Senior Clinical Fellow in Intensive Care medicine

Job overview

Royal Free ICU is looking for a motivated senior clinical fellow to join our dynamic critical care team.  The post provides protected non-clinical time to develop the chosen interest alongside clinical ICU work. Fellows will be mentored by experienced consultants aligned with their specialist interest.

The post offers an excellent opportunity to gain experience in a busy tertiary intensive care unit while developing a specialist portfolio in one of the following areas:

• Liver critical care
• Clinical research
• Transthoracic echocardiography
• Quality improvement
• Medical education

The post is for 12 months, commencing August 2026 and is based at the Royal Free Hospital site in London. The post will comprise approximately 70% clinical work within the ICU and 30% protected time to develop the fellow’s chosen specialist interest.

The time will be structured and supported through supervision, mentorship, and departmental opportunities.

Main duties of the job

The Intensive Care department at the Royal Free is recognised by FICM for training in Intensive Care Medicine at all levels.

The Royal Free London (RFL) is one of the largest NHS Foundation Trusts in the country, employing over 17,000 staff and serving a local population of over 1.6 million people. Patients from across the country access our specialist services in liver and renal disease, cancer, organ transplantation, HIV and infectious diseases, immunology, cardiology, amyloidosis, scleroderma, and single-gene disorders including haemophilia and lysosomal storage disorders.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The fellowship is designed to support career development in intensive care medicine and to provide fellows with opportunities to develop academic, leadership, educational or specialist clinical expertise alongside high-quality clinical training.

Special interest fellowship tracks

Fellows will undertake a structured fellowship track in one of the following areas, with dedicated mentorship and protected development time.

• Liver critical care

Fellows will gain experience in management of patients with acute liver failure, decompensated cirrhosis and acute-on-chronic liver failure, patients undergoing liver transplantation, and complex hepatopancreatobiliary surgical patients.

There are opportunities to collaborate with the transplant, hepatology, and HPB teams within a large multidisciplinary service. Fellows will be able to attend hepatology and transplant multidisciplinary meetings and participate in decision making for complex cases. Fellows will also be able to contribute to liver critical care research and quality improvement initiatives, and participate in the department’s liver critical care conference programme, which attracts a national audience.

• Clinical research

Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in the department’s active critical care research programme, working alongside experienced investigators and a dedicated research nursing team. The role provides an excellent environment for developing academic skills within a busy tertiary critical care unit.

• Opportunities will include designing and undertaking original observational research projects, performing secondary analysis of locally collected and published datasets, and contributing to ongoing national and international randomised controlled trials, including patient recruitment and trial delivery. Fellows will gain experience across the full research pathway, including study design, protocol development, data analysis, and preparation of manuscripts for publication. Where appropriate, fellows will be supported to work through Health Research Authority (HRA) and ethics approval processes to develop investigator-led studies.
• The post also offers the opportunity to generate pilot data to support future academic fellowship or grant applications, including doctoral or externally funded research fellowships.

Fellows will play an active role in the department’s academic activities, including leading journal clubs and critical appraisal sessions, and contributing to the promotion of evidence-based practice within the ICU.

• Transthoracic echocardiography
• Fellows with an interest in echocardiography will have the opportunity to develop experience in image acquisition, interpretation and integration of echocardiographic findings with other haemodynamic monitoring modalities used in critical care.
• Training will focus on the use of echocardiography to support haemodynamic assessment and clinical decision making in patients with complex cardiovascular and multi-organ failure.   The department provides weekly, protected time for supervised scanning and structured learning. Echo fellows will work towards gaining the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) level 1 accreditation during their year at the Royal Free.   Later on during the year, there is also an opportunity for teaching, joining with the consultant echo group, to help supervise and train residents interested in gaining a FUSIC qualification.
• Quality Improvement and Leadership

Fellows interested in quality improvement and leadership will have opportunities to design and lead quality improvement initiatives within the ICU and wider critical care service. This may include projects focused on patient safety, clinical pathways, service delivery, cost improvement, and implementation of evidence-based practice.

Fellows will work with the multidisciplinary team to identify areas for improvement, develop interventions, and evaluate outcomes using established quality improvement methodologies. There will also be opportunities to engage with the department’s governance structures and participate in audit, guideline development and service evaluation.

Projects undertaken during the fellowship may lead to presentation at regional or national meetings and contribute to the fellow’s professional portfolio.

• Medical Education

Fellows with an interest in medical education will have the opportunity to contribute to the department’s established teaching programme for medical students, foundation doctors and specialty trainees. This will include bedside teaching, simulation-based training, and the development of educational resources.

Fellows will be encouraged to develop skills in teaching, curriculum design and educational leadership, and to contribute to innovative approaches to training within critical care.

Educational projects undertaken during the fellowship may form part of a teaching portfolio and support future development in medical education, including formal postgraduate qualifications where appropriate.