Senior clinical fellow Trust Grade St5+ in Anaesthesia

Job overview

This is a Senior Clinical Fellow (ST4–7 equivalent) post in Anaesthesia intended for trainees with a specialist interest in cardiothoracic anaesthesia. The post is based at Hammersmith Hospital and will commence in February 2027 for an initial period of six months, with the possibility of extension to 12 months, subject to satisfactory assessments.

Applicants must have a minimum of 21 months of anaesthetic experience and should already have completed at least six months of cardiac anaesthesia training (or have completed Stage 2 cardiac anaesthesia training).

The post is designed as a split placement, with three months spent in cardiothoracic theatres and three months in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit, providing a broad exposure to the perioperative management of cardiothoracic patients.

The fellowship offers excellent opportunities to gain advanced experience in cardiothoracic anaesthesia and is particularly suited to those working towards transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) accreditation. Fellows will be expected to participate in the perioperative management of patients through our high-risk cardiothoracic pre-assessment clinic, gaining experience in optimisation, risk stratification and shared decision-making.

Main duties of the job

Theatre list allocations will allow the post holder to experience all of the anaesthetic subspecialties on offer at the Hammersmith Hospital under direct consultant supervision but preference will be given to cardiothoraicic lists. Almost all Hammersmith operating lists are designated consultant-delivered training lists.

In addition to elective theatre work, the post holder will cover the registrar rota for theatres when on call, and will supervise a stage 1 anaesthetist. Emergency work at Hammersmith is mostly kidney transplants and anaesthetic support for the cardiac cath labs, although other emergencies include gynaecological cases, re-operation for surgical complications and cardiac and thoracic emergencies. Hammersmith is on call for acute aortic emergencies every Thursday and one in four weekends. Supervision is provided by two consultant anaesthetists on call: one for cardiothoracic emergencies and one for general emergencies.

The post holder will have the opportunity to spend three months on the cardiac intensive care unit, by mutual agreement. When attached to the intensive care unit, the candidate will spend their normal days working in theatres.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Regular meetings:

Teaching Activities:

Teaching takes place weekly, both face to face in the anaesthetic department and via MS Teams. Teaching has a cardiac focus but also covers the full range of clinical work encountered at the Hammersmith Hospital as well as topics covering the FRCA examination syllabus. Teaching is consultant-supervised and both consultant- and trainee-delivered. There will be dedicated time for hands on and lecture based TOE teaching.

There is also a monthly journal club.

Clinical Governance

Audit

A rolling programme of audit meetings take place supported by senior consultants and the post holder is expected to participate in the clinical audit programme. Computer literacy will be an advantage.

Education

The department will provide appropriate non-clinical training opportunities. In addition to weekly departmental teaching the post holder will be supported with study leave to a maximum of 10 days per annum pro rata. The post holder will have access to all of the general educational resources available on site including:

• Libraries: Imperial College Library on site.
• Information Technology: Computers in theatres and the anaesthetic department
• In hospital Information Technology and Management training courses organised through the Hammersmith Post Graduate Centre.

The anaesthetic service places very strong emphasis on junior staff training.  The post-holder will be expected to participate and promote training programmes within the specialty.