Senior Fellow in Paediatric Neurosurgery

We are inviting applications for the Senior Paediatric Neurosurgery Fellow (ST8+ Level) vacancy at The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in the Department of Neurosurgery.

This post has been approved for training by the Royal College of Surgeons as part of the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme. The post is a fixed-term post for 12-months, starting in August 2025. It is designed for Senior Neurosurgical Trainees towards the end of UK training.

We are looking for a dynamic individual to meet the demands of this prestigious Fellowship post in a high-profile area of complex and demanding surgery.

The department of Neurosurgery in Leeds provides World-Class Paediatric Neurosurgical services. The service is consultant-led and is delivered through dedicated sub-speciality MDT services. The Fellowship is designed for senior Neurosurgical trainees at the end of their training. It will provide comprehensive sub-speciality training in Paediatric Neurosurgery in preparation for a consultant role in this field.

Main duties of the job

The Paediatric Neurosurgery post will include a thorough grounding in the clinical management, investigation and surgical techniques for optimally managing Children with all forms of neurosurgical disease including hydrocephalus, brain tumours, craniofacial conditions, spasticity & SDR, spinal dysraphism, Chiari malformations, and neurovascular conditions. There are significant further opportunities to develop research. The Fellow is expected to join the close MDT co-working with Neuro-oncologists, researchers and the clinical nurse specialist team. The fellow is expected to gain independent competencies in dealing with Children with the breadth of paediatric neurosurgery conditions.

Consideration will be given to applicants who wish to work full or part time and those wishing to job share.

About us

It is a requirement that the applicant has valid full GMC registration at the time of application, and it is highly desirable that they have recent or current UK NHS experience working in Neurosurgery.

If shortlisted, you will be required to give a 5-minute presentation on:

Should paediatric neurosurgery be delivered by standalone units or Networks

Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit the hospital, which can be arranged by contacting:

Mr John Goodden, Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon & Lead Clinician for Paediatric Neurosciences,

Mr Atul Tyagi, Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon

Via secretary on: or valerie.allerton@nhs.net or lauren.barrow@nhs.net

Interviews to be held: TBC

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Job description
Job responsibilities

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS trust is one of the largest trusts in the UK and provides comprehensive secondary services to Leeds and tertiary services to West and North Yorkshire. The Leeds Childrens Hospital is based at the Leeds General Infirmary and is situated in the centre of the city, adjacent to Leeds University, with which there are strong links.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The Department of Neurosurgery provides a comprehensive adult and paediatric neurosurgical service to the 2.5 million people of West and North Yorkshire. Due to Commissioning pathways, the catchment area for Paediatric Neurosurgery extends North to Middlesbrough and East to Hull & East Yorkshire, increasing the catchment area to approximately 3.4 million. The Neurosurgical Department is housed within the Jubilee Wing of the General Infirmary at Leeds. The paediatric neurosurgical service is located within the Leeds Childrens Hospital located in Clarendon Wing at the Leeds General Infirmary.

The department of Neurosurgery in Leeds provides world class Paediatric Neurosurgical care. The service is consultant led and is delivered through dedicated subspecialty services. The Paediatric Neurosurgical service has very strong links with Neurology, Neuro-Radiology, Neuro-Pathology, and Leeds University.

The Leeds Childrens Hospital has one of the largest bed-bases in a UK Childrens Hospital. Paediatric neurosurgery inpatient care is shared with the paediatric neurologists on a combined paediatric neuroscience ward (L52) with 12 beds. Facilities in the Childrens Hospital include a fully equipped 16-bed paediatric intensive care unit, 6-bed high dependency unit, neonatal intensive care, neonatal unit, and 8 childrens operating theatres, including one paediatric emergency theatre. The PICU, neuro-theatre and ward are co-located on the same floor. The paediatric neurosurgery theatre is well-equipped with BrainLAB neuro-navigation, a Zeiss Kinevo microscope (tracked), HD & SD endoscopes, intra-operative ultrasound and facility for intra-operative neurophysiology as required. An intra-operative MRI scanner / BrainLab-integrated theatre suite opened in Spring 2019. The Kinevo microscope is fully equipped with filters, 3D film system and full digital integration to the BrainLAB operating theatre suite.

The paediatric neurosurgical service comprises 4 whole-time consultants (Mr Atul Tyagi, Mr John Goodden, Mr Gnanamurthy Sivakumar, Ms Rebecca Chave-Cox). They deliver a specialist first on-call paediatric neurosurgery consultant rota. They work closely with the paediatric neurology team and the paediatric neuro-rehabilitation consultant providing shared care of inpatients. They are supported by specialist nurses for hydrocephalus, craniofacial, spasticity and oncology.

The paediatric neurosurgery department's work grows each year. The paediatric operative caseload is currently around 350-cases per annum, with approximately 40 new tumour cases per year. Sub-specialist surgery services include non-syndromic craniofacial surgery, Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), spinal dysraphism and paediatric neurovascular surgery.

The adult Neurosurgical Department has 64 adult beds in two wards with an additional 7 bedded dedicated Neuro-intensive Care Unit as well as a 7-bedded dedicated High Dependency Unit. There are four adult operating theatres including one dedicated to emergency surgery 24 hours per day. There is an integrated spinal service offering all aspects of spinal surgery which is made up of 3 Neurosurgical and 7 Spinal Orthopaedic Consultants. The current adult caseload is approximately 3000 inpatients per year and approximately 2000 operative cases per year.

The Neurosurgical Department has close links with the other neuroscience specialities that are all on site including Neuro-Radiology, Neurology, Neuro-Anaesthetics and Neurophysiology. The Neuro-Pathology department is based on the St Jamess hospital site and provides a full histopathology service, including an intra-operative frozen section service. A well-equipped molecular pathology service provides up-to-date oncology profiling of paediatric and adult tumours, including H3K27M, IDH, TERT, BRAF, and 1p19q testing.

The Neuro-Radiology Department is based at the Leeds General Infirmary and comprises 6 Consultants, three of whom provide Endovascular services for adults and children with Neurovascular conditions.

The General Infirmary at Leeds is a Level 1 Trauma unit for both adult and paediatric patients and there are close links with surgical specialities including trauma, maxillofacial, plastics and ENT surgery. An intra-operative High-field 3T MRI complex opened in Spring 2019. This further enhances the capability of the department and the training of the Fellow.

A Neurosurgery Skills Lab simulation facility equipped with Zeiss operating microscope and endoscopic equipment is available for 24h use. This allows basic and advanced skills training and including micro-neurosurgery (including vascular anastomosis), and endoscopic training.

The fellowship is intended to allow an experienced peri-CCT UK-based neurosurgical trainee the opportunity to gain more experience over a one-year period in paediatric neurosurgery. This post has been approved for training by the Royal College of Surgeons as part of the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme.

The RCS accreditation has been very valuable with the first two Fellows both achieving successful Consultant appointments.

The Fellow is expected to be capable of working with increasing levels of independence as they progress through this one-year post. It is expected that sufficient experience will be obtained from this fellowship to allow the Fellow to offer themselves for appointment to a Consultant position involving a substantial commitment to paediatric neurosurgery. They will gain experience in the assessment, investigation and operative management of patients presenting with the full range of acute and elective paediatric neurosurgical pathology. The additional sub-specialist supra-regional services delivered in Leeds will further enhance this experience

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.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

Additional Requirements
Essential

Qualifications
Essential

Desirable

Clinical, Academic, and Personal Skills
Essential

Desirable

Eligibility, Fitness to practice, and Language Skills
Essential

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

C9298-MED-610