of nine days off per 11-week cycle is built into the rota, providing an average working week of circa. 4.2 days.

Circa 8 – 8.5 DCC PA (with prospective cover) and circa 1.5 - 2.00 SPA (1SPA core, 0.25 SPA for lead roles within the service and additional educational supervision SPA) to the Neonatal Intensive Care.

Additional 0.26 DCC PA for responsibility allowance towards KSS Neonatal Transport service for non-resident cover for evening hours outside of 09:00 – 16:00 hours and overnight cover.

The post holder will be required to participate in the department rota on a 1:9 to 1:11 basis varying due to LTFT consultant workforce with restricted oncall duties. The on-call availability supplement will be Category A Low Frequency. This is built within the rolling rota. The PAs may be adjusted depending on the needs of the department, subject to the job-plan and agreed work commitment, such as colleague cover and additional duties.

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.