Weekday Professional Line (WDPL) GP

Job overview

This is a senior, weekday GP role at the primary–secondary care interface. You’ll speak with GPs and other community clinicians about acute medical presentations, agree a clear plan, and support the best next step for each patient. You’ll help teams avoid admissions where safe, and when hospital care is needed, support timely referral via the right route.

Based at Osprey Court, you’ll work within a supportive multidisciplinary team alongside System CAS colleagues. The role is varied and offers a strong mix of clinical thinking, professional collaboration and system knowledge across BNSSG.

The WDPL team operates 08:00–18:30, Monday to Friday, and is based at Osprey Court. We receive calls from primary care clinicians and other community healthcare professionals seeking advice or admission for adult patients with acute medical presentations.

Main duties of the job

Our key function is to:

• explore management pathways not yet considered that could support safe community management, and
• facilitate admission to hospital via the most appropriate route when required.

We provide this service for patients within the catchment of the three BNSSG acute hospitals: Southmead Hospital, Bristol Royal Infirmary and Weston General Hospital.

You’ll also receive a small number of cases from NHS 111 during the day (including poisonings), and you’ll work alongside the System Clinical Assessment Service (System CAS) team, supporting remote clinical assessment for patients who might otherwise be directed to ED or 999 without clinical input.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Receive telephone referrals for medical admission from primary care clinicians, carefully exploring the medical presentation and the caller’s concerns
• Demonstrate shared clinical decision-making and critical thinking to agree a patient-centred plan, aiming to support community management wherever possible and particularly for patients with terminal illness and/ or advanced frailty
• Facilitate referral to the Frailty-ACE (Assessment and Coordination for Emergency and urgent care) team for those frail patients who would benefit from a further discussion to determine whether community management would support their needs
• Provide medical advice and support to community clinicians who are working to maintain management of adult medical patients in the community, signposting to specialist input and community management pathways if required
• Seek specialist advice when required to support admission avoidance
• Facilitate urgent/ same day hospital referral via the most appropriate hospital pathway
• Remote assessment and management of a small number of dispositions/ cases referred from NHS111 during the day, including accidental toxic ingestions and people aged < 2 or > 85 years with unclear needs
• Remote clinical assessment of patients who, without clinical input, would otherwise be directed to a Category 3/4 ambulance or Emergency Department, alongside System CAS colleagues
• Excellent communication skills and a supportive and collaborative approach with both clinical and operational colleagues on shift, referring clinicians and colleagues in affiliated organisations
• Proactive approach to case discussion and supporting clinical decision making across Weekday Professional Line, Frailty-ACE and System CAS teams
• Contribute to the development of and/ or embrace new patient pathways, admission avoidance options and service developments to enhance care for patients

Support with assessment and management of patients referred to the Covid Medicine Delivery Unit, where required.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.