The role emphasises collaborative care and research within a well-established neurosurgical oncology department, known for its world-class services and strong interdepartmental connections. The successful candidate will benefit from extensive operative experience (200-250 cases per annum), access to advanced surgical tools, and close collaboration with neuro-oncologists, clinical nurse specialists, and researchers, all aimed at advancing patient outcomes and contributing to ongoing clinical research efforts. Full or part-time candidates are welcome, reflecting a commitment to flexible working arrangements.
Royal College of Surgeons National Adult Neuro-Oncology Fellow in the Department of Neurosurgery
This prestigious and well-established fellowship post has been approved by the Royal College of Surgeons and the SBNS.
The Department of Neurosurgery in Leeds provides world-class adult Neurosurgical Oncology services. The service is consultant-led and delivered through dedicated sub-speciality services. The fellowship is designed for Neurosurgical clinicians towards the end of training and will provide all aspects of sub-speciality training in Neuro-oncology surgery in preparation for a consultant role sub-specialising in this field
The Neurosurgical Oncology post will include a thorough grounding in the clinical management, investigation and surgical techniques for optimally managing High Grade and Low Grade brain tumours including metastases. There are further opportunities to develop research and to attend Gamma Knife sessions. Working with Neuro-oncologists, researchers and the clinical nurse specialist team is expected. The fellow will gain independent competencies in dealing with High Grade and Low Grade tumours including awake craniotomy, fluorescence, Gliadel, frame based and frameless image guidance and robot-assisted procedures. Leeds also now has an intraoperative MRI scanner.
Consideration will be given to applicants who wish to work full or part time and those wishing to job share.
About us
The professorial department of Neuro-oncology is based in the newly completed Bexley wing at St Jamess University Hospital. There is a gamma knife machine and IMRT facilities which attract referrals from across the North of England and Northern Ireland.
The General Infirmary at Leeds is a level 1 trauma unit and there are close links with surgical specialties including trauma, maxillofacial, plastics and ENT surgery.
The department's work has continued to increase over the past years. The current caseload is some 3000 inpatients per year and approximately 2000 operative cases per year.
THE LEEDS WAY VALUES
Our values are part of what make us different from other trusts, so we see this as a strength, as well as a responsibility. They have been developed by our staff and set out what they see as important to how we work. Our five values are:
Patient-centred
Collaborative
Fair
Accountable
Empowered
All our actions and endeavours will be guided and evaluated through these values
Additionally the following are core values which relate specifically to this post:
The beliefs and attitudes that underpin effective performance within the job role. Emphasis should be on the requirements of the role not the individual when completing this section. Examples might include: quality focus, mistakes are used as a continual learning experience, honesty, integrity etc.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is part of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across West Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible care for our patients.
By bringing together the wide range of skills and expertise across West Yorkshire and Harrogate we are working differently, innovating and driving forward change to deliver the highest quality care. By working for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust this is your opportunity to be a part of that change.
WYAAT is the acute sector arm of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, one of the largest integrated care systems in the country. The Partnerships ambition is for everyone to have the best possible health and wellbeing, and the work of WYAAT, and each individual trust, supports that ambition.
Neurosurgical Oncology Surgery in Leeds
The department of Neurosurgery in Leeds provides world class adult Neurosurgical Oncology care. The service is consultant led and delivered through dedicated subspecialty services. The Neurosurgical Oncology services have very strong links with Neuro-Oncology, Neurology, Neuroradiology, Neuropathology including Cytogenetics and Leeds University.
As would be expected, to support oncology surgery, the theatres have BrainLAB neuronavigation, CUSA, Sonopet, Zeiss microscopes (including navigated), intra-operative frozen section, and intra-operative ultrasound. All patients are discussed in a weekly MDT that conforms to the IOG Standards. The intraoperative MRI scanner opened in 2.
The Low Grade Glioma service (Mr Chumas, Mr Goodden and Mr Mathew) runs three times each month with MDT clinics attended by Neurosurgery, Neuro-oncology, Neurology, Clinical Nurse Specialists (Epilepsy & Oncology) and a research nurse. As part of their assessment, all patients also receive a detailed Neuropsychology assessment, and where necessary Speech & Language assessments are also performed. Patients referred to this clinic are investigated with advanced MRI imaging, including DWI, spectroscopy, functional MRI & DTI. Patients are offered the choice of management options including upfront primary tumour debulking via awake or asleep craniotomy as well as biopsy or observation. Operating lists for patients with LGG occur every week, with an average of two awake craniotomies per month. Patients having awake surgery are monitored closely using Speech & Language therapists & Physiotherapists during surgery. Tumour debulking soon after presentation is performed for the majority of patients, mainly as awake surgery. Immediate post-operative MRI is utilised for all patients.
Duties of the Post
a) General
This fellowship post has been approved by the Royal College of Surgeons and the Society of British Neurological Surgeons and is part of the National Surgical Fellowship Scheme.
The fellowship is designed for Neurosurgical clinicians at the end of training to provide all aspects of subspeciality training in Neurosurgical Oncology and thus prepare for a consultant role subspecialising in this field.
The fellow will be fully immersed in the Neurosurgical Oncology service. This will include a thorough grounding in the clinical management, investigation and surgical techniques for optimally managing High Grade and Low Grade brain tumours.
There are further opportunities to develop research and also to attend Gamma Knife sessions.
b) Operative
The fellow will gain independent competencies in dealing with High Grade and Low Grade tumours including awake craniotomy, 5-ALA, Gliadel, frame based and frameless image guidance. Surgical case load is expected to be 200 - 250 cases per annum.
c) Non-operative
The Fellow will attend specialist clinics and the Multidisciplinary meeting to gain a thorough understanding of the management of brain tumours.
The High Grade Tumour service manages high grade gliomas and metastases (Mr Thomson, Mr Corns, Mr Sivakumar and Mr Mathew). The service runs weekly MDT clinics the same day as the MDT. This clinic is attended by Neurosurgeons, Clinical Nurse Specialists and a Research Nurse. The emphasis of this clinic is to provide a subspecialist, rapid, patient centred service that also facilitates research. There is reserved operating space on elective lists for these patients and the full range of surgical techniques is utilised including frame based and frameless biopsy, awake craniotomy, Gliadel, 5-ALA and routine post-operative MRI scanning to maximise tumour resection. There are over 100 high grade glioma operations per annum plus a smaller but growing number of metastatic procedures. Gross total resection, patient satisfaction and research participation rates in Leeds are all very high.
Run in partnership with the Neuro-Oncology department there is a very successful Gamma Knife unit (Dr Hatfield, Dr Flatley, Mr Tyagi and Mr Phillips). This unit treats patients from across the North of England and Northern Ireland. The unit treats primarily metastatic disease and benign tumours. There may be opportunities for the holder of this post to develop skills in using the gamma knife to treat brain tumours.
In addition to these intrinsic tumour clinics, separate Skull Base and Pituitary MDT clinics are run with additional MDT support. Leeds also provides comprehensive services for benign tumours. Skull base and pituitary work is subspecialised and not considered to be part of this fellowship.
There are very strong links with Leeds University and local brain tumour charities. In the last three years we have run multiple phase 1 and phase 2 studies. There have been a number of successful Surgical Neuro-Oncology research degrees in one of the largest brain tumour research laboratories in the country. Mr Mathew is an Academic Neurosurgeon and there is a Professor of Neuro-Oncology.
The Neurosurgical Oncology service is supported by a team of three Clinical Nurse Specialists, who work across the Neurosurgery and Neuro-oncology departments and provide outreach into the District General Hospitals.
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