Consultant Microbiologist

The appointee will initially be expected to take the lead in providing Clinical Microbiology advice and advancing the Infection service to the adult General and Neurosurgical Intensive Care units and Renal Transplantation services.

An interest in molecular diagnostics would be beneficial. Rotation of lead roles within the Department e.g.

Head of Department, Infection Prevention & Control, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Bone & Joint Infection, Virology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Cardio-thoracic surgery, Infective Endocarditis, Intensive Care, Neurosurgery, Renal Transplant and Sepsis will occur by mutual agreement.

Supplementary roles may attract further programmed activities over and above the standard contract according to the needs of the service and mutual agreement.

This is a clinically orientated post with substantial ward round commitment particularly in Critical Care areas.

The appointee, together with consultant colleagues, will be responsible for the provision of a comprehensive, efficient and cost-effective clinical microbiology, virology, and infection prevention and control service to UHP and other users of the service.

The appointee will be expected to undertake daily ward rounds on the General and Neurosurgical ICU and provide expert advice on the care of patients on the Renal Transplantation programme.

The appointee will develop relationships with the staff in the clinical areas for which they are responsible which will include attending multi-disciplinary team meetings and participating in other clinical or audit meetings as required.

Other clinical and laboratory areas covered will be agreed between medical staff to make maximum use of individuals skills and interests.

Members of the Department take part in the meetings of the Laboratory Management Team, Pathology committees, Medicines Governance Committee, the Hospital Infection Prevention and Control Committee and the Antimicrobial Stewardship Steering Group and liaise closely with the PHE South West Centre Health Protection Team.

The appointee will be expected to assist with the development and implementation of the Infection Prevention and Control programme for the Trust which is led by the Director of the Infection Prevention and Control.

As well as ad-hoc responsive ward visits, medical staff have regular clinical commitments within the hospital.

These include daily rounds on the General, Neurosurgical and Cardiac Surgery ICUs and weekly Bone Marrow Transplant MDT, renal transplant MDT, Neonatal ICU MDT, Orthopaedic infection MDT, Orthopaedic prosthetic joint infection out-patient clinic and ward round, Infective Endocarditis meeting with Cardiology and a close liaison with The South West Neurosurgery Centre.

The Consultant team work closely, dealing with specialist Infectious Diseases issues, with Surg Cmdr Dickson Consultant ID and Critical Care Medicine.

During first and second on call clinical liaison days, the appointee will take primary responsibility for incoming requests for advice and work arising from positive laboratory results.

The workload is shared with the other consultants who continue to oversee their specific areas of interest when available.

Attendance in the laboratory on weekends and Bank Holidays is normally required; duties include authorisation of laboratory results and communication of urgent preliminary work.

The job plan includes 7-8 on-call weekends/year (Friday 5pm-Monday 9am) and 29-30 on-call weeknights/year (Monday through Thursday, 5pm-9am the following morning), which includes internal cover, assuming all posts are filled.

During other periods the appointee will retain clinical responsibility for ongoing complex infections or handover to the on-call consultant or other colleagues by mutual agreement.

Communication is facilitated by the clinical database module of iLab and daily clinical Consultant meetings. Regular ward rounds, SPA activities, MDTs and liaison with specific lead units continues through all weeks. A rest day can be taken providing sufficient hours have been worked according to the job plan.

Rest days are staggered to minimise the impact on any regular meetings and are evened out to ensure adequate overall departmental staffing and are agreed with the HOD.

Hours vary according to the needs of the service but in general fall between 8am and 6pm on weekdays and 9am and 2pm on weekends/Bank Holidays.

Home access to the iLAB LIMS system will be provided via a personal laptop which will allow flexible working at weekends and Bank Holidays for consultant staff.

The post holder will be expected to contribute to the teaching commitment for the Peninsula Medical School and to teach all grades of healthcare professionals, including trainee clinical scientists.

The Clinical Lead for the Medical School is a post that comes with an honorary title and access to University facilities.

All consultants will contribute and engage with: Day-to-day supervision of diagnostic methods and examinatio

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