Clinical Lead Consultant Oncologist (Medical or Clinical) inGorleston inGorleston PUBLISHED 21 MAY 2024

Job Plan

The final Job plan and detailed timetable will depend on both, experience and interests, of the candidate as well as the needs of the department, and, will be agreed with the Clinical Lead on behalf of the Medical Director, within three months of the commencement date of the appointee.

The successful candidate will be offered a 10 PA contract in the first instance in accordance with the terms of the new SAS contract based at JPUH. Part time appointments are also possible, and additional PAs are available to interested applicants. The mix of clinical sessions in the final job plan and rota will be agreed after discussion with the Clinical Lead. The weekly timetable will include the following mix of programmed activities.

Direct Clinical Care

(including in patient wards, clinics, day ward, clinical admin such as clinical correspondence, seeing relatives, reviewing results, multidisciplinary team meetings):

8.0 PAs
on average per week

CPD/Teaching/Research/Audit/Clinical Governance:

2.0 SPAs
on average per week.

The Job Plan will be reviewed annually, following the Annual Appraisal Meeting. The Job Plan will be a prospective agreement that sets out duties, responsibilities and objectives for the coming year. It will cover all aspects of the postholders professional practice including clinical work, revalidation, teaching, research, education and managerial responsibilities. It will provide a clear schedule of commitments, both internal and external. In addition, it will include personal objectives, including details of their link to wider service objectives, and details of the support required by the doctor to fulfil the job plan and the objectives, including access to a mentor

The following provides scheduling details of the current clinic activity within the department. The individual time table will depend on the interests / availability of the applicant. It is expected that the applicant will take over 1-2 specialty sites +/- AOS / MUO / CUP work and / or responsibilities within the chemotherapy unit. The Hospital does not have a dedicated oncology ward, hence the importance of Acute Oncology inpatient reviews of Oncology patients admitted to the hospital. Currently, 14 clinic sessions are covered by visiting consultants from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, 6 sessions by the resident oncologists.

Agreement should be reached between the appointee and the Divisional Medical Director with regard to the scheduling of all other activities, including the Supporting Professional Activities. Modifications may be made depending upon the needs of the service, sub specialist interests and to cover periods of leave.

Initially 2.5 SPAs, (as detailed previously), will be given for non-clinical work and will be reviewed between 3 to 6 months into the post. Mentoring arrangements will be discussed at the start of the post (depending on specialty sites agreed on)

SPAs are to include at least 0.5 PAs to allow the appointee to familiarise themselves with all relevant guidelines, policies and procedures, other SPAs to be used for CPD, audit, guidelines, governance, revalidation. Further SPAs will cover teaching, research, clinical management and service responsibilities. At the review point the number of SPAs will be adjusted dependent on what commitments the new appointee has taken on within the department, University, Division, Trust or Region

The Oncology Department

This post will be based within the local oncology team, but will have close links to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

At our Trust there are two Medical Oncologists covering three specialist body sites with clinics at JPUH (six clinic sessions) and overseeing general services relating to inpatient and outpatient oncology care. There are five visiting clinical oncologists providing clinics for various other body sites (fourteen clinic sessions). There are a specialty doctor based at the chemotherapy and day care unit (Sandra Chapman Centre), who are also supporting clinics and there is excellent support by five oncology specialist nurses, based at the Sandra Chapman Centre. The Trust is expanding its specialist nurse capacity and recruiting two additional specialist nurses supporting outpatients and providing nurse led clinics.

Departmental Facilities

Our Oncology Department operates in several areas. Oncology delivers a mix of day case and outpatient services and provides more than 7,000 chemotherapy treatments and 800 outpatient appointments per annum

The main service areas:

1. Sandra Chapman Unit, a chemotherapy and day care unit for oncology and haematology patients.

1. Acute Oncology Services. This service supports cancer patients visiting the Sandra Chapman Unit and patients admitted to the hospital. The service is supported by a team of specialist nurses.

1. Oncology specialist clinics are held five days a week. Clinics are currently run by five visiting consultants from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, and the resident consultants (details are given below)

1. Research: This is supported by 2 dedicated research nurses / specialists and various administrative posts within the hospital research department

1. MUO / CUP services

NNUH Oncology Department also runs a radiotherapy department with five linear accelerators and a 35 bed oncology / haematology specialist ward. The chemotherapy day ward at NNUH (13 chairs) and is linked to a 5 bed acute oncology unit. These additional facilities are also available to JPUH patients if required.

Oncology Clinics:

• 
  Monday:
  Colorectal cancer and Gynaecology specialist clinic (Dr Debashis Biswas, Clinical Oncologist, based at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital - NNUH), Hepato-biliary-pancreatic clinic (Dr Ulrike Dernedde, resident Medical Oncologist)

• 
  Tuesday:
  Upper GI and lung cancer clinic (Dr Zacharias Tasigiannopoulos, Clinical Oncologist, based at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals). Breast cancer clinic and lung cancer clinic (Dr May Han, resident Medical Oncologist). Breast cancer clinic (Dr Maskell, Clinical Oncologist, NNUH)

• 
  Wednesday:
  Gynaecology/Urology clinic (Dr Robert Wade, Clinical Oncologist, based at NNUH)

• 
  Thursday:
  HPB and general oncology clinic (Dr Ulrike Dernedde, resident Medical Oncologist)

• 
  Friday:
  Lung clinics (Dr May Han, Medical Oncology).Gynaecology/Urology clinic (Dr David Maskell, Clinical Oncologist, based at NNUH)

The service works in close conjunction with the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, sharing various protocols and policies. NNUH provides on-call and further specialist services, such as an MSCC MDT. There are common strategies and protocols for the care of patients with malignant oncological disorders discussed at multi-disciplinary meetings

Oncology and Haematology share a chemotherapy day care unit (Sandra Chapman Centre). The post holder may be sharing responsibilities in these areas and is expected to participate in joint meetings and governance work. The post holder will contribute to the AOS and CUP services and oncology inpatient care and to the set-up and coordination of clinical trials

Clinical Spectrum

Treatments provided in the Sandra Chapman Unit cover a wide range of regimes. Some regimes for melanoma, sarcoma and brain tumours, as well as chemo-RT protocols are only offered at NNUH however, with the new post in place it is planned to offer these patients local care as well. The Consultant will be involved with chemotherapy planning and prescribing. There is a high emphasis on compassionate, holistic care for oncology patients, including thorough symptom control

Radiotherapy is provided at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, whose Acute Oncology and On Call service can be contacted at any time

Palliative care is provided in conjunction with a local palliative team, who also visit Sandra Chapman Centre if required and have a very active in-patient hospital service. They also provide outpatient clinics and palliative care in the community.

The Acute Oncology Service offers acute management of out-patient as well as in-patient cancer-related emergencies. It links into the cancer management of other teams, and brings the Oncology team in contact with all aspects of oncology inpatient care.

The local oncology team provides support to the various oncology clinics detailed above.

There are daily MDT meetings requiring input from either visiting consultants or the local oncology team.

The post holder is expected to undertake both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

To provide Clinical Leadership role to the Oncology team and supervision to the medical workforce including the Chemotherapy Day Unit

10 PA Contract- see below for further information on job plan

Replacement Post. The successful individual will also be required to undertake the clinical lead role within the service with associated PA allocation for this.

This is a permanent appointment.

No formal on call availability required

1. Share the Oncology workload at JPUH
2. Work collaboratively with visiting Oncologists from our neighbouring hospital
3. Provide clinical leadership and supervision to Oncology Specialty and Specialist Doctors
4. Responsibility for specialised clinics (area of sub-specialisation to be agreed upon, needs to cover HBP - hepato-biliary-pancreatic cancer, possible other areas can be shared with specialised NNUH consultants)
5. Work as part of a multidisciplinary team within the department, the Division and the wider hospital
6. Active participation in MDT meetings
7. Senior oversight for chemotherapy and AOS service
8. To take part in the consultation and advisory service to medical colleagues in other specialities in the Trust and to general practitioner
9. Active contribution to clinical meetings, postgraduate and undergraduate activities of the Trust
10. Participation in teaching and audit activities of the Department
11. Participation in research. Acquiring suitable trials as principal investigator. Work in co-ordination with clinical research network
12. To contribute to a system of mutual cover for annual, study and professional leave
13. To support CUP service and inpatient care
14. Contribution to chemotherapy protocols, policies, and prescribing
15. Participate in the Trust's Clinical Governance processes and in CPD. The Trust will provide study leave expenses in line with national terms and conditions of service
16. Contribute and support the development and service improvements of the department