Job Description

This appointment is for a Locum Stroke Consultant who can deliver high quality care along the entire Stroke Service pathway. This will include hyper-acute care, regional 7-day TIA service, our new Neurovascular Same Day Emergency Clinic (SDEC), stroke acute and rehabilitation care, stroke outpatient/follow-up clinics and stroke research. This is a full-time Locum post for a 1-year period however we can accommodate full-time or part-time working.



The successful candidate will have experience in Stroke Medicine at Middle Grade or Consultant level. We are keen to appoint the right candidate who is flexible, enthusiastic, and self-motivated. Research, a higher degree and overseas experience are not essential, although will be regarded favourably.



The appointee will be expected to play a full role in the delivery of the Stroke Service for all aspects of the Stroke and TIA pathways and play a key role in driving service improvement and ensuring we're delivering the highest quality care to our patients. All consultants are required to have a job plan setting out their main duties and responsibilities including a work programme specifying their weekly timetable.

The Post holder could expect to cover the following duties:

Management of inpatients on the 43-bed Stroke Unit at RBH including Hyper Acute Stroke patients



Attend and participate in TIA and Stroke outpatient clinics and the Neurovascular SDEC once it is established.



Participate in the Stroke Ambulatory service.



Support to Early Supported Discharge service.



Participate in the weekend HASU rota at 1 in 8 frequency



Clinical administration, included in the sessional time allocation expected to be approx.1 DCC per week



Other duties as may be identified to meet the needs of the service



Cover for colleagues during periods of absence.



Support in-patient care in conjunction with departmental colleagues.



Teaching duties as required and take an active part in the Postgraduate Medical Education programme and in the teaching of junior medical & nursing staff, General Practitioners, and other clinical professions.



Take part in department, regional and national audits.



Management and development of the service using Quality Improvement Methodology.



Domiciliary visits where agreed appropriate



ON CALL



The on-call is currently 1 in 10 overnight on call. Equipment is supplied to enable images and clinical information to be reviewed and accessed off site at home.



The weekend work consists of a hyper acute Ward Round on site and supervision of a TIA clinic (on site or remote).



Our values define who we are as #TeamUHD. They underpin everything we do now and in the future. They define how we treat our patients, visitors, and each other, our valued teammates and colleagues.



UHD are investing in services across the Trust, with many being transformed and developed following merger and the New Hospital Programme.



This means that some services may move site this year or next, either temporarily or long term. Recruiting Managers interviewing for this role will be happy to answer any specific questions that you have about this at interview.



Please see attached job description and person specification for more details regarding the post including responsibilities and required/essential attributes.



The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals and Poole Hospital, merged to form University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust in 2020, with a plan for all emergency services to be based at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) site and all planned care at the Poole Hospital (PH) site by 2030. This provides an exciting backdrop of change and the chance to help develop innovative services and new pathways. Stroke is at the forefront of these changes. All in-patient stroke beds are now based at RBH, within our 43-bed purpose-built stroke unit, of which 8 beds are designated as hyper-acute stroke. Our weekday TIA Rapid Access Neurovascular clinic is currently based at PH, with weekends provided on a shared rota basis in collaboration with Salisbury Hospital (2 weekends at RBH and 1 weekend at Salisbury). Approval and investment funding has recently been agreed for a new 7-day Neurovascular Same Day Emergency Clinic (SDEC) which will be based at RBH, and plans are progressing to re-locate our weekday TIA service from PH to RBH and embed it within our new Neurovascular SDEC service (current timescale for re-location is May/June 2025). We also have a comprehensive Stroke Early Supported Discharge service which we're in the process of expanding to support patients with higher levels of complexity and dependency.



Our Stroke Service comprises of an extremely dynamic, proactive, and dedicated team of Consultant Stroke Physicians, Stroke Consultant Therapist, Stroke Consultant Nurse, Stroke Specialist Nurses, TIA Specialist Nurses, Stroke Outreach Team, Stroke Performance and Delivery Manager and our extremely professional multi-disciplinary team. In collaboration with the South West Ambulance Service, NHSE funding has recently been acquired to trial Pre-Hospital Video Triage for all patients within 24 hours of symptom onset seeking to expedite the appropriate care for patients and improve outcomes. The Trust has recently been confirmed as a site for the National Thrombolysis in Acute Stroke Collaboration (TASC), a key aim being to improve our thrombolysis rate.