Salaried General Practitioner

Job overview

In line with NHS England’s vision for improving adult gender care through increased capacity and patient choice in the care pathway, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT) hosts Sussex Gender Service (SGS). SGS is a pilot that has been designed around multi-organisation collaboration, prioritises patient experience and choice, and will make more efficient use of specialist commissioned resources.

The pilot provides a new regional service model for the provision of a gender service, providing assessment and gender-affirming treatments in line with the national service specification for gender identity services for adults. The service will provide specialist gender identity assessment and treatments for adults registered with a GP in Sussex and already on a Gender Identity Clinic waiting list elsewhere in the country. The service has been working through service users meeting this criteria in order to significantly reduce waiting times.

The pilot is partnered with the TransPlus, one of the established Gender Identity Clinics (GICs) operating across England. It also works closely with primary care and community and voluntary organisations, including The Clare Project. SGS draws on the close links established through the Locally Commissioned Service for trans healthcare.

The pilot launched in autumn 2023 and is now working towards becoming a fully commissioned service. This post is cover for maternity leave.

Main duties of the job

General Responsibilities & Duties

• To deliver face to face and remote transgender healthcare clinics.
• To record clinical activity accurately and comprehensively and submit this promptly to the Information Department.
• To participate in service and business planning activity for the service.
• To participate in annual appraisal for doctors with their Designated Body for revalidation. As the post-holder will be expected to maintain a clinical role in Primary Care and be on the National GP Performers' List, their Designated Body will be their local NHS England office (not SPFT).
• Where appropriate, to participate in the academic programme, including lectures and seminars as part of the internal CPD programme.
• To work with local managers and professional colleagues in ensuring the efficient running of services and share with consultant colleagues in the medical contribution to management.
• To comply with the Trust’s agreed policies, procedures, standing orders and financial instructions, and to take an active role in the financial management of the service and support the medical director and other managers in preparing plans for services.
• To comply with the Trust’s Duty of Candour

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities & Duties

• The post will be based at either the central Brighton pilot 'hub', their own GP practice, or work remotely from home (where agreed), and will provide outpatient assessments and treatment. SPFT has developed and integrated the use of remote and video consultations.
• The successful post-holders will be expected, with suitable training, to work as a ‘Lead Clinician’ in transgender healthcare and undertake transgender healthcare assessments, recommendations for gender dysphoria medical treatments, recommendations for gender dysphoria surgical treatments, manage a caseload, and liaise with primary care for the delivery of these treatments and also other services as required. NCTH will provide the entirety of this training while in post with the support (if required) of the Gender Identity Healthcare course.
• The post holder will have a significant, exciting opportunity to provide leadership to forge and form good working with primary care in the delivery of transgender healthcare across the nation.
• It is expected that the post holder will develop or continue to develop specialist knowledge in transgender healthcare and attend (if required) the Royal College of Physicians and University of London Gender Identity Healthcare course (funded by NHSE).
• It is anticipated that once the post holder has completed any additional training needed for the role and established themselves in the service, training opportunities for medical staff in training grades (e.g. special interest sessions for higher trainees in psychiatry) can be explored with SPFT's Medical Education team.
• The post holder will work within the multidisciplinary team to support reflective practice and learning through audit and research. The post holder will have opportunity to provide leadership and participate in the development of research within the development to further the evidence base in this area.
• Other developmental aspects of the clinical role will be to maintain national links with other services and specialists within the field, and develop further links with primary care.
• The post holder will be expected to maintain a clinical role in primary care. This is to maintain primary care clinical skills and knowledge which will serve to enrich SPFT’s clinical MDT and also aid in the further development of networks with primary care.