Locum Consultant Clinical Gerontology Modernising Medicine

at  Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

We are looking for an enthusiastic and committed individual to join our team of at Denmark Hill on a six month fixed term basis. This is a dynamic department with a strong track record in delivering innovative pathways of care, high quality multi-professional training, and academic research.
This post would suit both a seasoned clinician and aspiring clinical leaders holding a CCT in Geriatric Medicine and General Internal medicine or within six months of completing specialist training, or equivalent. Applications may also be considered from Consultant General Physicians with an interest in Frail Older People.
This fixed term post supports inpatient services, frailty pathways, and the hospital-community interface. There is opportunity to shape the role according to interests and expertise and prior enquiry and discussion is encouraged. Particular subspecialty interests can be accommodated, and we would strongly support academic and research interests.
The post-holder will be expected to contribute to an unselected General Internal Medicine on-call rota covering weekends and Bank Holidays as well as our seven-day Frailty service commitment and a separate 24-hour telephone on-call rota for Geriatric Medicine.
The department provides a comprehensive service for older adults with an increasing number of sub-specialty services reflecting the increasing evidence base for quality services for this population. There are 90 specialist beds, not including stroke rehabilitation which is managed by Neurosciences currently.
The Trust operates an integrated approach to General and Geriatric Medicine with a mix of generic acute medical beds but also dedicated specialty beds for the care of the more complex older adult. All older people admitted to hospital with an acute medical problem are cared for by general physicians of whom approximately 25% are geriatricians. The department has an expanding ambulatory care portfolio reflecting the varied interests and expertise of departmental staff and the needs of the local population.
King’s is in a privileged position having been a key partner in developing integrated older people’s services across health and social care and the third sector in recent years. There has been a strong focus on delivering integrated care locally for older people and members of the department work with community rehabilitation, care homes, local GPs, and with our local hospital at home service. There is a heightened interest in frailty and multimorbidity in our local population and Geriatricians contribute to community multi-disciplinary team meetings. The post-holder would be expected to improve community care of those living with frailty and multi-morbidity.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King’s to another level.
We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.
King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.
This post stands within our recently expanded department. The post-holder will allow us to deliver a seven-day acute frailty service, a seven-day consultant-delivered service on our inpatient wards, as well as supporting an expanded GIM consultant body to support an enhanced support to the acute medical take. In addition we are looking to broaden our support and liaison to local care homes.
We are in the process of reviewing the emergency pathway for older people and the post will be ideal for someone looking to be part of exciting changes driving improved care. The remit of the post-holder will be to join existing multi–disciplinary teams on one of our Gerontology wards to contribute to the weekly running of the Frailty Assessment Unit, and to explore new ways of working at the hospital-community interface. Applicants with interests in other areas of Geriatric Medicine are encouraged to apply as we are also keen to expand our service portfolio.
The post-holder will be expected to contribute to the General Unselected Medical Take, weekend Frailty and Gerontology support, as well as the out-of-hours Gerontology telephone on-call rota. Changes to these provisions are likely to arise as seven-day rotas are developed further within our Modernising Medicine programme (see below).
Outpatient activity will support the inpatient activity through targeted follow-up and will contribute to the admission avoidance rapid access ‘HOT’ clinics provided by the department’s Consultant Connect service (descriptions of these services can be found below). We are also looking to work with integrated services across the local health and care economy to provide new and innovative ways to help enhance community support for frail local residents. The aim would be to add value to patient care, provide more care closer to home, and support long-term care planning that reduces unplanned acute admissions and better coordination of care.
The post-holder would be expected to play a significant role in service redesign and previous experience of introducing and effecting change and quality improvement is highly desirable. Candidates should be able to provide clinical steer to develop new clinical pathways and should be committed to embedding service and cultural change. It is envisaged that as the result of this activity and other work within the department, consultants will work increasingly across traditional boundaries between primary and secondary care and support community services and GPs.
In addition, the individual will be required to play an active role in the general workload of the department with a commitment to teaching, training of junior staff, departmental efficiency, and research. There would be an opportunity for individuals with an academic track record to be accommodated within the department for this position.
Major areas of service focus within Clinical Gerontology at Denmark Hill include dementia and delirium, integrated care, and the acute care of older people

Please refer the Job description for details