Job Description

Band 7 Physician\'s Associate for Respiratory Medicine in Lung Cancer/Faster Diagnosis Pathway Navigator

This is an exciting opportunity to become a Physician Associate in the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

This role comes with a dedicated interest in lung cancer and to provide an essential role in being the patient navigator for the faster diagnosis pathway that has been developed for patients with suspected lung cancer.

The aim of the pathway is to ensure that any patient referred under the suspicion of lung cancer undergoes all necessary diagnostic tests and receives communication ruling out, or confirming, a cancer diagnosis within 28 days as per the NHS England Long Term Plan.
Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will be a:

• A specialist Physician Associate within Respiratory Medicine.
• It is expected that the Physician Associate will be required to
• triage 2 week wait and faster diagnostic referrals
• arrange, ideally, next day imaging
• liaise with radiology, administration and lung cancer nurse specialists (CNS) teams
• clinically review pertinent patients to plan next appropriate investigation

The goal being to either diagnose or rule out cancer within 28-days and communicate this to the patients. The patient navigator will be the point of contact for patients on the pathway and will be a holistic resource for them. They will also have responsibility for the data collection and audit of the pathway.

Please see job description listing for more details. About us

Respiratory Medicine at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

For in-patient services, the respiratory team is responsible for 50 beds located centrally within the hospital and adjacent to the radiology department, providing inpatient care for respiratory and general internal medicine patients.

Based in its own self-contained department respiratory medicine provides a comprehensive range of out-patient services. The lung cancer clinics take place here, as do clinics in general Respiratory medicine, sleep and ventilation, asthma and joint Intestinal Lung disease and Rheumatology clinics.

There are also nurse led TB, sleep, asthma and COPD clinics. There is a weekly radiology meeting and fortnightly ILD MDT and also MDT meetings for COPD, TB, MND, nodules and difficult asthma.

The department provides a full range of pulmonary function tests with 2 pulmonary function laboratory systems. Nurse led oxygen assessments (LTOT and ambulatory) are carried out within the department and there is a portable blood gas analyser to support this service.

There is a strong commitment to training and teaching including weekly departmental educational meetings and teaching in chest drain insertion. Trainees from Health Education Thames valley (formerly Oxford Deanery) work within the team at Higher Specialty, CMT, ACCS, BBT and F1 levels.

Please see job description listing for more details.

Job description
Job responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical Duties

• Be the Pathway Navigator for the Faster Diagnosis Service for Lung Cancer, liaising with patients, Respiratory clinical administration staff, Lung cancer clinical nurse specialists, radiographers and Radiologists to ensure the smooth running of a successful pathway.
• Triage lung cancer 2 week wait and Faster Diagnosis referrals.
• Arrange diagnostic imaging, clinical review and co-ordinate, if necessary, further investigations under the supervision of a Respiratory Consultant.
• Be a point of contact and holistic support for patients on the pathway. This will include counselling patients & their relatives with regard to a potential/confirmed lung cancer diagnosis.
• Communicate the outcome of clinical encounters to GPs and other health professionals in a timely fashion.
• Record and input data from the pathway to demonstrate success and assist the rapid cancer registration dataset.
• Support and develop the pleural service, by gaining level 1 Ultrasound competency and learning pleural procedure technique to become independent in pleural aspiration.
• The post will include regular on-call commitment to the medical take in the Acute Medical Unit to help the PA maintain generalist skills in clerking and arranging initial investigations and management.
• When available/required supporting the in-patient services on Kennet and Loddon Wards in conjunction with the medical team.
• Maintaining timely and appropriate documentation.
• Performing diagnostic/therapeutic procedures, subject to training/experience. Including, but not exclusively:

• Venepuncture
• Cannulation
• Arterial blood gases
• ECG
• Urethral catheterisation
• Nasogastric tube insertion
• Thoracentesis
• Pleural aspiration procedures
• Contributing to achieving and maintaining performance within the hospital and department, and working with the medical team to achieve the targets for CQUINS each year as well as taking part in the administration of the department and involvement in the management of resources.
• Holding accountability for the care given and complying with the Fitness to Practice and Code of Conduct standard as established by the UK Managed Voluntary Register for Physician Associates (and subsequently the appropriate statutory regulating body, when this is in place). Consolidate, develop and maintain specialist medical knowledge. Keep up to date with current guidelines and maintain best practice.
• Foster good relationship by working collaboratively with the multidisciplinary team
• Help facilitate and improve Physician Associate student placements

The Physician Associates role will initially be developed in collaboration with the Clinical Lead for Lung Cancer and the job plan will be subject to review in line with service developments and is only an indication.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

• Ability to organise, prioritise workload and take responsibility for the clinical care of patients under the supervision of the medical team.
• Ability to communicate and work effectively with colleagues, patients, relatives, nurses, other staff and agencies.

Desirable

• Clinical experience and training in virtual hospital services.
• Experience of service design and improvement.

Qualifications
Essential

• BA/BSc degree prior to undertaking PA programme (A)
• PG Dip in Physician Associate from a UK training Programme (A)

Desirable

• MSc in Physician Associate studies

Management and Audit
Desirable

• Experience of Clinical Audit
• Experience of quality improvement and service development

Employer details
Employer name

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Address

Royal Berkshire Hospital

London Road

Reading

RG1 5AN

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

193-MS1421UCG

British Medical Journal