Job overview

Discover Island Life, Drive Stroke Excellence: Consultant Physician, Isle of Wight NHS Trust

The Isle of Wight NHS Trust is seeking an enthusiastic and forward-thinking Stroke Consultant to join our ambitious and compassionate team at St Mary's Hospital. This is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in delivering high-quality stroke care to a defined island population while helping to shape and develop services within an integrated healthcare system.

The integrated nature of the Acute and Ambulance service, supported by strong working relationships with our community colleagues creates exceptional opportunities for clinicians to influence the entire patient pathway, working collaboratively across organisational boundaries to improve outcomes and patient experience.

Why Join Us?

Stroke services on the Isle of Wight are at an exciting stage of development. We are committed to delivering excellent, evidence-based care and continuously improving services in line with national best practice. The successful candidate will join a motivated multidisciplinary team and have the opportunity to contribute significantly to the strategic direction of stroke services across the Island. The role offers a diverse and rewarding case mix, encompassing hyperacute, acute and rehabilitation stroke care, supported by regional neuroscience and thrombectomy centres on the mainland. Consultants have the opportunity to lead service improvement initiatives, participate in regional stroke networks, and contribute to education, research and quality improvement.

Main duties of the job

A Consultant Role with Genuine Impact

This is more than a traditional consultant post. As a Stroke Consultant on the Isle of Wight, you will have the opportunity to:

• Lead and develop innovative stroke pathways across acute and community settings.
• Work within an integrated multidisciplinary team committed to providing person-centred care.
• Influence strategic service development and transformation programmes.
• Support the training and development of junior medical staff, advanced practitioners and multidisciplinary colleagues.
• Contribute to quality improvement, research and clinical leadership initiatives.
• Make a visible and lasting difference to the health outcomes of the Island population.

Performance and Patient Outcomes

Stroke care is a priority for the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, and we are proud of the significant progress made in recent years through a relentless focus on quality improvement, multidisciplinary working and patient outcomes. Our stroke service has demonstrated sustained improvements in performance across the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP), reflecting the commitment and expertise of our clinical teams. We recognise SSNAP as more than a performance metric; it is a powerful driver of excellence. Through robust governance, real-time performance review and continuous pathway optimisation, we have consistently improved key indicators including rapid specialist assessment, thrombolysis performance, timely access to imaging, multidisciplinary rehabilitation and discharge planning.

As a member of the Wessex Integrated Stroke Delivery Network (ISDN), we benchmark our performance against some of the highest-performing stroke services in the country and actively participate in regional quality improvement programmes. This collaborative approach has enabled us to adopt best practice rapidly and ensure that patients on the Isle of Wight benefit from the same high standards of care available across the wider Wessex region. The successful candidate will join a service with a clear ambition to achieve and sustain high levels of SSNAP performance across all domains of stroke care. You will play a key leadership role in analysing performance data, identifying opportunities for improvement and implementing innovative solutions that further enhance patient outcomes and experience.

Our commitment to excellence is supported by ongoing investment in workforce development, digital technology and pathway redesign. The implementation of Rapid AI has strengthened our ability to deliver timely specialist assessment and expedite decision-making for thrombolysis and thrombectomy referrals, supporting continued improvement in hyperacute stroke performance measures.

Working for our organisation

Why This Role is Different

Unlike larger organisations where individual influence can be diluted, the very nature of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust means stroke consultants can have a direct impact on the entire patient pathway. From emergency assessment and hyperacute treatment through rehabilitation and community follow-up, consultants are able to drive improvements that translate rapidly into enhanced SSNAP performance and, most importantly, better outcomes for patients.

Our ambition is simple: to become one of the highest-performing stroke services in the Wessex region, delivering outstanding SSNAP outcomes and exceptional patient-centred care. Working in partnership with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, regional neuroscience services and the Wessex Integrated Stroke Delivery Network, we are creating an increasingly integrated stroke model that combines local delivery with access to specialist expertise, innovation and clinical excellence. The successful candidate will play a key role in helping us realise this ambition