Consultant in Palliative Medicine

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, in collaboration with Rotherham Hospice has an up to full time (10 PAs) post available in Palliative Medicine. The successful candidate will participate in clinical work in Palliative Medicine across Rotherham Hospice, community and hospital. They will have a shared office at Rotherham Hospice, with shared secretarial support for the Palliative Medicine Team and access to office space at Rotherham Hospital and admin support, with associated IT, PC and lap top, with network access, to enable patient records access (hospice, hospital and community) off site. The successful applicants will be provided with supported induction into the NHS and the Trust and become a part of the clinical teams, where they will also be supported with their learning and personal development. A full hospice induction will also be provided.Main duties of the job The clinical responsibilities include working with the in the Community Service, to conduct assessments and reviews of patients with complex palliative care needs at home and in the out-patient Clinic. The successful applicant with be the Medical Lead for the Community Multi-Disciplinary Team. All three consultants work together to provide the service across Rotherham and therefore provide cross cover at times of annual leave. The long-term plan is for the consultants to slowly rotate through all settings (hospital, hospice, community and clinic). The Community Palliative Medicine team conducted nearly patient assessments in 2024-5, which at home and in care homes in Rotherham. The post holder will supervise the hospital specialty doctors and be clinical supervisor to the Specialist Registrar., Palliative Medicine is part of the Directorate of Care Group 4 and the Clinical Lead is Dr Rod Kersh. The Palliative Medicine Team are employed by The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust but are funded via a Service Level Agreement with Rotherham Hospice. Funding for posts is from Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust and Rotherham Hospice and the service specification for Palliative Medicine includes providing services across hospice inpatient, outpatient, community, Day Hospice and in Rotherham Hospital. Palliative Medicine provides medical support to the Rotherham Hospice in-patient unit, the Hospice at Home Team and provides a community medical service in patients homes and provides medical leadership to the Palliative Care Team (which encompasses palliative and end of life care within Rotherham Hospital). Current Medical Staff: Dr Katie Flint Consultant and Lead for Inpatient Unit 1.0 WTE Dr Martin Davdison Consultant and Lead for Hospital 1.0 WTE Vacancy Consultant and Lead for Community (retirement of current post holder in May 2026) Dr Rosie Yeoman Specialty Doctor 0.6 WTE Dr Kathryn Graves Specialty Doctor 0.8 WTE Dr Yee Foo Specialty Doctor 0.6 WTE Dr Jenny Brocklebank Specialty Doctor 0.7 WTE Specialist Registrars on rotation from Sheffield (site varies according to curriculum requirements), a GP Specialty Trainee based on Hospice Inpatient Unit and a Training Advance Nurse Practitioner at Rotherham Hospice. Rotherham Hospice Rotherham Hospice is an independent hospice charity located about 1 mile from Rotherham General Hospital. It has 14 inpatient beds, Day Services and a Community team comprising of Clinical Nurse Specialists, Staff Nurses, Occupational therapists and Physiotherapists. It also has a Hospice at Home team that are available 24 hours a day. The hospice also provides counselling and bereavement services for adults and children. The Senior Leadership Team (Dr Flint is currently part of this) includes Mat Cottle-Shaw CEO, Jayne Lowe Director of Clinical Care, Tracey Craggs, Debbie Coulson Director of Income Generation and Guy Craig Finance Director. The Hospice is a charity that employs the clinical staff at the hospice, except medical staff that a provided via a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with TRFT. Hospital Palliative Care Team The Hospital Palliative Team (nursing) sits within Corporate Service The Lead Nurse for Palliative and End of Life Care is Karen-Shay Nutt (she also manages the Acute Oncology Service, Cancer of Unknown Primary Nursing Team and Chaplaincy), she reports to Cindy Storer, who is Deputy Chief Nurse. The Board Lead for End of Life Care is Helen Dobson, Chief Nurse. The successful candidate will participate in clinical work in Palliative Medicine across Rotherham Hospice, community and hospital. They will have an office at Rotherham Hospital, with shared secretarial support for the Palliative Medicine Team and access to office space at Rotherham Hospice and admin support, with associated IT, PC and laptop, with network access, to enable patient records access (hospice, hospital and community) off site. The successful applicants will be provided with supported induction into the NHS and the Trust and become a part of the clinical teams, where they will also be supported with their learning and personal development. A full hospice induction will also be provided. Medical Lead for Community The post holder will lead on the development of Palliative Medicine Services in the Community, including being part of the Hospice at Home Team and working closely with the Manager of this service Joanne Stinson and Clinical Director Jayne Lowe. All three consultants work together to provide the service across Rotherham and therefore provide cross cover at times of annual leave. The long-term plan is for the consultants to slowly rotate through all settings (hospital, hospice, community and clinic). The Community Palliative Medicine team conducted over 670 patient assessments at home or in care homes, with referrals from Hospice at Home Team, Community Heart Failure Team, Community Respiratory Team, Community Matrons, Neuro Matrons, GPs and Community Nursing team. The post holder will assist to supervise the specialty doctors providing regular clinical supervision. The post holder will lead on education delivery and strategy to increase educational delivery and effectiveness of this on improving palliative and end of life care for the population of Rotherham, particularly in the community. They will work to improve the links with primary care and focus on improving access to palliative care for non-malignant disease. They will also look at how to improve access to more services in the community and hospice, such as ascitic drain, infusions and blood transfusions.,

• Evidence of audit and the implementation of change following the audit
Desirable
• Relevant research published in peer review journal
• Evidence of involvement in research, Full registration and a licence to practise with the GMC.
• Please confirm your GMC number
• Eligible to be included on the Specialist register - CCT expected within 6 months of interview date
• Or
• Evidence of CESR application submission and within 6 months of obtaining Specialist Registration via CESR
• MRCP or MRCGP or equivalent primary medical qualification.
  
  Four years supervised higher training in Palliative Medicine or equivalent
• Ability to take full and independent responsibility for clinical care of patients.
• High level of communications skills, Broad range of experience of palliative care in all settings
Research and Audit,
• Proven ability in delivery of education and training, a special interest in this area, Involvement in Education Strategy delivery
Clinical skills,
• Be able to formulate evidence based, individualised, patient management plans across care settings
• Understand the disease trajectories in malignant and non-malignant and long term and reversible conditions
• Advising clinicians in ethical decision making including withdrawal and withholding of treatments and decisions as relate to care at the end of life, Post Graduate Qualification
Management Skills,
• Demonstrate effective team working skills
• Time management and organisational ability. An example may be they have developed and run training programmes.
• Proven knowledge of systems and process of NHS or equivalent
• Sense of understanding and commitment to corporate responsibility
• Commitment to and understanding of their responsibility to the organisation. Examples may include previous involvement in management roles, management courses
  
  The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust (TRFT) is a combined acute and community Trust serving our local population of around 270,000 people. Our vision is to always act the right way and be proud to provide exceptional healthcare to the communities of Rotherham.
As a Trust we are on a journey to excellence and our people and culture are at the heart of everything we do for patients. In the latest NHS Staff Survey, we are the second most improved Trust in England for would you recommend the Trust as a place to work? and were one of the most improved for staff engagement overall. But dont just take our word for it each year hundreds of colleagues receive nominations for our Excellence and Proud awards, showcasing our brilliant people and recognising their achievements. Our people make a difference to the lives of patients every day and we are proud of the improvements we are making. All of our 5,100 colleagues are key to our improvement journey and we are continuing to improve our services by upholding the Trusts values of Ambitious, Caring and Together. If you are passionate about making a difference, then please apply to join us on our journey to excellence.