Job Summary
Cheltenham General Hospital is seeking dedicated resident doctors to join our stroke unit team. As a resident doctor on the stroke unit, you will play a crucial role in providing high-quality care to patients suffering from strokes and related conditions. These posts offer excellent experience in all aspects of stroke medicine and plenty of general medicine care. These posts are ideal for resident doctors who have completed their foundation training and are considering or have already taken a career break before joining a specialist training programme. The stroke unit in Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is located at Cheltenham General Hospital, where we are a busy unit with a great team of doctors, nurses and therapists with lots of opportunities for learning. We have a 21-bedded hyperacute stroke unit (HASU) with a direct admission pathway for patients, avoiding the need for patients to attend the emergency department. We provide thrombolysis onsite and assessment and onward referral for thrombectomy at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. This pathway is highly performing with one of the best door-to-needle times in the country. We also have a 32-bedded acute stroke unit providing onward care and rehabilitation for stroke patients.
Main duties of the job
* Assessment and diagnosis: You will conduct thorough assessments of patients presenting with stroke symptoms, including neurological examinations and diagnostic tests to determine the type and severity of stroke.
* You will gain skills in stroke and neurology assessment and management, other general medical conditions as well as complex decision making, advanced care planning and palliative care.
* Treatment planning: You will collaborate with senior medical staff to develop comprehensive treatment plans tailored to each patient\'s needs, including medication management, rehabilitation programs, and lifestyle modifications.
* Patient management: You will monitor patients\' progress throughout their hospital stay, adjusting treatment plans tailored to each patient\'s needs, including medication management, rehabilitation programs and lifestyle modifications.
* Education and support: You will learn how to educate patients and their families about stroke prevention strategies, rehabilitation techniques, and community resources available for ongoing support post-discharge.
* This advert may close early if there are sufficient applicants.
About Us
We take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another. With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one or both of our innovative hospitals. As well as generous annual leave allowance, you will have access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on-site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Details
Date posted: 10 February 2026
Pay scheme: Hospital medical and dental staff
Grade: Foundation Doctor
Salary: £44,439 to £52,656 a year PA
Contract: Fixed term
Duration: 9 months
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 318-26-STR
Job locations: Cheltenham General Hospital, Sandford Road, Cheltenham, GL53 7AN
Job Description
Job responsibilities
Clinical Responsibilities/Key Responsibilities
* Assessment and diagnosis: You will conduct thorough assessments of patients presenting with stroke symptoms, including neurological examinations and diagnostic tests to determine the type and severity of stroke.
* You will gain skills in stroke and neurology assessment and management, other general medical conditions as well as complex decision making, advanced care planning and palliative care.
* Treatment planning: You will collaborate with senior medical staff to develop comprehensive treatment plans tailored to each patient\'s needs, including medication management, rehabilitation programs, and lifestyle modifications.
* Patient management: You will monitor patients\' progress throughout their hospital stay, adjusting treatment plans tailored to each patient\'s needs, including medication management, rehabilitation programs and lifestyle modifications.
* Education and support: You will learn how to educate patients and their families about stroke prevention strategies, rehabilitation techniques, and community resources available for ongoing support post-discharge.
Professional Development, Education and Training
* The stroke unit staff contribute to weekly Stroke X-ray meetings and weekly in-house lunchtime teaching sessions including journal club, case presentations and morbidity and mortality meetings. You will have opportunities to prepare and present cases to help build your CV.
* There is a weekly medical Grand Round in which all specialties can attend and contribute.
* The Stroke team run Stroke Sim training, and you can access lots of other educational opportunities across the trust.
* Links with the University of Bristol medical students and the Three Counties medical school in Worcester provide you with the opportunity to teach regular sessions to the medical students during their placements.
Research and Development
* We have a well-established team contributing to Research and Quality Improvement projects. You will be encouraged to contribute to these, and complete QI projects. You can join Quality Improvement training courses.
Communications and Working Relationships
* Multidisciplinary collaboration: You will work closely with nurses, therapists, and other healthcare professionals to ensure coordinated care delivery and optimal patient outcomes.
Clinical Governance
* In the Stroke department we have monthly directorate, audit and Morbidity & Mortality meetings. Our Trust has a well-established framework for clinical governance that incorporates our clinical audit program.
* All stroke units in the country contribute to The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) - your role helps us deliver against the targets and we regularly review our performance against the measures, which helps us drive improvements to the service.
Person Specification
Essential
Qualifications
* MBBS or equivalent medical qualification
* GMC
* Completion of F1/F2
Desirable
* MRCP part 1
Knowledge and skills
* Applicant\'s knowledge is up to date and fit to practice safely
* To have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English that are adequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with patients and colleagues
Desirable
* Teaching: evidence of interest and experience in teaching.
* Leadership skills: demonstrates good leadership skills. Demonstrates skills needed for effective delegation within the team.
Experience
* Previous experience of working in a relevant medical specialty
* Clinical judgement: experience in making clinical decisions and managing risk. Knows when to seek help, able to prioritise clinical need.
* Capacity to be alert to dangers or problems. Demonstrates awareness of good decision making. Aware of own limitations. Track record of engaging in clinical governance: reporting errors, learning from errors.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants applying for entry clearance into the UK have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here: Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.
Employer details
Employer name: Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Cheltenham General Hospital, Sandford Road, Cheltenham, GL53 7AN
Employer's website: https://www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/
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