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Detailed job description and responsibilities

 Acute Work

The philosophy of the department is that all acute consultant work is shared equally. We aim to have full rotas of tier 1 and tier 2 doctors, meaning that consultants do not currently work night shifts. However, when gaps do occur and locums cannot be found, they are shared equally among the consultant body.

The acute consultant team works 5 acute weeks in a 14-week cycle with the Consultant of the Week being responsible for inpatient care on the children’s ward and HDU. Another consultant is responsible for SCBU, there are two paediatric acute consultants sharing cover each week working until 9pm supporting the team covering the SSPAU, taking phone calls from GPs and ED and providing back up as needed on the ward or SCBU. Full time consultants work a 4-day week outside the acute weeks with a regular fixed day off. We incorporate child protection into our acute weeks with strategy meetings and child protection medicals being done by the most appropriate team member according to clinical workload. The acute weeks are paediatric ward consultant – split over two weeks, Monday – Thursday and Friday-Sunday (weekend on call), SCBU week - Monday-Friday and back up weekend on call during winter period in case of overwhelming workload. Paediatric acute consultants – PAC 1 – covers long day on Tuesday and Thursday, PAC 2 covers long day on Monday and Friday and the Wednesday long day is incorporated as part of the Friday-Sunday COW week. This means that there is always an acute team of 5 consultants covering each week, while allowing plenty of time to take annual and study leave in the 10 weeks not involved in acute cover. Swapping of whole weeks of service to allow leave is possible.

Specialist Paediatric Clinics

Children requiring specialist medical input are cared for with the support of lead local paediatricians and visiting tertiary specialists. Regular local clinics are scheduled and provide opportunities for teaching and development of specialty interests. All consultants contributing to the acute team help triage new referrals into appropriate outpatient clinic streams.

Community Paediatrics

 Our Community clinics are in geographically based localities, including some clinics held at allocated Special Schools. Community consultants also contribute to the acute team activity and peer review processes. The community team have a rota to triage community referrals or provide advice where appropriate.

The SARC service is commissioned to an independent provider but a similar agreement for paediatric expertise is intermittently on offer and we will support signposting for applicants with specific interest.

Training Grades

In the acute hospital division there are now 8 level 1 training grade posts (F1, F2, GPST1+2 and Paediatric ST3. The junior rota is currently an eight-week cycle fully compatible with the European Working Time Directive (full shift).

Middle tier trainees: Four Specialty Registrars (ST4-8) and 2 ST3 – who may work on the middle grade rota.  Three Specialty Registrars are ‘Core Trainees’, rotating through General Paediatrics and Community Paediatrics. All are taking part on the on-call rota. Rotas are 1:6 for middle tier (full shift EWTD compatible).

Children’s Wards –

The Hospital Paediatric Service was assessed in 2016 as part of the CQC inspection and was rated “Good”

Louisa Cary Ward

Inpatient care for acutely unwell children is provided on Louisa Cary Ward which has recently been fully refurbished.  This is a 19 bed/cot ward which is used by other specialities in addition to Paediatrics, including Orthopaedics, General Surgery, Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, ENT and Dental Surgery.  The ward includes a two bedded HDU; a 6 bedded Young Person’s Unit (Adolescent Unit).

Short Stay Paediatric Assessment Unit (SSPAU) 9am-9pm 5 days a week

This is situated alongside the Louisa Cary Ward with 5 trolley spaces and additional chairs. Acute referrals from GPs and Emergency department assessed and treated. Consultant led service alongside junior tier doctors.

John Parkes Unit

Within JPU there is a dedicated area for some paediatric community clinics and specialist therapist facilities.

Special Care Baby Unit

This mother and baby unit with 2 HDU cots, 4 special care cots and a 4-cot transitional care ward is managed by the Child Health Directorate.  Our service includes aspects of High Dependency Care including CPAP/BIPAP and is a designated Level 1 Unit within the Peninsula Neonatal Network.  There are approximately 2,500 deliveries per year, and the spectrum of care consists of neonatal intensive care for stabilisation prior to transfer for on-going intensive care to a Level 2 or Level 3 unit. The nurses on the unit are trained in neonatal intensive care. Transfer is via the SONAR Team with most of the day time transfers done by the SONAR South Team based in Derriford Hospital Plymouth. SCBU also provides transitional care and there are close links with the obstetric service which is supported by a perinatal mental health team.

The neonatal lead works closely with the obstetric team to provide a high-class perinatal service and service quality is monitored by the Southwest Operational Delivery Network and participation in international benchmarking with the Vermont Oxford Network. We appreciate that some applicants may not have been currently involved in providing neonatal care and can provide back up and support with additional training if needed to refresh neonatal skills.