Job Advert
NHS TAYSIDE
SPECIALITY DOCTOR POST
Dundee HSCP MEDICINE FOR THE ELDERLY
Applications are invited for an MFE Speciality Doctor to join the innovative Medicine for the Elderly Team in Dundee.
Dundee has a diverse and integrated geriatric model across acute hospital (Ninewells hospital) services to our communities. The acute component includes a 7 day per week multidisciplinary Acute Frailty Team and a 24 bedded Acute Medicine for the Elderly Unit (AME Unit) as a separate ward in the Medical Admission Unit. This innovative front door model has strong, integrated community links with staff working across this interface, which facilitates seamless early community discharge. In addition, in Ninewells hospital, we have a 34 bedded geriatric assessment and rehabilitation unit in Ninewells Hospital aimed at managing acute severe illness in frail people, while at the same time rehabilitating to protect loss of functional ability.
This frailty front door service is a key component of the Tayside Unscheduled Care model which is recognised nationally as an exemplar.
Out with the acute hospital we have flourishing community care models with community hospitals and Royal Victoria Hospital the centre for step-down rehabilitation in Dundee. We have a strong community presence and support Enhanced Community Support (ECS) with regular GP practise-based MDT meetings supported by designated locality MFE team aligned to each GP practice. In addition to this we also have Dundee Enhanced Community Support Acute Team (DECSA) which is essentially a form of hospital at home model which supports our ambition to manage the care of frail people in their own home, if safe to do so.
At the heart of our model is this locality working where the team concentrate on the care of older people in one of the four specific Dundee localities or GP clusters. This delivers population continuity of care across in-patient and the community so as an MFE doctor you are enabled to manage the care of the same frail person in the community, at outpatients and while an in-patient throughout an older person’s life. It is a very holistic and rewarding model to work in.
The team have a longstanding, very well recognised, positive reputation for employing and developing career grade doctors, as well as 9 MFE Advanced Nurse Practitioners and two nurse consultants. If successful candidate wishes formal progression via Article 14 towards Consultant grade will be supported. The department already have one speciality doctor who has gone via this pathway and two others in process. Dedicated time in job plan will be facilitated.
The Medicine for the Elderly team has a strong senior speciality doctor/ consultant group with no unfilled posts. The Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership and NHS Tayside have an ambitious strategy for Older People which demonstrates commitment to this population. Rewardingly, much of the leadership in TAYSIDE is clinically co-led, which genuinely allows a clinical voice and input into care models. The Medicine for the Elderly team is at the heart of this leadership model and so has a VERY strong voice allowing continuous service progression across the whole system to the benefit of older people in Tayside.
Innovation and continuous service improvement is the norm in Tayside, hence our ambitious strategy around frailty including our surgical division where we have recently implemented a surgical frailty team and progressing towards pre-operative care support.
This Speciality Doctor post will be totally tailored to an applicant’s needs. There is a strong culture of teaching, education and service improvement in Tayside and so successful post holder would have ample non-clinical time in job plan to support delivery against these ambitions, if they wish.
Candidates can work fulltime or part time. Weekend and evening working is available, as is out of hours. These can be optional. We are truly flexible.
For informal enquiries please contact: Dr Douglas Lowdon, Tayside Medicine for the Elderly Clinical Lead, 01382 660111, Bleep 6214 or 07989 609379 or email; douglas.lowdon@nhs.scot
NHS Tayside is an equal opportunities employer and positive about disabled people
Closing Date for Applications is 28 March 2021