Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Proposed job plan

This post attracts 10 programmed activities per week. There may be the opportunity to discuss and review this with the clinical director.

The job plan for the first three months will be based on a provisional/indicative timetable. A formal job plan will be agreed between the appointee and the Clinical Director within three months of the commencement date of the appointee.

The surgical pathology work involves surgical cut-up and reporting, report checking and signing, and the presentation of cases at the multiple Multi-disciplinary Team meetings. Broncho alveolar lavage cytology samples are also reported. The necropsy work involves the performance of autopsies, their reporting, PM microscopy and its reporting, preparation, checking and signing out of final reports and attendance and presentation of cases at the multiple regional mortality meetings and the Alder Hey PICU and Cardiac departmental mortality meetings, where appropriate. The supervision of the Specialty Registrars is also included. The post requires participation in an on-call system for out of hours (1 in 6, category B) for histopathology advice and rare attendances at the hospital to deal with fresh tumours or urgent post-mortem examinations.

The rota has days for post mortem/ placenta reporting, surgical reporting or “off-rota”, into which a greater number of supporting professional activity SPAs are allocated. The five consultants will undertake duties on five week rotation; an example is included below. Two consultants will be on PM rota together to enable rapid turnaround times. There is internal cover for annual and study leave, and the rota is swapped around accordingly. The workload complexity scores are calculated annually to ensure compliance with RCPath guidelines.

The supporting professional activities (SPAs) allocation within the provisional job plan is an

illustrative guide only and will be finalised following individual agreement with successful candidate.

The basic template for new consultants is 1.5 SPA.  Any additional SPA time in the Job Plan is linked to defined roles with clear objectives.

·         SPA for

o Personal revalidation, appraisal/job planning/quality improvement /clinical governance/statutory & mandatory training/CPD.

o Engagement in Quality Improvement, including :

§  Attending Quality Improvement meetings

§  Contributing data; and

§  Implementing agreed Quality Improvement recommendations in own practice.

·         0.5 SPA for departmental & Trust meetings and teaching (UG, departmental, Trust).

·         Indicative 0.25 SPA for a formal Postgraduate Medical Educational Supervisor role.

·         Additional SPA(s) for defined roles in research, departmental leadership or wider governance, and audit, as agreed through the job planning process. 

There is flexibility to time-shift Coronial or forensic work, court attendances or other external duties with professional organisations, provided all NHS duties are maintained, with target turnaround times met, and registrar supervision carried out.

DCC work is divided between post-mortem and surgical/placental pathology work as shown above. In practice, consultants will spread their post mortem and placental histopathology reporting and SPA duties as best suits the daily demands on their time. Autopsy workload is variable, and therefore on some PM rota days there may be no autopsies, allowing histology reporting or SPA activities to be carried out instead.

The head of department is usually a rotational post, each consultant holding the post for a 3 year period. However, this can be varied by discussion between colleagues. This post attracts an additional programmed activity.

Regular job planning meetings will be undertaken with the post holder to ensure that the appointee is remunerated for any additional activities undertaken and that the job plan accurately reflects the overall workload undertaken by the post holder.