Consultant Anaesthetist

The obstetric component would usually comprise of 3 sessions per week providing elective or emergency work around delivery suite; one of these will often be delivered as a resident evening session in conjunction with the overnight on-call. The sessions are usually delivered flexibly for 43 weeks of the year. The current scheduled on-call commitment is 1:8. Given the relatively small size of the on-call group, some flexibility in working is essential, especially while short-notice absences are unavoidable.

**Adult anaesthesia sessions worked flexibly. Administrative**: To participate in all aspects of Clinical Governance, making a significant contribution to multidisciplinary quality improvement and risk management activities in Peri-operative and Critical Care. The aims of QI will include: Ensuring compliance with national guidelines relating to Anaesthesia. Helping to create an environment of continuously seeking to improve the quality of care.

These activities will all be carried out in a multidisciplinary manner. Clinical Governance, Clinical Effectiveness and Audit meetings occur on six mornings and six afternoons every year. All members of the Directorate are expected to attend and contribute. These meetings are utilised to deliver Trust mandatory training.

The four departments within the Directorate, Adult Anaesthesia, Adult Critical Care, Paediatric Anaesthesia and Pain Management function managerially as a single department. You will be expected to undertake administrative duties in relation to the care of your patients and in relation to the running of the Department of Anaesthesia in co-operation with the Heads of Department, Specialty Manager and Clinical Director. You will be entitled to become a member of the Medical Staff Committee of the hospital. To undertake Anaesthesia administrative duties within a context of compliance with Directorate and Trust aims and objectives.

Undergo Continued Medical Education (CME) in accordance with guidelines stipulated by the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) and pursue Trust objectives and your own personal development programme. This will be reviewed at annual appraisal and job planning. The Trust has a mentoring scheme, which new consultants are encouraged to use. To become involved with the financial management of the Directorate budget - at all times looking to ensure the delivery of high quality care to agreed standards, but at the same time reviewing working practices to provide the most efficient use of resources.

There are close links with the other two Directorates at Freeman Hospital Peri-operative Services and Anaesthesia services within the Cardiothoracic Directorate. There is a collaborative approach to workforce planning, Clinical Governance and risk management, therapeutics, equipment and education. Research: The Trust welcomes and encourages research as a high profile activity that compliments the service provided. The emphasis is on studies that fall within the National Institute of Health Research Portfolio.

The Peri-operative and Critical Care Directorate have recently gained the accolade of becoming an Academic Clinical Directorate within NuTH with the associated access to research funding. There is ongoing CLRN activity within the Directorate and several active awards for Greenshoot and Research Capability funding within the consultant body. Teaching: The Directorate places considerable emphasis on under-graduate and post-graduate education, and has a remarkable success rate at RCoA examinations. You will be expected to make an active contribution to under-graduate and post-graduate teaching of Anaesthesia.

The Directorate wishes to play a key role in the Regional development of training the next generation of anaesthetists and recognises the threat posed by periods of falling numbers of trainees in the Northern Deanery. Under-graduate education is provided to medical students of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The Directorate also educates nursing staff, operating departmental personnel, professions allied to medicine, paramedic ambulance personnel and armed forces personnel. The Northern School of Anaesthesia provides the hub for post-graduate anaesthetic education with teaching opportunities available to all Consultants.

All Consultants are expected to be actively involved in the clinical supervision of all postgraduate trainees in the Directorate. Some will have specific responsibility for a small number of individuals as educational supervisor under the direction of the RCoA College tutor.