Job responsibilities AIM To provide senior medical and clinical leadership to support the continued delivery of Hospice care services and support to community based palliative care practitioners. The post-holder will contribute to the on-going development of specialist palliative care services, excellent clinical governance arrangements at St Cuthberts Hospice and the development of educational and research initiatives. The post holder will play a key role in the delivery of palliative care services within the community, acute and hospice settings, employed by and based at St Cuthberts Hospice. Communication and relationships Via membership of the Hospice Senior Management Team, contribute to the overall effective development and management of the Hospice Effective and sensitive communication with patients, carers, all staff and volunteers is an essential component of this role to ensure smooth delivery on a day to day basis of all clinical services. A particular aspect of the role will also be maintaining effective working relationships with the clinical staff based within the Hospice and externally, including the Consultants employed by County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust, GPs and other primary, secondary and tertiary care teams Provide expert opinion and advice to local healthcare partners and community based palliative care practitioners e.g. GPs, District Nurses, Marie Curie Rapid Response team Paramedics and Community Palliative Care Clinical Nurses and to be part of a day-time on-call rota during the week. Support the work of a Clinical Practice Development Nurse Provide clinical leadership to the MDT meetings of the Hospice Work collaboratively with and provide daytime cover for other consultants within the County and out of hours Work co-operatively with colleagues and to respect and value their contribution to patient/client care. Planning and organisational skills Improving service planning and strategic development in the Hospice and with Commissioners and other service providers Under leadership of the Head of Clinical Services develop Hospice care services based upon rehabilitative approaches to living well with life limiting illness. Work with colleagues to ensure that processes are lean and effective, optimising productivity of the service Patient/Client Care Support individualised care planning, giving consultant input into guidance, policy and education around the planning to optimise patient choice of care within the resources available Be available to patients, their families and carers to provide information and support as appropriate and in accordance with good professional practice. Provide clinical leadership to medical colleagues directing the provision of excellent specialist palliative care services. Provide the patient and their family with support, information and choice at the end of life using advanced communication skills. Contribute to the provision of seamless continuity of care between hospice, hospital and home including the provision of indirect care by supporting other healthcare professionals. Responsible for the maintenance of the highest possible standard of medical care for patients Encourage a holistic response to the care of patients and their families, taking social, psychological and spiritual as well as physical factors into consideration and to work closely with member of other disciplines. Policy & Service Development In collaboration with service leads: provide leadership in the development and delivery of clinical multi-professional and medical audits to promote evidence based practice, keep under regular review medical procedures and prescribing, be actively involved in risk management and quality assurance. In collaboration with service leads, support a positive approach to research and the continued development of evidence based palliative medicine; to be involved in relevant research in the field of palliative medicine. Familiarise self and act in accordance with clinical and non-clinical Hospice policies and procedures Actively participate in critical and untoward incidences, accidents and significant event analysis and report to Head of Clinical Services as appropriate Participate in the Hospices clinical governance systems and ensure continuous improvement in quality at both an individual, team and service level and actively participate in and encourage clinical incident reporting and safeguarding of adults at risk and children where appropriate. Human Resources Participation in of undergraduate and postgraduate medical and nurse training programmes Deliver medical training programmes Support the delivery of pharmaceutical services. Identify and respond to the specialist palliative care educational needs and requirements of both health and social care professional colleagues. Provide clinical teaching as part of everyday working within multi-professional teams and actively participate in the provision of more formal teaching where appropriate. Internal training may also include support for nurse independent prescribers and staff undertaking physical assessment modules. Encourage teaching and support the development of doctors in training posts. Clinical supervision of junior medical staff as a shared responsibility with other consultant colleagues. Participate in the annual appraisal process and comply with any requirements necessary for revalidation; including undertaking an annual appraisal review, maintaining a portfolio of appraisal evidence and submitting completed appraisal paperwork including PDP to the Responsible Officers office. Satisfy mandatory training requirements Information Resources Ensure effective record keeping an documentation Responsible for maintaining the security of access to computerised systems e.g. Smart Card Contribute to the general administrative responsibilities that are required to ensure the effective working of service, including timely appropriate advice and correspondence to external agencies. Research and Development Continually look for ways to improve the quality of the service provided to patients and carers Critically appraise the outcomes of relevant research, evaluations and audits and appropriately apply them to improve practice. Undertake applicable clinical research Undertake such continuing educational activities as are necessary for the post holder to remain accredited by the Royal College of Physicians. Support St Cuthberts Hospice to develop its vision of becoming a research active hospice Freedom to Act Able to act autonomously, take responsibility and accountability for personal proactive decision making, and to review outcomes in order to refine and develop clinical practice Data Protection & Confidentiality All employees have a responsibility in line with information governance to maintain confidentiality and ensure the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 are applied to patients, clients, staff, volunteers and Hospice business information, including electronic information. Only information required to fulfil the duties of the role should be accessed by the post holder. All employees have a responsibility to use electronic systems in a way that preserves the dignity and privacy of people, helps to ensure services of the highest quality, and is compliant with the law and Hospice policies and procedures Health and Safety The Hospice will take all reasonably practical steps to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its employees while at work. Employees will familiarise themselves with the Health and Safety Policy and procedure as well as the fire procedures and ensure a safe working environment for self and others in line with these. Safeguarding All employees should make themselves aware of the policies and procedures of safeguarding, take personal responsibility as far as is reasonably practicable, to safeguard children and vulnerable adults, complete statutory and mandatory training and take appropriate action as set out in the Hospices policies and procedures. Infection Control All employees have a responsibility to ensure the risk of infection to themselves, colleagues, patients, relatives and visitors is minimised.