Locum Consultant in Cardiology

This is a 12 month post appointment, potentially extendable by another 12 months. The successful applicant will be part of a team of seven consultant cardiologists, and will be based at Bedford Hospital. The general cardiology workload is shared, but all cardiologists have sub-specialty interests and the appointee would be expected to be skilled at performing diagnostic coronary angiography and coronary intervention. There would be the opportunity to also contribute to the pacing service, if the candidate had the appropriate experience.

he new appointee will be expected to be responsible for ward cover on a 1 in 7 rota when there will be minimal other clinical duties. This post involves care for cardiology patients only and has no general medicine component.

Currently we have one catheter laboratory on the Bedford site in which diagnostic angiography, PCI and pacing take place. There is a sixteen bedded Cardiac Care Unit. We provide a senior ward round seven days a week. There is a one in seven weekend morning-only rota for ward rounds on the coronary care unit and to see new admissions with cardiology problems referred by the general medical consultants.

We have well established links with Papworth Hospital as our local tertiary centre which is thirty miles away.

The appointee will work closely with the sevenexisting cardiology consultants in providing the full range of cardiology services, including diagnosis, investigation and treatment of patients. He/she will be highly skilled in the management of adult heart disease but in particular PCI with use of adjunctive imaging technologies (IFR, FFR, IVUS and OCT).

The consultant will have a continuing responsibility for the care of patients in his/her charge, ensuring safe handover as appropriate. He/she will provide a prompt opinion on request from consultant colleagues in other specialties.

The appointee will need to be non-resident on call following their interventional sessions and may be required to participate in a Cardiology emergency rota at Bedford Hospital which may, in future, include consultants and specialty doctors at Luton & Dunstable Hospital.

He/she should contribute to the activity of the department and take on other roles and responsibilities as required. Attendance at Cardiology management meeting, where strategic and operational issues relating to the wider department are addressed. In addition there is a weekly meeting of consultant cardiologists with the business manager, a monthly cardiology clinical governance meeting, a quarterly Department of Medicine Audit meeting and a monthly meeting of the Medical Staff Committee.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology.

Our Values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job.

To provide specialist PCI services and general cardiology to patients of Bedford Hospital pending a substantive cardiology appointment.