Trust Specialty Registrar in Spinal Cord Injury

Job overview

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust has a fantastic Trust Specialty Registrar vacancy in Spinal Cord Injury available from 06.08.2025 until 04.08.2026. This post is a Fixed Term Contract of 12 months, with the potential for a further extension.  This post will be located in the worldwide renown National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC) at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the birth place of the Paralympics.  The NSIC is a purpose-built spinal centre. It has 102 beds divided between acute admissions, readmissions and rehabilitation. The centre provides specialist services to the South of England and the Midlands for all aspects of spinal cord injury care from acute to rehab as well as life-long care. On average the centre admits 130 to 150 traumatic and non- traumatic new cases of spinal cord injury each year. The acute ward has a total of 23 beds, the readmission ward 24 beds and the two rehabilitation wards a total of 46 beds. There is a dedicated               9-bedded Young Person’s rehabilitation ward for paediatric and adolescent patients. The NSIC outpatient department reviews a total of around 3,000 patients each year and has a dedicated peripatetic nursing service and outreach. Regular clinical meetings are held with radiology and spinal surgery on a weekly basis. The post holder will be expected to have a minimum of three years clinical experience post internship or FY2 training and applicants MUST hold a full GMC 'registered to practice' licence in the UK.

Main duties of the job

The post is to provide experienced senior clinical input to the care of spinal cord injured adults, adolescents and paediatric patients, particularly with reference to clinical governance and spinal cord injury medicine standards.

The speciality registrar will be responsible for delivering care, supervising junior staff and contributing to the Centre’s teaching programme.

The medical team at the NSIC is made up of 7 Consultant medical staff, who are supported by a team of specialty doctors, specialty registrars, junior grades and a physician associate. This post comes with outstanding learning and development opportunities.

The post is a mixture of clinical responsibility, supervision and training of junior staff, and also provides a personal development programme and training in the field of spinal cord injuries medicine, with a particular emphasis on the acute, sub-acute and long-term management of patients.

The post holder will work in all areas of the NSIC and will participate in the implementation of the National Service Frameworks as they relate to spinal cord injury.

The centre is equipped with a hydrotherapy facility, a dedicated gymnasium and an occupational therapy area. It also has a modern patients’ and staff dining area for the use of spinal patients.

There are well-developed teams in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, clinical psychology and also case management which co-ordinates the discharge of patients from the centre.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Plan:

The job plan will be for 40 hours per week including an allocation for management, teaching and clinical governance activities. As above, the clinical element of the job plan will involve covering the adult, adolescent and paediatric rehabilitation wards. The 10-programmed activity job plan is open to discussion, depending on the interests of the appointed applicant.

On-call commitment:

Out-of- hours non-resident 2nd on-call duties will be shared amongst the registrars in a pattern of 1 in 6 to support the junior doctors. The rota will be EWTD compliant.

Under exceptional circumstances, such as in the event of a Major Incident, the successful applicant would be expected to perform additional duties.

Please note that the rota's are currently being reviewed and therefore there may be future changes to the working schedule.

Study and Other Leave; Training and Professional Development

Full details of study, annual and other leave entitlement is as found in the relevant Trust policies, all of which are designed to be as supportive to staff as possible. The speciality registrar is expected to attend Trust mandatory training, have annual appraisals and updated development plans. The Centre is very supportive of the professional development of registrars, with the Clinical Tutor available to discuss specifics needs and interests.

Accountability

The post holder will be managerially accountable to the Directorate Clinical Chair and General Manager and professionally accountable to the Directorate Clinical Chair. The centre has contributions from plastic surgery, obstetrics & gynaecology, urology, general surgery, spinal surgery and orthopaedics as well as the range of other medical and surgical services within the Trust.