Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Sarcoma 

The post holder will be joining Dr A Lee and Dr Hameed in the medical oncology team who share responsibility for any chemotherapy delivered for sarcoma and run a weekly parallel clinic with the clinical oncology service. Approximately 100 new cases of sarcoma are currently seen at The Christie per year shared equally between the 4 consultant posts. Inpatient numbers are low, c5 per annum. 

The Greater Manchester and Oswestry Sarcoma Service (GMOSS) is based primarily around three Hospitals, namely Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RJAH), and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. GMOSS provide specialist care for patients with all types and stages of soft tissue and bone sarcoma residing in the Greater Manchester, Cheshire, parts of Greater Midlands, and North Wales. Patients with bone sarcoma and teenage and young adult patients with sarcoma residing in the Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Network (LSCCN) are referred into GMOSS. 

The core service comprises five sarcoma surgeons, two medical oncologists, four clinical oncologists, one dedicated TYA oncologist, three musculo-skeletal radiologists, two specialist sarcoma pathologists plus two clinical nurse specialists (CNS) at Christie as well as nurses at MFT and Oswestry all with a special interest in sarcoma. 

A core weekly multi-disciplinary team meeting (MDT) between the sites is held where all confirmed new, highly suspected or recurrent sarcoma cases are discussed to formulate a management plan. The MDT is video linked between the three sites. 

The appointee will have office accommodation and access to secretarial support. They will also be expected to participate in the consultant on call rota.

Germ Cell

There is the opportunity to work within the Germ Cell team to provide a comprehensive clinical service for Germ Cell patients. This includes patients in the outpatient, inpatient and ambulatory settings. 
The Germ Cell service is predominantly delivered by one other Medical Oncology consultant, Dr Alex Lee.  The team manage all of the Germ Cell cancers diagnosed within the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Cancer Network. 

Lung 

The post holder will be supporting the Medical Oncology Lung team at both the main Christie site and Wythenshawe Hospital. The post holder will be working with all members of the multi-disciplinary team including Dr Summers, Professor Califano, Dr Taylor and Dr Cove-Smith at Wythenshawe/Christie and Professor Blackhall, Dr Lindsay, Dr Gomes and Dr Hughes at Christie. 

The post will involve working closely with the thoracic surgeons and lung cancer physicians at Wythenshawe within an outpatient 'one stop clinic' environment as well as on the pulmonary oncology unit providing inpatient cover, board rounds and ward rounds. The post will also involve support of clinical fellows covering the Wythenshawe chemotherapy unit (thoracic oncology only) and ambulatory care of hotline issues. The post will include acute oncology provision working with a team of 4 band 6 and 7 nurses and a coordinator at Wythenshawe to manage patients with all cancer types admitted with complications of cancer and cancer treatments as well as new diagnosis of malignancy of unknown origin. It will involve cover of a CUP (cancer of unknown primary) MDT and remote advise for the rapid diagnostic hubs at Manchester Foundation Trust.

Acute Oncology 

The Christie Trust provides an inpatient service for selected non-elective admissions where the reason for admission is primarily related to the patient’s underlying malignant diagnosis or its treatment. All admissions are already in receipt of oncology care at the Trust. The normal route of admission is via our 24hr hotline which triages patients and diverts patients to their Acute Trust A&E if appropriate (e.g. chest pain and acute abdominal pain). This is, therefore, not an unselected intake. Those who are admitted usually spend the first 24 – 72 hours on an acute assessment ward (staffed during the day by a consultant in Acute Medicine or General Medicine) and are then transferred to one of the base wards if their admission requires a longer stay. In addition, patients are admitted electively for treatment or procedures. 

The current bed base for this service is 80 beds across several wards. Senior cover for the inpatients is provided jointly between the patient’s Oncology Team (Consultant and Registrar), supplemented by the Hospitalist Team. The Hospitalist team is a group of colleagues with general medical, acute medicine and oncology backgrounds providing senior input to the non-surgical oncology patients admitted to the Trust as above, in liaison with the patient’s Oncology Team. 

The role of the consultant is to provide senior support, leadership and co-ordination of the junior doctors on the wards, to liaise with the patient’s oncology team, ensure the patients are appropriately assessed and managed regarding their in-patient episode, progressed without delay on their management plan and appropriately prepared for discharge to avoid unnecessary delay. The consultant will provide board rounds with attendance and contributions from the multi-disciplinary team and direct reviews as required and within the time available. Another key role of this post is to provide junior doctor supervision, education and support for their inpatient work.

The successful applicant will have dedicated secretarial support and an allocated office with equipment necessary for the role provided. Flexible working requests will be considered in line with trust policy.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
The Trust supports the requirements for CPD as laid down by the GMC and royal colleges and is committed to providing time and financial support for these activities.

Job Planning
The job plan outlines the requirements of the post and may be altered by joint agreement with the Divisional Clinical Director and Service Manager and in response to service needs.  Job Plans are prospectively agreed subject to an annual individual job plan review (May – September).  It is expected that the initial Job Plan discussion will take place within the first six months of employment at the Trust and then be aligned to the Trusts annual Job Planning review cycle.

The annual review will examine all aspects of the job plan (including any educational and supervision components) and will also include an assessment of professional development with defined goals for the future.  For more information refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this Job Description and also the Trust’s Job Planning Policy

The consultant job plan will include a combination of Direct Clinical Care (DCC) and Supporting Professional Activities (SPA) delivered across the 7‑day week.

Weekend working will consist of programmed clinical activities that are job‑planned, scheduled in advance, and reviewed annually through the job planning process.

The pattern and timing of weekday and weekend programmed activities will be agreed on appointment and subsequently reviewed through the annual job planning cycle, taking account of service needs and consultant preferences.

Job Plan Timetable
The timetable below is indicative and will be confirmed on commencement in post.  

It is the requirement of the Trust that all new consultant colleagues must have 0.25 SPAs within their job plan to support Trust appraisal and supervision requirements.  This can either be as appraiser or a supervisor for medical staff or Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACP).

NB This timetable is indicative

On call Commitments
This role does require participation in the on-call rota.