Job summary
- Main area
- Histopathology
- Grade
- NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 10 sessions per week
- Job ref
- 196-CON1093
- Employer
- Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Guys Hospital
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £109,725 - £145,478 p.a excl. London Zone
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 28/11/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Consultant Histopathologist in Oral & Maxillofacial - Head & Neck
NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
Applications are invited for a Consultant Cellular Pathologist / Histopathologist in the Department of Head and Neck Pathology at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust, based on the Guy’s site. The appointment is to provide Histopathology reporting within Head and Neck Pathology for Hospitals across SE London, including Guy’s and St Thomas’ Kings College Hospital London and Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley.
The role includes a major component of Head and Neck Cancer work, and the applicant will join a team of 3 FTE Oral and Maxillofacial / Head and Neck Pathologists working in a major tertiary referral centre for Head and Neck oncology patients supporting 9 Head and Neck Cancer surgeons performing ultra complex resections. There is a large volume of thyroid diagnostic work in addition.
We work alongside a team of academic Head and Neck Oncologists and opportunities exist for collaboration in clinical trials, tissue banking and research projects.
The successful applicant will also contribute to teaching of mainly undergraduate dental students at Kings College Hospital London, the largest dental faculty in Europe and consistently rated in the top 10 in the world for dentistry.
Main duties of the job
The Head and Neck Pathology Department currently retains status as a Specialist Laboratory but as part of consolidation of laboratories across SE London, it is possible that part of the laboratory work will be transferred to the Synnovis Hub which is a new and state of the art laboratory located equidistant between Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust sites. The responsibilities of specimen cut up, frozen section provision and reporting duties will remain on / are currently based on the Guy’s site, collocated with the clinical teams. Provision is made for delivery of SPA and some DCC activity off site / at home if desired. Working pattern will likely demand specified days on site to allow 5 day cover of frozen sections and tissue banking. There are 2 weekly MDTs, one for thyroid and one for Head and Neck, which can be attended in person or via video link.
Applicants are required to hold full GMC or GDC registration with a licence to practice and to be on the GMC or GDC's Specialist Register.
A job description applicable to the post is appended, together with details of the department. This post is full time but those interested in part time work are also encouraged to apply.
Working for our organisation
Our Department is unique in that we are currently one of few surviving standalone Oral and Maxillofacial / Head and Neck Pathology Departments, and as such we are a small Clinical and Laboratory team. We benefit from sitting managerially alongside the larger Cellular Pathology Department based at the St Thomas’ site and there are cross working arrangements in particular in thyroid pathology. Close links to histopathology colleagues in particular in haematopathology, carcinoma of unknown primary, dermatopathology and cytopathology exist, with frequent interaction / case discussion.
The imminent arrival of digital pathology will serve to enhance the Department’s commitment to flexible working, both geographic and temporal, enabling us to deliver an efficient service and allowing us to maintain a healthy work-life balance, whilst continuing to provide an excellent service for our users.
The Trust has recently rolled out the EPIC patient record system, which has already delivered benefits and efficiencies in creation of pathology reports, by easy access to all relevant patient information.
Our reputation for safe, high quality care is among the best in the UK and we strive to put patients at the heart of everything we do.
We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of six accredited UK Academic Health Sciences Centres. We also have a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre in partnership with King’s College London.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the job description and person specification for the main responsibilities of this role.
Person specification
Professional Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Full and Specialist registration (and with a licence to practise) with the General Medical Council (GMC) or General Dental Council (GDC), or be eligible for registration within six months of interview.
- Applicants that are UK trained, must ALSO be a holder of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), or be within six months of award of CCT by date of interview.
- Applicants that are non-UK trained, will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT.
- MRCP or show evidence of equivalent qualification
- FRCPath or show evidence of equivalent qualification
- Evidence of continuous professional development.
Desirable criteria
- PhD or other Higher Postgraduate degree in Medicine or Science
- Any additional medical or sub-speciality qualifications either national or international.
Clinical Experience
Essential criteria
- Comprehensive clinical experience in Oral and Head and Neck Histopathology
- Proven record of experience as a trainee in histopathology
- Continuing and recent diagnostic practice experience in oral / head and neck histopathology, as a major specialist interest
Clinical Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to work as an effective member of a multidisciplinary team.
- Familiarity with modern morphological and molecular diagnostic techniques
Desirable criteria
- Experience in clinical guideline development.
Audit Management & IT
Essential criteria
- Evidence of contribution to effective clinical governance, audit clinical risk management, and IT skills.
- Understanding of principles of audit.
- Evidence of understanding of the role of clinical management.
Desirable criteria
- Management training or qualification.
- Evidence of leadership in the development of clinical services.
Research, Teaching skill & experience
Essential criteria
- Understanding of the principles and applications of clinical research.
- Evidence of original research.
- Ability to supervise junior staff in diagnostic work.
- Experience of teaching and training undergraduates, postgraduates and junior medical staff.
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of original research and publication in oral and head and neck histopathology.
- Appraisal Training
- Teaching qualification
Leadership/Management skills
Essential criteria
- Communication; Ability to communicate with clarity and intelligently in written and spoken English; ability to build rapport, listen, persuade/ negotiate.
- Accountability; Ability to take responsibility, lead, make decisions and exert appropriate authority.
- Interpersonal Skills; Empathy, understanding, listening skills, patience and ability to work co-operatively with others.
- Able to change and adapt, respond to changing circumstances and to cope with setbacks or pressure.
- Ability to work as part of a team
- Staff Management; Experience of performance management, developing and motivating staff.
- Finance; Knowledge of finance and budgets.
Desirable criteria
- Previous experience in management positions, e.g. speciality lead, clinical lead, clinical director.
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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Gillian Hall
- Job title
- Consultant Histopathologist in H&N/Oral Pathology
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 020 7188 4366
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