Job overview

Overview of the Senior Clinical Fellow role in Frailty

The over-riding purpose is to support the provision of the highest quality patient care through personal actions and continuous improvement and by working closely with the broader Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT).

The post will be based in the Frailty Intervention Team and the Frailty Unit, but with the focus of work being inreach into the Emergency Department.

The Frailty Unit is opening over winter to support frail, older patients that cannot be discharged from the Emergency Department but that have a predicted length of stay of under 48 hours. Patients will be transferred directly from the Emergency Department to the Frailty Unit, with the aim being to discharge the majority within the following 2 days. The Frailty Unit will be run by a consultant geriatrician, who will also provide supervision for the inreach into the Emergency Department. The focus of the inreach will be on

1)       facilitating appropriate discharges home with appropriate community support

2)       facilitating appropriate transfers to the Frailty Unit

3)       Improving the care of frail older patients requiring admission to other specialties.

This work follows a successful winter pilot last year of a similar frailty unit, which led to a statistically significant reduction in length of stay for frail patients over 75 in the hospital during the period the frailty unit was open.

The post will include no on-call commitment, and is a fixed term appointment for 6 months from 6/10/2025 to 27/03/2026.

There are excellent educational opportunities, both formal (weekly medical Grand Round, weekly Geriatric Department educational meeting) and informal. There are also opportunities for audit and QIP projects whilst working at the hospital.

Main duties of the job

The over-riding purpose is to support the provision of the highest quality patient care through personal actions and continuous improvement.

1. The post holder will be required to provide a comprehensive medical review of frail, older patients in the emergency department (and occasionally in other hospital areas such as SDEC) to facilitate appropriate discharges, appropriate transfers to the frailty unit and aid the care of frail older patients being admitted to other areas of the hospital. The post holder may also need to review patients on the frailty unit and help the running of the unit at times.

2. To establish and maintain liaison with users of the service including local General Practitioners and other external agencies.

3. The post holder will undertake to perform additional duties in occasional emergencies and unforeseen circumstances.

4. To actively participate in audit/teaching and research activities within the department, including having medical students.

5. Liaise with the multidisciplinary team regarding patient care.

6. There may be occasions where you are required to undertake similar duties at other hospitals within the Sherwood Forest hospitals NHS Trust.

7. Perform administrative work i.e., discharge summaries and letters/reports within prescribed timescales.

8. The senior clinical fellow will be expected to comply with the Royal College requirements for undertaking CME and to participate in the trusts appraisal system as appropriate.

9. So far as is consistent with the proper discharge of the above duties, the post holder undertakes to deputise from time to time for absent colleagues.

Working for our organisation

We are an award-winning NHS Foundation Trust working alongside health and social care colleagues across the county to provide acute and community healthcare services to more than 420,000 people across Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. 

 We put the patient at the heart of everything that we do and it is our aim to make sure that every patient is treated as we would want a member of our own family to be treated. At the same time, we expect our staff to be caring, kind and courteous to each other and to look out for each other. We believe that we are truly a clinically-led organisation. 

We are proud that our Trust colleagues have voted us the best acute Trust to work for in the East Midlands for seven years running in the National NHS Staff Survey, while the Care Quality Commission has rated our Trust as ‘outstanding’ for care and our King’s Mill Hospital as the only ‘outstanding’ NHS-run hospital in the East Midlands.