Locum Consultant Sleep Medicine

Job overview

Main duties of the job

• Maintenance of the highest clinical standards in the assessment, diagnosis and management of patients referred to the Sleep Medicine service.
• Delivery of consultant-led Sleep Medicine outpatient clinics, including assessment of patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnoea, sleep-related breathing disorders, hypersomnolence, insomnia, parasomnias and complex sleep disturbance.
• Clinical review and interpretation of sleep investigations, including WatchPAT, home sleep studies, actigraphy, polysomnography and MSLT results, ensuring timely clinical decision-making and communication of outcomes.
• To provide clinical triage of referrals, ensuring patients are directed to the most appropriate diagnostic or clinical pathway in line with clinical need, referral information and service protocols.
• To contribute to the reduction of waiting times, diagnostic delays and RTT pressures through effective clinical prioritisation, pathway redesign and engagement with service improvement.
• To promote new ways of working and co-ordinating care for patients in the community, supporting integrated pathways across primary care, respiratory medicine, anaesthetics, neurology, ENT and other relevant specialties.
• To take part in multidisciplinary case conferences and clinical discussions for complex sleep patients where required.
• To contribute to teaching, research, audit and service evaluation within Sleep Medicine.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The overriding purpose of the post is to support the provision of high-quality patient care through clinical leadership, personal contribution, effective multidisciplinary working and continuous service improvement.

• To participate in service development and business planning in collaboration with other Consultants in the department, the CMG, local GPs, commissioners and relevant partner organisations.
• To support the delivery of safe and effective Sleep Medicine services, including outpatient assessment, diagnostic review, treatment planning and follow-up for patients with sleep-related symptoms and sleep disorders.
• To contribute to the timely triage, assessment and management of referrals, supporting appropriate prioritisation, diagnostic pathway selection and effective use of available clinical capacity.
• To work collaboratively with sleep technologists, physiologists, nurses, administrative teams, operational managers and other clinical specialties to support coordinated patient care.
• Professional supervision and management of junior medical staff, including the observance of local employment, human resource policies and procedures.
• To participate in medical audit, the Trust’s Clinical Governance processes and CPD. CPD is provided for in job plans and attendance at audit and governance meetings is mandatory.
• To contribute to quality improvement, pathway redesign and service development, including opportunities to improve diagnostic turnaround times, outpatient capacity, CPAP pathways, virtual follow-up and patient communication.
• Managerial responsibilities, where appropriate, include budgetary awareness, compliance with Trust standing orders and standing financial instructions.
• In line with GMC Good Medical Practice, 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.
• The post-holder is expected to participate in professional continuing medical education; study leave is provided for this purpose.
• The post-holder will be expected to undertake the Trust Corporate and Directorate-specific induction and competency programmes appropriate to the role.
• The post-holder will be required to maintain their continuing professional development to support successful revalidation. As per Trust requirements, the successful candidate will be required to have an annual appraisal and keep fully up to date with statutory and mandatory training as stipulated.Please see job description for full information of duties