Consultant in Anaesthesia

We are looking to appoint a substantive consultant anaesthetist able to provide anaesthesia to a broad range of district general hospital patients, but would particularly welcome applicants with an interest in, and experience of:
1. Anaesthesia for major vascular surgery
2. Acute pain management
3. Regional anaesthesia
4. Perioperative medicine
The jobs are full-time posts comprising 10 Programmed Activities (PAs). 7.5PA will be dedicated to direct clinical care. 1 PA is allocated to recognised on call commitment. The remaining 1.5PA will be allocated to supporting professional activities (SPA).
Candidates should be in position to take up the role by August 2025, Anaesthesia at Frimley Park Hospital:
The ACSA-accredited anaesthetic department has 56 Consultant Anaesthetists, 7 Speciality Doctors and 32 Resident doctors providing anaesthetic duties in 18 theatres, in addition to a number of areas outside the theatre complex, including obstetrics, interventional radiology, endoscopy and cardiac catheterisation suites. The department also provides a cardio-pulmonary exercise testing service and a high-risk pre-operative clinic.
Regional anaesthesia is actively encouraged and taught. Innovative techniques are constantly added to embed ambulatory surgery. The department is an ESRA-approved training centre for regional anaesthesia. There are usually 3 regional anaesthesia fellows at any one time and a block room service has been developed to provide safe and efficient regional block service where needed.
Frimley Park is also a high-volume regional vascular centre. There is a team of 17 vascular anaesthetists supporting daily elective and emergency vascular lists as well as vascular MDT meetings and CPX clinics. There is a state-of-the-art hybrid vascular theatre plus dedicated theatres within the interventional radiology suite supporting the vascular service.
A team of 7 consultants oversee the high-risk anaesthetic clinic service.
The department also provides acute and chronic pain service. Our anaesthetic department rates highly with trainees and staff in the department as being a pleasant and supportive place to work.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to being an inclusive and disability confident employer and has been awarded the Gold for the Armed Forces Employment Recognition Scheme. We provide first class development opportunities for all staff and have a wide range of professional, management and leadership, and clinical skills training available.
Here at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, we know how important it is to have a healthy work life balance; this benefits not only individuals but the patients we care for too.
We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service and its users.
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Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Anaesthesia at Frimley Park Hospital:
The ACSA-accredited anaesthetic department has 56 Consultant Anaesthetists, 7 Speciality Doctors and 32 Resident doctors providing anaesthetic duties in 18 theatres, in addition to a number of areas outside the theatre complex, including obstetrics, interventional radiology, endoscopy and cardiac catheterisation suites. The department also provides a cardio-pulmonary exercise testing service and a high-risk pre-operative clinic.
Regional anaesthesia is actively encouraged and taught. Innovative techniques are constantly added to embed ambulatory surgery. The department is an ESRA-approved training centre for regional anaesthesia. There are usually 3 regional anaesthesia fellows at any one time and a block room service has been developed to provide safe and efficient regional block service where needed.
Frimley Park is also a high-volume regional vascular centre. There is a team of 17 vascular anaesthetists supporting daily elective and emergency vascular lists as well as vascular MDT meetings and CPX clinics. There is a state-of-the-art hybrid vascular theatre plus dedicated theatres within the interventional radiology suite supporting the vascular service.
A team of 7 consultants oversee the high-risk anaesthetic clinic service.
The department also provides acute and chronic pain service.
Our anaesthetic department rates highly with trainees and staff in the department as
being a pleasant and supportive place to work.
Frimley Park has a very busy emergency department, and this is reflected in the utilisation of the CEPOD and the orthopaedic trauma lists, both of which operate seven days a week. The theatres work an extended day (12 hour/day) and consultants on call in both anaesthetics and ICU are present on site until 10pm.
The trust uses an electronic patient record system (Epic). This is an integrated clinical information system that encompasses all aspects of patient care, which is now paper-free.
Obstetric Anaesthesia:
The trust manages 5500 deliveries per year through its obstetric unit and the anaesthetic directorate provides dedicated consultant support for elective and emergency caesarean sections along with other obstetric procedures. There is an established epidural service for the delivery suite using PCEA as well as the ability to provide remifentanil PCA if required. The obstetric unit has a strong multi-disciplinary approach to governance and risk and involvement in research is also encouraged. There is also a multi-disciplinary simulation program in place to support practice and education.
Intensive Care:
The 12 bedded intensive care unit at Frimley Park Hospital offers Level 2 and 3 care with approximately 750 admissions each year. The patient workload is that expected in a DGH ICU as well as the additional work that arises from the tertiary services mentioned above. The intensive care unit is supported by two high dependency areas in medicine and surgery which can manage Level 1 and 2 patients. There is also a comprehensive critical care outreach service which is supported by dedicated critical care consultant sessions.
Post Anaesthetic Care Unit:
There are 3 PACUs within Frimley Park Hospital, each located alongside a theatre suite. The main theatre PACU also functions as an overnight recovery unit for complex post-operative patients. There is capacity for up to four post-operative patients requiring level 2 care and these patients are managed jointly by the ICU and anaesthetic teams. The unit is also able to support the ICU and will manage Level 3 critical care patients when the critical care unit capacity is under pressure.
Heatherwood Hospital
This newly built £100m state-of-the-art hospital opened in March 2022 and is mainly an orthopaedic elective surgery centre, although more surgical specialties are being introduced.
Anaesthetists from both Wexham and Frimley Park hospitals work on this site. The nature of the work lends itself to enthusiasts of regional anaesthesia. Situated in Ascot, it is approximately a 20-minute drive from Frimley Park Hospital. It features 6 operating theatres, 48 inpatient beds and 22 day cubicles.
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) has an outstanding reputation and a proud record of achievement. As a well performing, well led and ambitious Foundation Trust, we have exciting times ahead of us. We have an ongoing commitment to improving the health and care services for the 900,000 people we serve across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire.
We are proud of the ambitions laid out in our strategy, Our Future FHFT, including our vision to be a leader in health & wellbeing, delivering excellence for our communities.
We continue to invest in our services and facilities, including a £10 million upgrade to the hospital maternity unit as well as £49m major new Emergency Assessment Centre on our Wexham Park site. The opening of a brand new £100m state of the art hospital which replaced the existing hospital facility at Heatherwood and are planning to invest further in diagnostics and inpatient capacity at Frimley Park.
We have also made significant investment in our quality improvement and digital programmes to support our vision and we will ensure that we achieve our aim of providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients. Our new EPR - Epic - went live in June and we are already beginning to reap the benefits of this ambitious investment.
Our three core values, and the behaviours that support them, guide everything we do and set out what we expect of our staff in the way they treat patients, visitors, service users and each other, Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future.