Consultant Microbiologist

The advertised post comprises 10 programmed activities a week. The appointee will together with other members of the medical team be responsible for the provision of a comprehensive and cost effective clinical microbiology, mycology and virology service to the Trust, local GPs and other stakeholders.

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.

The post-holder will be expected to liaise in a timely manner with clinicians, hospital staff, Medical Microbiologists, General Practitioners and Health Protection Teams concerning the diagnosis and management of patients and control and prevention of infections, including the provision of telephone advice out of hours. The appointee is expected to encourage good antibiotic stewardship and admission avoidance. 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.

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust is the largest hospital in the South West Peninsula. It is a major trauma centre and hosts tertiary services for neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, renal transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, neonatal intensive care, and prosthetic joint revision surgery. There is ample scope for development of specialist interests within infection management, and the trust has an active research department. The state of the art microbiology department is based in purpose built laboratories and offers a wide range of diagnostic testing, and a full SARS-CoV-2 testing service (PCR and antibody). The locality has seen low numbers of COVID-19 cases throughout this pandemic, and a wide variety of clinical microbiology work continues.

New ways of working arising from the COVID19 pandemic have shown that there is flexibility for working from home when clinical commitments allow, and the 10PA job plan (including 1:7 on-call) is usually worked across 4 weekdays.

Plymouth offers numerous opportunities for outdoor activities and a vibrant urban culture, lying on the beautiful natural harbour that is Plymouth Sound with rugged Dartmoor to the north and surrounded by the unspoilt beaches of Cornwall and South Devon.

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. This involves attendance at the weekly Renal MDT and to be available at other times to advise on the investigations and management of these often complex infections. An interest and expertise in this area is preferred but suitable training and CPD opportunities for any successful candidate will be available.

The post-holder will be expected to liaise in a timely manner with clinicians, hospital staff, Medical Microbiologists, General Practitioners and Health Protection Teams concerning the diagnosis and management of patients and control and prevention of infections, including the provision of telephone advice out of hours. The appointee is expected to encourage good antibiotic stewardship and admission avoidance. 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 individual's 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 examination of specimens

Authorisation and interpretation of results

Clinical audit and CPD

Policy/standard operating procedure (SOP) and clinical guideline preparation

Quality assurance performance within the Department, including taking part in all relevant national external quality assurance (NEQAS) programmes and the NEQAS interpretative comments scheme

Achieving and maintaining full accreditation with UKAS

Business planning, including the assessment and introduction of new methods and forward planning for staff and equipment requirements

Laboratory management meetings and other laboratory meetings, e.g. safety, clinical, hand over, directorate meetings

Public Health England in relation to the prevention, detection and management of outbreaks in the community

Other managerial and administrative duties as agreed with HOD and/or Service Line Director

A 1:7 on call rota with prospective cover. This involves complex telephone advice and is paid at the "A" rate. The appointed person will be required to be in the Department on Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday mornings, to advise biomedical scientist staff, review inpatients and deal with significant results as required.

Out of hours Infection Control, supported by an on call Infection Control Nurse (and during hours when the DIPC is unavailable). The operational practicalities of patient isolation, ward/bay closures are almost exclusively managed by the nursing team, with medical support for the most complex issues.

An illustrative job plan based on the above is as follows; the parameters of the posts are 8.5 DCC PAs and 1.5 SPA Pas but individual activities will be flexible within these limits by agreement with the other consultants and subject to the job planning process.

Generic DCC PA's

Out of hours/Bank Holiday on call 1.5

Weekday first on call clinical liaison 2.0

Weekday second on call clinical liaison 2.0

Weekday follow up clinical liaison / laboratory duties 1.25

Patient administration 0.5

Non-generic DCC PA's

Intensive Care Unit ward rounds 1.0

Renal MDT and clinical assistance 0.25

Generic SPA (CPD, meetings, audit, appraisal, etc) 1.5

Total 10 PA's

Teaching and Research

UHP is a Teaching Trust in partnership with the Peninsula Medical School, University of Plymouth. The School of Medicine is committed to three core aims: outstanding clinical education; strong social engagement and world class research. The Department provides large and small group teaching as well as weekly small group Laboratory visits. One member of Staff (currently Dr Jim Greig) is responsible for organising local teaching; this role comes with an honorary University appointment and access to University facilities. This role is rotated amongst Consultant staff by mutual agreement. There are opportunities for further undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in agreement with the University, Trust and external Educational bodies.

All Consultant Microbiologists are expected to participate in undergraduate PMS teaching, support the training of Clinical Scientists in the Department and teaching of other healthcare professionals where relevant.

The post holder will be expected to participate in and be registered for continuing professional development (CPD) with The Royal College of Pathologists (or equivalent body) and to fulfil requirements for annual certification and revalidation. UHP supports the concepts of CPD, clinical audit and EQA and encourages all consultants to participate in these activities by providing time and resource.