This job has become available due to the increasing work of our department and maternity leave, so is to commence as soon as possible on a locum basis. The post holder will provide a range of Intensive Care services, with supervision by senior colleagues when required. This is a resident post that is compliant with the BMA junior doctor contract. Weekend working frequency is one in three.
The Intensive Care Department is proud of its reputation as clinically excellent, forward thinking and friendly.
The Department of Intensive Care Medicine comprises the General Intensive Care Unit (Penrose Ward), Neuro Intensive Care Unit (Pencarrow Ward), the Acute Care Team (Intensive Care Outreach, Acute Pain service, Hospital at Night and Vascular Access Services). The Department of Intensive Care has over 150 staff with an annual budget of over £10m.
Previous experience of Intensive Care is not required and residents are well supported by senior staff. The role of the residents is primarily based on the Adult Intensive Care. Responsibilities of the successful candidate include admissions, daily reviews, prescriptions – including renal and nutritional support, ward round documentation, enacting plans and organising discharges. There are ample opportunities for learning procedures such as central vascular access, arterial line insertion and chest drain insertion. Residents can expect to learn how to care for patients’ who are mechanically ventilated. Residents are exposed to a vast array of pathologies and patient groups, including but not limited to Trauma, Medical, Surgical and Obstetric. Residents will be expected to work on both General Intensive Care and Neurointensive Care. Both formal and informal teaching is a regular occurrence on the Intensive Care Unit.
The residents form an integral part of the Hospital’s Cardiac Arrest team, in the role of the airway doctor. There is formal resuscitation teaching prior to taking on this role.
Intensive Care epitomises the multi-disciplinary team. It is mandatory to demonstrate good team working skills and excellent communication skills. It is anticipated that successful candidates will find the role hugely satisfying.
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is the largest hospital in the south west peninsula, providing comprehensive secondary and tertiary healthcare.
Our geography gives us a secondary care catchment population of 450,000 with a wider peninsula population of almost 2,000,000 people who can access our specialist services. The population is characterised by its diversity – the rural and the urban, the wealthy and pockets of deprivation, and wide variance in health and life expectancy. Population ageing is a recognised national trend, but is exacerbated locally by the drift of younger people out of the area and older people in. The proportion of our population aged 85 or over is growing ahead of the national average by approximately 10 years, giving Plymouth the opportunity to innovate on behalf the nation in services for the elderly.
We work within a network of other hospitals to offer a range of specialist services:
Kidney transplant
Pancreatic cancer surgery
Neurosurgery
Cardiothoracic surgery
Bone marrow transplant
Upper Gastro-intestinal surgery
Hepatobiliary surgery
Neonatal intensive care and high risk obstetrics
Plastic surgery
Liver transplant evaluation
Stereotactic radiosurgery
The appointment is full time 40 hours per week including on-call work. The post-holder will be expected to take part in a resident rota. This includes prospective cover for colleagues’ annual and study leave. Successful candidates will be expected to work normal working days (08:00-18:00), long days (08:00-21:00) and night shifts (20:00-09:00). Weekend working frequency is one in three

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