Consultant Medicine- Cardiology in Connacht Region - Republic of Ireland on a fixed term / permanent basis; working for our client via Workplace Doctors

*** Must have IMC (Specialist Division) Registration (Irish Medical Council) - Essential
*** Location: Republic of Ireland – Connacht Region (Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Donegal)
***Speciality: Medicine- Cardiology
*** Pay rate: €217,235 to €261,051 Euro’s (dependent on experience) basic salary (allowances paid extra)

*** Role: Consultant (6+ years post graduate experience)

*** Duration: 12 months (FREE visa & work permit + relocation package offered)

*** Role: Consultant (6+ years post graduate experience)

*** Start date: ASAP

***IELTS Score of 7.0 Overall (minimum) – Essential

***Exact location details provided on application

Irish Teaching Hospitals and Medical Universities receive great international acclaim & recognition throughout the world, doctors with experience and training in Ireland typically enjoy great success in terms of professional career development & job satisfaction.

Overview

This is an exciting post based at a HSE hospital in the Connacht region.  The Trust is one of the largest district hospitals in the country with a catchment population of about 350,000.  At the hospital there has been on-site invasive cardiology and permanent pacemaker implantation for over 10 years.  There is a well-developed non-invasive service including cardiac CT and complex echocardiography.  Education is well-supported and research is strongly encouraged. There are regular MDT meetings with a cardiac surgeon and an interventionalist.

The post-holder would join 4 Consultant Cardiologists each with varying special interests.   In addition there is a compliment of 1 Associate Specialist, 1 senior Registrar, 2 clinical fellows and 2 Specialist Registrar’s. 

The hospital is located in a rural setting with easy access to several desirable residential locations.  The region has excellent schools and wonderful facilities for recreation.

The Cardiology Department

Outpatient services include rapid chest pain clinics and worsening chest pain clinics, as well as general and speciality cardiology clinics, there are over 4500 referrals per year to the OPD, with clinics taking place at the hospital site only.

A bi-plane cardiac catheter lab has been on site since 1995. Over 1200 diagnostic cardiac catheters and 230 new pacemaker implants are performed on site per year. A full non-invasive cardiac testing service is provided including cardiac CT angiography – new high-speed scanner currently being installed - trans-thoracic echocardiograms, stress echocardiograms, trans-oesophageal, 3D echocardiography.  The hospital have aspirations to develop cardiac MR imaging on site.

The Cardiologists at the HSE hospital provide cover to 35 inpatient beds that covers Coronary Care Unit (6 beds), Heart Assessment Centre (12 beds) and general cardiology beds (17 beds).

There is an adjourning 6 bedded Cardiac Day Suite to cater for elective cardiac catheters, permanent pacemakers, transoesophageal echos and DC Cardioversions. The Cardiologists do contribute to the General Internal Medicine rota but they do provide a 1 in 5 on call rota for Cardiology. 

There are additional supporting junior doctors, plus a team of 2 ANPs, a Cardiac Nurse Specialist and a pharmacist. The Cardiology service is well supported by a large team of highly experienced Cardiac Physiologists

Clinical Duties

General Provisions           

·       The appointee will have some responsibility for the training and supervision of staff, including junior medical staff and cardiac specialist nurses.

·       The study leave entitlement of this post reflects the national Terms and Conditions for Consultants 2003.

·       Access to a personal computer (including Internet access), appropriate IT support and training will be provided, along with appropriate office space.

·       There will be 0.50 WTE of a Band 4 Medical Secretary to support the successful candidate.

·       There will be clinical support from doctors in training, specialist nurses and pharmacists         

·       A nominated mentor will be available for the new appointee.

Duties and Responsibilities

·       The post holder will have some responsibility for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of patients with general cardiology conditions.

·       The post holder will take a share of responsibly for cardiology referrals within the Trust and continuing care of some patients who are not located on the cardiology ward.

·       There will be some responsibility for teaching and training and also the professional supervision, management of staff within the department.        

·       Clinical duties are cancelled for Audit (‘Good Practice) meetings and the post holder will be required to attend audit days.  The appointee will be expected to personally participate in Clinical Audit, Clinical Governance and Continuing Professional Development. 

·       Involvement in research is strongly encouraged. 

·       Some patients with non-cardiac conditions are occasionally admitted to the cardiology ward.  The hospital expect cardiologists to make sure these patients are dealt with safely which may involve referral to a different specialist if the candidate feels unable to deal with the condition.

Standard Duties and responsibilities

a) To participate in development of and undertake all duties and functions pertinent to the Consultant’s area of competence, as set out within the Clinical Directorate Service Plan  and in line with policies as specified by the Employer.

b) To ensure that duties and functions are undertaken in a manner that minimises delays for patients and possible disruption of services.

c) To work within the framework of the hospital / agency’s service plan and/or levels of service (volume, types etc.) as determined by the Employer. Service planning for individual clinical services will be progressed through the Clinical Directorate structure or other arrangements as apply.

d) To co-operate with the expeditious implementation of the Disciplinary Procedure 

e) To formally review the execution of the Clinical Directorate Service Plan with the Clinical Director / Employer periodically. The Clinical Directorate Service Plan shall be reviewed periodically at the request of the Consultant or Clinical Director / Employer. The Consultant may initially seek internal review of the determinations of the Clinical Director regarding the Service Plan.

f) To participate in the development and operation of the Clinical Directorate structure and in such management or representative structures as are in place or being developed. The Consultant shall receive training and support to enable him/her to participate fully in such structures.

g) To provide, as appropriate, consultation in the Consultant’s area of designated expertise in respect of patients of other Consultants at their request.

h) To ensure in consultation with the Clinical Director that appropriate medical cover is available at all times having due regard to the implementation of the European Working Time Directive as it relates to doctors in training.

i) To supervise and be responsible for diagnosis, treatment and care provided by non-Consultant Hospital Doctors (NCHDs) treating patients under the Consultant’s care.

j) To participate as a right and obligation in selection processes for non-Consultant Hospital Doctors and other staff as appropriate. The Employer will provide training as required. The Employer shall ensure that a Consultant representative of the relevant specialty / sub-specialty is involved in the selection process. 

k) To participate in clinical audit and proactive risk management and facilitate production of all data/information required for same in accordance with regulatory, statutory and corporate policies and procedures.

l) To participate in and facilitate production of all data/information required to validate delivery of duties and functions and inform planning and management of service delivery

Teaching Commitments

·       regular commitments to ward based teaching of undergraduates.

·       participation in the lecture programmes for 2^nd and 4^th & 5^th year medical students.

·       teaching of other groups as required including other specialty juniors and specialist nurses, MRCP candidates.

Job Plan

A formal job plan will be agreed between the appointee, the Operational Medical Director and Lead Cardiology Consultant, on behalf of the Trust’s Medical Director, based on the provisional timetable. This will be signed by the Chief Executive and will be effective from the commencement date of the appointment.

It will be reviewed at 3 months & thereafter annually or at any time, but no less than 3 months after a previous review, as requested by the appointee, Operational Medical Director or Clinical Lead & adjusted accordingly to the agreement of both parties.

The Consultant Cardiologist job plan is based on an 8 week cycle.  There are 2 weeks dedicated to covering the wards with the remaining 6 weeks spent off the ward.   All annual leave is taken during the 6 weeks spent off the ward.

Ward Weeks

Week One: Cardiologist of the Week (COW).  The consultant will carry out a daily morning ward round on Cardiac Care Unit (CCU).  After the CCU round   they will review patients referred by the Acute Physicians (‘in-reach’) on the Acute Medical Unit (AMU).  They will then pick up ward referrals left on CCU assisted by the middle grade doctors (approximately 45-50 referrals per week). There may be a few new cardiology patients to see and take over on outlying non-medical wards, alongside a few requests to review some urgent patients in the emergency department.  One afternoon cath-lab session for inpatient emergencies will be included in the COW job plan.  There is no time for SPA or admin in the COW week and this is paid back when off the ward.

The COW will cover Saturday and Sunday ward rounds on the cardiology ward (ward 32) and CCU.  Being on site for 6 hours each day the post holder will be entitled to 4 PA or 16 hours time back per COW week-end.  This equates to 2 days leave in lieu per weekend (or can be paid as 0.5 PAs per week in the job plan).

The COW provides on call on a 1 in 8 basis, remunerated at category A ( 5%), covering Monday to Sunday inclusive. This is in general for telephone advice for patients with cardiac problems but there is an expectation that the post holder will sometimes attend the hospital for a medical emergency such as temporary pacing. Telephone advice occurs approximately once per week; being called back to site occurs approximately 2-3 times per year. There are currently no formal arrangement for ‘next day clinical commitments’ to be cross-covered if the consultant felt they were unable to work safely the next day.  It is rare for this situation to occur but if this did occur then clinical commitments the next day would have to be cancelled at short notice.  If this was viewed as an important issue then a system could be devised to ensure it could occur. 

There is no time for SPA and admin during the COW week and this flexible time is paid back in the off-ward weeks.

Week One job plan: COW with on call

 *Cath-lab session will be afternoon but could be any day

Week Two:  Ward 32 Consultant on week (‘Cover Cardiologist’):  The ‘Cover’ week normally follows the COW week.  The Cover week on ward 32 begins each morning with a ‘Board Round’ -  a meeting at 9-00 am with the ward manager, junior doctors, OT/Physio/social worker and pharmacist.  The board round is then followed by a ward round of all the patients outside the Heart Assessment Centre (‘HAC’ is dealt with by the Staff Grade or Associate Specialist). 

There is a return to ward 32 at about 3-00 pm for a ‘huddle’ meeting with nursing staff and junior doctors.  This is to ensure patients are discharged, to review results, review sick patients and to see any new patients who have been admitted to the ward.  As with the COW week one afternoon cath-lab session is allocated mainly for inpatient emergencies but a few elective patients may be booked into this session.  Current consultant job plans include a total of 2 PA’s of admin per week, when the consultant is on the ward they are unable to have their admin time and therefore this is paid back as flexible sessions.

Week Two: COVER

 *Cath-lab session will be afternoon but could be any day

OFF-WARD WEEKS - Job Plan

The Consultants will rotate off the ward for 6 weeks.  The job plan at this point will be tailored to the preference of the consultant and the needs of the department.  Broadly the job plan would consist of at least one clinic, a cath lab session (the standard intervention list is either 4 TCI catheters or 2 TCI catheters and a pacemaker but case mix varies) and perhaps 1-2 sessions of imaging plus an MDT meeting alternate weeks.  There would be standard 2 admin and 2 SPA plus and payback for admin and SPA not taken during the weeks on the ward.   All leave (annual and study) is taken during the time spent off the ward.

Weeks three to eight (Example):

Requirements

This post is open to doctors who hold Registration as a Specialist in the Specialist Division of the Registrar of Medical Practitioners maintained by the Medical Council in Ireland in the specialty of Clinical and Cardiology Medicine.

Office Accommodation

Office accommodation will be provided for the appointee with secretarial support.

Management Responsibility

All Consultants are required to attend the monthly Directorate Meetings. Post holders will be expected to share in administrative duties allocated by mutual agreement within the Directorate. As part of the Consultant Team, the consultant  will offer mentoring support and lead the existing clinical team through; joint clinics, one-to-one support, individual case management and complex cases, identifying development needs and suggesting CPD (Continuous Professional Development) opportunities and responding to clinical enquiries via e-mail and telephone.

If you are interested in working in growing your career and increasing your income, then talk to our healthcare team today. If you can fill the above requirements, we will give you the following benefits:

*** Visa & Work Permit for FREE!

*** Guidance, Training & Career Development

*** Dedicated & Supportive team- Consultant available when you need.

*** Excellent Basic Pay, Overtime paid for extra hours

We look forward to helping you progress your career and find you the ideal position.

Doctors Guide to working in the Republic of Ireland – Click here

Call us today on +44 (0) 1234 889213 to discuss this vacancy or email your CV to info@workplacedoctors.co.uk  or apply online today (see below).

***Please note due to the high number of applications, we do answer every application in turn.***