Consultant Upper GI Surgeon inBirmingham inBirmingham PUBLISHED WED 23 OCT 2024

This is an NHS post in Upper GI and General Surgery attached to the Department of Surgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust. QEHB is a state of the art hospital opened in June 2. QEHB provides a full range of tertiary services as well as several supra-regional services. QEHB is the main hospital for the Centre for Defence Medicine with a full complement of military medical and nursing staff and is the main receiving hospital for servicemen injured in combat operations. It is a regional trauma centre. The hospital is well equipped to deal with both complex surgery and major trauma with 100 ITU beds, multiple CT scanners (including one in A&E), MRI scanners, and PET on site.

The UGI Unit at QEHB is the major tertiary Upper GI cancer unit in Birmingham covering a population of 2.7 million referred both locally and from four District General Hospitals. Tertiary workload is a combination of UGI cancer, and referrals for complex benign cases. The appointee will join six established UGI Surgeons and be expected to contribute fully to the UGI service both benign and malignant.

The appointee will join six established Upper GI surgeons and take a full role in the management of UGI cancers and complex benign conditions.

The appointee will be expected to provide 10 programmed activities (PAs) per week. This will be split into 8.5 sessions of direct clinical care (DCC), and 1.5 sessions of supporting professional activity (SPA). When the appointee can justify an additional SPA, this will be granted automatically.

The weekly timetable for the appointee will be flexible. The UGI team has three full day operating lists each week. The appointee will be expected to ensure lists are fully covered for annual and study leave. Additionally there are three endoscopy lists and outreach clinics that will also prospectively covered. The team has a bi monthly Planning Meeting where theatre and endoscopy lists are allocated among the team.

When not on call, the appointee will be expected to provide, on average:

One all day theatre list

Two outpatient clinics at QEHB

One endoscopy list

Attendance at the UGI MDM

Attendance at referring hospital MDMs and outreach clinics to cover leave and on call.

The appointee will to the emergency On Call service for General Surgery as previously discussed. The on-call week is split into midweek Monday to Thursday, and weekend Friday to Sunday, with a hand over on Monday and Friday mornings.

About us

The appointee will initially take part in the midweek emergency on call rota at a rate of 1:6. After two years the appointee will be able to reduce the midweek emergency on call to the rate of the non-EGS consultants, currently 1:14. The weekend on calls are split equally between all the Emergency and General Surgery Consultants and is currently 1:11.

The on-call surgical team consists of two SpRs, Two Core Trainees and two FY1s. At night there in one SpR, two Core Trainees and two FY1s. The full shift pattern for juniors is compliant with EWTD. Patients are initially admitted to a specialised surgical assessment ward. On this ward all patients will be under the care of the On Call Surgeons. When patients are transferred to the elective surgical wards or to outlying wards care will be continued to be provided by the admitting surgeon. The consultants are relieved of all other clinical commitments during their period of emergency on-call.

Emergency on-call includes but is not limited to:

managing patients on the emergency assessment ward

ensuring that all emergency admissions have a senior review within 12 hours of admission

performing and supervising emergency general surgery

seeing in hospital referrals for general surgery emergency opinions

being available for general and military trauma as requested.

The appointee will not normally be expected to cover vascular or urology emergencies or deal with head injuries. QEHB does not deal with paediatric patients.

As the main teaching hospital for the University of Birmingham the appointee will be expected to regularly teach students and postgraduates as well as contributing to examinations. They will also be expected to supervise resident doctors.

The appointee should be able to perform complex UGI cancer surgery from their start with the Trust as well as be able to deal with complex UGI emergencies and complications of surgery out of hours. Some mentoring will be available, but the appointee should demonstrate via their log book that they are capable of independent practice and have recent experience in UGI cancer surgery.

The appointee will contribute to the UGI Consultant of the Week where they will: manage the UGI inpatients including a daily ward round; prepare and lead the UGI MDM, track cancer patients to ensure that 31 and 62 day targets are met; accept all referrals both internal and external; provide the cover for UGI emergencies both internal and external; ensure that the UGI database is filled and accurate; and provide one clinic and one endoscopy session. All surgeons who perform UGI cancer resections will contribute equally to the COW week. This will be on a 1:7 basis and will include overnight and weekend emergency cover.

The appointee will perform outpatient clinics, endoscopy lists, and general and UGI surgery with continuing support from other team members.

Initially the appointee will not have nominated main theatre or endoscopy lists but will be expected to work flexibly with the other team members to ensure operating lists and endoscopy lists are used to maximal effect. There are currently only three main theatre lists to be shared between all seven surgeons.

In addition to contributing to the Upper GI service, the appointee will support the Emergency General Surgery On Call service. The new hospital has attracted a significant increase in the number of emergency referrals to General Surgery and an equivalent increase in the number of admissions through the Emergency Department. Although provision of emergency care for General Surgical patients is becoming a speciality in its own right, this is a nascent service which remains fully supported by the General Surgeons. There are two General Surgical consultants on call (normally of differing GI specialities) and they are both released from all elective activity whilst on call.

There is a separate vascular, urology and neurosurgery on-call rota.

Prof. Ewen Griffith has developed a nation reputation in UGI Surgery and the appointee will be expected to have a strong academic background to support the academic strength of the UGI Unit. A higher degree (MD or PhD) and a track record of high quality publications is essential. Experience with National Organisations is highly desirable.