Job overview

Consultant in Elderly Care – Acute and Community Frailty
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust – Eastbourne District General Hospital

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust is seeking an enthusiastic and motivated Consultant in Elderly Care to join the Acute Frailty Team based at Eastbourne District General Hospital. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the development of integrated acute and community frailty services and to support high-quality care for older people across East Sussex.

The successful applicant will work as part of a multidisciplinary team delivering comprehensive frailty services to a local population of approximately 544,000 people. The role focuses on the early assessment and management of older patients living with frailty, supporting rapid clinical decision-making and enabling safe, effective care pathways that promote independence and avoid unnecessary hospital admission where possible.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will contribute to the Acute Frailty Team across several clinical areas including the emergency department, clinical decision unit and acute medical unit, as well as inpatient wards and the virtual frailty ward. The role also includes supporting community-based assessments and working closely with discharge teams and community services to facilitate safe transitions from hospital to home.

Key duties include providing consultant leadership in frailty assessment, participating in multidisciplinary ward rounds and board rounds, delivering outpatient clinics aligned with the post holder’s special interests, and supporting the development of surgical liaison services for frail surgical patients. The consultant will also assess patients referred by other specialties and contribute to service improvement initiatives across the frailty pathway.

The successful candidate will take part in the General Internal Medicine on-call rota alongside consultant colleagues and will contribute to teaching, clinical governance, audit, and quality improvement activities within the department. There will be opportunities to develop specialist interests and to support research and education within the Trust and in partnership with regional academic institutions.

This post offers the opportunity to play a key role in shaping innovative frailty services and improving outcomes for older people across East Sussex within a supportive and forward-thinking clinical team.

Working for our organisation

We are proud to provide ‘Outstanding’ care and be a great place to work

We provide safe, compassionate and high quality care to half a million people living or visiting East Sussex. We are one of the largest organisations in East Sussex, the only integrated provider of acute and community care in Sussex. Our extensive services are provided by  7000 + members of staff working from acute hospitals in Hastings and Eastbourne, three community hospitals in Bexhill, Rye and Uckfield, over 100 community sites and in people’s own homes.

In 2020 the Care Quality Commission rated us as ‘Good’ overall, and ‘Outstanding’ for being caring and effective. The Conquest Hospital and our Community Services are rated ‘Outstanding’. Eastbourne DGH rated ‘Good’.

In 2020, the Trust launched its ambitious ‘Building for our Future’ programme. This once in a lifetime programme aims to repair, redevelop and expand our hospitals, transforming the environment in which we provide care for generations to come.