Junior Clinical Fellow in Critical Care

Job overview

Applications are invited for Junior Clinical Fellow posts in Adult Critical Care Medicine for a 6 or 12 month period commencing in February 2023.

This post would ideally suit candidates who are aiming to advance their CV while gaining critical care experience.

15 days (per 6 months) of paid CPD time is allocated for the successful applicant to pursue their clinical and non-clinical interests, this may also be used for postgraduate exam preparation.

You will build a well-rounded portfolio of clinical experience, service development/audit, teaching and management. We have an excellent track record of JCFs gaining entry into competitive training programs in Anaesthesia and other specialties.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will participate in the 1in 8 general rota across both QMC and NCH campus critical care units to maximise the clinical experience you gain during this post.

Clinical Responsibilities will include (not exhaustive):

• Perform daily reviews on ICU patients and present findings on the MDT ward round
• Review critically unwell patients outside of critical care
• Admit, stabilise and formulate an initial management plan for critically unwell adults
• After a period of training competently use vasopressors, insert CVC and Arterial Lines.

During your time in post you will also

• Support the learning and development of other members of the critical care team (inc undergraduates)
• Participate in clinical governance and quality improvement.
• Set individual development goals to maximise chances of securing a training post.

Working for our organisation

Adult Critical Care at NUH is a highly supportive, friendly, cohesive, ambitious and energetic team led by a group of consultants devoted to delivering excellent care to our patients. We invest in every member of team, are positive about well-being and have an accommodating approach to the rota. There are an abundance of educational opportunities and on-site is the well regarded Trent Simulation Centre. Our juniors consistently secure their preferred training posts through competitive selection.

Our 72 critical care beds are split between the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital, admitting in excess of 4500 patients per year. We accept patients from all of the major medical and surgical specialties and are a tertiary referral centre for many subspecialties. Of note we are a neurosurgical centre, burns centre and are one of the busiest major trauma centres in Europe. Among our staff are the National Lead for Organ Donation and the Vice Chair of NIHR’s Critical Care Group.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post is open to all applicants who meet the essential criteria as detailed in the person specification below. It is open to all doctors who hold Full/limited registration with the GMC and successfully completed foundation year 2 training, who wish to gain further experience in the management of critically unwell patients with a wide range of medical and surgical conditions.

This post is whole time and is covered by the Medical and Dental Staff Terms and Conditions of Service. Doctors applying for this post from overseas should note that prior NHS experience is a prerequisite and we would recommend applying for one of our Trust Grade posts in the first instance.

The post is EWTD compliant and is banded at 1A.

The Salary for this post will be between £33,790 to £44,705 plus 50% banding depending on experience.

This post isnotrecognised for training by the Postgraduate Dean, the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine or by the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

All successful applicants are allocated a clinical supervisor who will support the individual to develop their clinical and non-clinical skills and offer advice on how to achieve any specific individual goals the fellow may wish to achieve. We recommend that the appointee maintain a logbook of experience, complete appropriate assessments and participates in the wide range of non-clinical opportunities detailed below.

Person Specification: Junior Clinical Fellow in Adult Critical Care Medicine

Essential for the post:

Desirable for the post:

The Speciality

Critical care is part of the Clinical Support division.

There are 3 distinct adult critical care areas managed by clinical support across both QMC and City campuses. We aim to rotate you through both campuses so that you are exposed to a wide range of pathologies and speciality experience.

Queen’s Medical Centre Campus (QMC)

On the Queen’s campus Critical Care is divided into a 29-bedded Intensive Care (level 3 beds), and a 20-bedded level 2 High Dependency Unit. At QMC critical care receives referrals from major trauma and the following surgical specialties: neurosurgery, spinal, emergency orthopaedics, hepatobiliary, vascular, lower GI, maxillofacial and ENT. It also receives referrals from acute medicine (including acute gastroenterology). Of note, NUH became the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre in April 2012 and is the busiest Major Trauma Centre in the UK.

Nottingham City Hospital Campus

The critical care unit at the City campus has 17 beds that are used flexibly to accommodate up to 9 level 3 patients, the remaining beds are for level 2 admissions. The major subspecialty interests at City are thoracic surgery, upper GI surgery, elective orthopaedics, urology, burns and plastics, renal medicine, infectious diseases, oncology, haematology and respiratory medicine. The City campus also houses the separate Trent Cardiac Unit with its own dedicated intensive care unit.

There is a well-established critical care outreach team on both campuses. Across NUH CCOT provide support to all medical and surgical areas, seven days a week 08.00-22.00.

Medical Staffing

There are 75 Junior Staff in Critical Care

There are 35 Critical Care Consultants at NUH with an extensive range of subspecialty clinical and nonclinical interests and roles.

Non Clinical Opportunities

Within NUH Junior Critical Care Fellows have the opportunity and paid time (15 Days of CPD) to pursue their interest in a variety of clinical and non-clinical areas. This can include simulation, teaching, governance and quality improvement.

Educational opportunities

The departments offer extensive learning resources. There are several regular educational meetings each week including journal clubs, ITU rounds and morbidity meetings. There is a monthly protected teaching day for our Fellows which cover the clinical aspects of critical care in addition to optional teaching days which cover generic non-clinical topics (e.g. ethics, medical law, professionalism, interview skills). There are hospital and departmental libraries at both sites including IT facilities.

FICE & FUSIC

There is plenty of opportunity for trainees to gain their FICE and FUSIC accreditation. The department is supported by several FICE & FUSIC mentors as well as consultants with experience of TOE.

Research opportunities

Available by special arrangement. Critical Care has links with the Academic Departments of Anaesthesia and Surgery and participation in on-going research and audit programmes will be encouraged.

Time for Continuing Professional Development CPD

There are 15 days of CPD allowance per 6 months. Fellows should alternate with a single day of CPD leave one week followed by a two days of CPD leave the following week. These days may be used toward any educational activity, including preparation for postgraduate examinations. They must be used constructively and your clinical supervisor must be appraised of your CPD activities. While the days should fit around the on-call rota, the Rota Coordinator will try to facilitate any particular plans that the Fellow has in advance with sufficient notice (however no guarantees can be made). CPD days are allocated on a 44 week working year pro-rata basis. The days cannot be taken more than two days consecutively without special prior arrangement with the Rota Coordinator and this would be granted only in exceptional circumstances.

This time may also be utilised to prepare for post-graduate examinations (e.g. FRCA).

Applications for training posts

The department has an excellent reputation for successful recruitment into higher speciality training posts. Trainees are encouraged to develop their portfolio and identify and utilise opportunities to increase their success in subsequent recruitment. We are also fortunate to have a number of consultants who interview for example for National Anaesthesia Recruitment and therefore are in a position to support applicants during interview preparation.

Internal cover and Locums

The current banding allocation of this post includes an allowance for internal cover to cover the normal leave allowance of colleagues. In exceptional circumstances and for short periods only, Clinical Fellows may be requested to provide additional cover, for example, to cover sickness. Locums may also be employed in this instance.

Contact

If you would like further information about this post please email Gurmukh.sandhu@nuh.nhs.uk