Skip to main content

This site is independent of the NHS and the Department of Health.

Please wait, loading

Job summary

Main area
Elderly Care
Grade
NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 10 sessions per week (10 sessions per week)
Job ref
405-MD2518ECON
Employer
Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Dorset County Hosptial
Town
Dorchester
Salary
£105,504 - £139,882 Per annum with additional on call supplement
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
18/05/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust logo

Elderly Care Consultant with Special Interest in Acute Geriatrics

NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant

Outstanding Care, Outstanding Careers

For more information on our wonderful Trust search Join DCHFT and for more information on the benefits of working at DCHFT search DCHFT Staff Benefits

For help with completing an application search DCHFT Our Recruitment Process

 

Job overview

Dorset County Hospital is currently undergoing expansion with a complete emergency floor redesign and rebuild.  This opens an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic geriatrician to join our team and contribute to a bespoke pathway for frail older people admitted to hospital. 

We would like to recruit a geriatrician with a passion for excellent care to join our team of consultants, specialist doctors, advance practitioners, nurse consultants and speciality doctors.  We are flexible, supportive and inclusive.  New consultants are supported with a mentor.

We welcome applications from Less Than Full-Time candidates.

Main duties of the job

Dorset County Hospital is a 350 bed District General Hospital with a comprehensive range of medical and surgical services.

The successful applicant will participate in the delivery and development of services for older people in our hospital.  Their timetable will be tailored to individual skills and subspeciality expertise, but likely to focus on working with existing colleagues in front door frailty. 

We provide daily geriatrician led ward rounds on the medical admissions unit, frailty SDEC services, a 38 bed inpatient frailty unit, an acute stroke unit and associated rehabilitation and outpatient stroke services, orthogeriatric and general surgical liaison services, Parkinson’s disease service. 

We have close links with colleagues working in our local community hospitals with some colleagues working across the two areas providing some sessions for inpatient care in these hospitals.  Our multidisciplinary department is working together towards becoming Dorset County Hospital’s Centre of Excellence for the Care of Older People.”

Working for our organisation

At DCHFT, we pride ourselves on the care we provide for our patients, and on the culture, we are creating for our staff. We work hard to create a fair, inclusive environment for our staff.

Our Mission is to provide outstanding care for people in ways which matter to them, and our vision is Dorset County Hospital, working with our health and social care partners, will be at the heart of improving the well-being of our communities.

We are a Trust that celebrates diversity, and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We welcome applications from people in all under-represented groups.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This post is a great opportunity for an enthusiastic consultant to participate in the development of services in a friendly district general hospital situated in a beautiful part of England. This post will be within the Department of Medicine for Older People (DMOP). The successful applicant will join senior medical staff in Medicine for Older People and Stroke, working to improve the care of emergency medical admissions and frail older people. The Trust has in recent years worked with the Acute Frailty Network to develop a dynamic and progressive approach to the management of frail older people.

We have developed a fully integrated acute frailty unit in the acute medical unit which provides daily weekday geriatrician ward rounds and MDT review. A Frailty SDEC service provides rapid access appointments, medical falls reviews and direct reviews of suitable ED patients. Geriatricians also provide ward rounds in community hospitals in West Dorset and input to locality virtual wards, alongside providing an advice line to local GPs, community frailty teams and paramedics. Together with other members of the team, this appointment will facilitate the ongoing development of the Trust’s frailty pathway, both within and outside the hospital’s walls, in collaboration with Dorset HealthCare, our community partner.

The successful applicant will join the team of senior clinicians in Medicine for Older People and Stroke Medicine.  While this post has been created primarily to further our front door frailty services, there is potential to provide input to several of our current services, depending on the new post holder’s interests.  The job plan can be decided on appointment and can be reviewed and adapted at intervals to meet the strengths of the individual.

The Department of Medicine for Older People includes a 38 bed frailty unit – The Mary Anning Unit – for acute geriatric medical inpatients and including beds and specialism for those inpatients with dementia and requiring complex discharge work; a 23 bed acute and rehabilitation Stroke Unit and various related services. There are 8 dedicated beds in a local community hospital for stroke rehabilitation.

There is an integrated acute frailty unit on the acute medical admissions ward, which flexes bed numbers with demand. Here there is a geriatrician ward round Monday to Friday. This is supported by a multidisciplinary team approach. Our new frailty SDEC opened in February 2025, run by acute practitioners working closely with geriatricians providing timely assessment for frail older patients referred from primary care and other community settings and also drawing suitable patients from the Emergency Department for assessment and facilitation of investigations and early discharge.  We have 10 short stay inpatient beds on the frailty unit, under the care of geriatricians.

We have a well established orthogeriatric liaison service for elderly trauma patients and are developing a liaison service for general surgery. 

There is a well-developed medical admissions unit with good access to timely imaging and laboratory facilities. Once patients have left the admissions unit, a ward-based team approach is established. A team of resident doctors manage all medical acute admissions, led by a medical registrar, on an all-ages medical “take”, supported by the medical consultant on call.  There are close working relationships between the Acute Physicians and the Medicine for Older People consultants. There is a medical handover every morning where new admissions are allocated to appropriate specialties, including MOP.

General medicine patients are able to attend for rapid access assessment via Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC).

The emergency floor is currently in the process of being redesigned, with new processes being developed to ensure patients are seen in the most appropriate environment. For MOP this will mean increased use of our existing Frailty SDEC. All members of the department will be involved in this and there are exciting opportunities to contribute to the development of new admission pathways.

The post holder would be expected to contribute to the all-age medical take, with frequency 1 in 12 weekdays and 1 in 8 weekends. 

Person specification

Education, Qualifications & Training

Essential criteria
  • Full GMC Registration
  • Entry on the GMC Specialist Register via; CCT (proposed CCT date must be within 6mths of interview) CESAR or European Community Rights
  • MRCP or overseas equivalent

Experience & Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of the ability to manage the demands of being a DGH based consultant
  • Experience of working within the NHS
  • Experience in a special interest that will complement those existing in the department

Current Skills & Abilities

Essential criteria
  • At least 5 years clinical experience in geriatrics and acute general medicine at registrar or equivalent level
  • Evidence of the clinical skills required to fulfill the specialty and sub-specialty elements of the job as in the job description and technical specification

Team Working and Service Development

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of recent collaborative working in a service development or improvement

Understanding and Participation in Clinical Governance

Essential criteria
  • Understanding of the principles of Clinical Governance
  • Evidence of participation in recent relevant audit

Management Training, Organisational Skills and Strategic Vision

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of management experience

Teaching and communication

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of Teaching Experience

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoArmed Forces CovenantArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Dr Clare Sixsmith
Job title
Clinical Lead for Elderly Care
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01305 253285
Additional information

Neil Johnston

Deputy Divisional Director of Operations

[email protected]

Tel 01305 255065 / 0777 940 7720

Apply online nowAlert me to similar vacancies