Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Care

We are looking for a compassionate individual to fill this exciting and challenging position and work as a specialist consultant to deliver high quality palliative and end of life care to children and young people aged 0-19 years, and bereavement care to their families. The role will give the successful candidate the opportunity to work in a stand-alone paediatric hospital alongside a variety of paediatric specialty services caring for children with identified palliative care needs, including: cardiology, cardiac surgery, neonatology, neurology, neuromuscular, trauma, oncology, respiratory, long-term ventilation, and intensive care.
Patient care is provided in a variety of settings including the home, hospices or in a hospital. The consultant will need to work closely and foster good relationships with all members of the child's multi-disciplinary team and with colleagues from health, social care, education and the charity-sector.
The post holder will be a specialty-trained consultant or have equivalent training as assessed by the RCPCH., The post holder will support the delivery of specialist palliative care by working as part of the Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT), based at Alder Hey Children's Hospital. The SPCT supports children who have palliative care needs and their families, from referral through to the end of life, discharge or transition.
+ Support for end of life decision making, including preferred place of death.
+ Rapid discharge for end of life care, including fast track to hospice or home.
+ Specialist medical support for hospices, acute trusts, community palliative care teams, and tertiary centres.
+ Informing & educating colleagues and families on the death and dying process.
+ Providing information & support during bereavement.
+ Identifying complex grief and those at 'high risk' with signposting/referral to appropriate local and/or specialist bereavement services.
Alder Hey serves as a teaching hospital to the University of Liverpool. The undergraduate curriculum is based on problem-based learning. All consultants are expected to take part in undergraduate teaching. Support is available to enable new consultants to deliver Level Two training.
Provide education and training in children's palliative care at all levels. It is expected that the post holder will teach nurses, post graduate training of doctors including SPIN and GRID, and teaching to paediatric departments in the region., This post attracts 10 programmed activities per week. There may be the opportunity to discuss and review this with the clinical director.
The job plan for the first three months will be based on a provisional/indicative timetable. A formal job plan will be agreed between the appointee and the Clinical Director within three months of the commencement date of the appointee.
The supporting professional activities (SPAs) allocation within the provisional job plan is an illustrative guide only and will be finalised following individual agreement with successful candidate.
The basic template for new consultants is 1.5 SPA. Any additional SPA time in the job plan is linked to defined roles with clear objectives.
1.0 SPA for:
Personal revalidation, appraisal/job planning/quality improvement /clinical governance/statutory & mandatory training/CPD.
Engagement in Quality Improvement, including attending Quality Improvement meetings, contributing data; and Implementing agreed Quality Improvement recommendations in own practice.
0.5 SPA for:
departmental and Trust meetings, and teaching (UG, departmental, Trust).
Additional SPA(s) for defined roles in research, departmental leadership or wider governance, and audit, as agreed through the job planning process.
0.5 SPA for:
Educational supervision of 2 trainees.
Category B on call supplement 1 in 4: 3% (as percentage of full-time basic salary).
We reserve the right to close vacancies without notice when we have received a sufficient number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.
Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply regularly as we will contact you using this regarding your application. All candidates will be notified via email whether or not they have been shortlisted.
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are committed to creating a well-managed, flexible working environment that supports staff and promotes their welfare and development. We actively promote equality and diversity and operate a Zero Tolerance policy to aggression, violence, bullying and harassment.
Please declare within the supporting information if artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in your application.

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust is a provider of specialist health care and has a presence in community outreach sites and, in collaboration with other providers, our clinicians help deliver care closer to patients' homes by holding local clinics at locations from Cumbria to Shropshire, in Wales and the Isle of Man. The Trust also provides inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs at our Sunflower House building newly relocated, and opened on the hospital site., As one of Europe's biggest and busiest children's hospitals, at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, we treat everything from common illnesses to highly complex and specialist conditions. In addition to our main hospital site, we offer paediatric services at a number of community sites and hold local clinics across Merseyside, Cumbria, Shropshire, Wales and the Isle of Man. We also provide specialist inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs in our recently relocated and newly opened state of the art facility.
Alder Hey has a thriving research portfolio and leads research into children's medicines, infection, inflammation and oncology. We are becoming recognised as one of the world's leaders in children's healthcare and research. We contribute to public health, lead cutting-edge research and teach the next generation of children's specialists. Alongside this is our Innovation Hub, a dedicated space where clinicians and industries can come together to create new products and technologies.
We know that a children's hospital is different and that our job is more than just treating an illness. To us, every child is an individual. As well as giving them the very best care, we set out to make them feel happy, safe and confident as they play, learn and grow. At Alder Hey we are here to look after a child and their family and that includes mums, dads, brothers and sisters.

We currently have more than 4,000 staff working across our community and hospital sites. We're also a teaching and training hospital providing education and training to around 540 medical and over 500 nursing and allied health professional students each year.
As black and minority ethnic (BME) employees are currently under-represented in this area, we particularly welcome applications from members of our BME communities. All appointments will be made on merit.
You can expect a warm welcome at Alder Hey Childrens NHS Foundation Trust, our staff are friendly and welcoming. We listen to each other and work together to embed our Trusts values and behaviours. At Alder Hey we appreciate our staff and reward them with an outstanding benefits package including:
+ Great flexible working opportunities
+ Lease car scheme and Home Electronics Scheme
+ Generous annual leave and pension scheme
+ Extensive staff health and well-being programmes