Consultant in Palliative Medicine
County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
The closing date is 11 October 2025
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest integrated care providers in England, serving a population of around 600,000 people. We are a high performing organisation with a track record of success.
The palliative care service is looking to appoint a part-time (7 sessions initially) consultant to join our existing consultants. We are keen to work with friendly, enthusiastic people who would relish the challenge of delivering excellent palliative care services within a strong, cohesive and supportive team.
The post will be based in Derwentside and University Hospital of North Durham and have elements of acute, community and care home work.
The post holder will be joining an expanding dynamic service with a great team of experienced Macmillan Specialist Nurses, and a Palliative care support team. The successful post holder will work alongside our key partners across County Durham and Darlington to deliver high quality specialist palliative care.
The Specialist Palliative Care team consists of a Macmillan Palliative Care Lead Nurse, Palliative Care Consultants; Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialists, Macmillan Discharge Facilitators, Hospice.
Main duties of the job
The following job summary defines the scope of palliative care consultant work in CDDFT rather than the responsibilities of a single consultant. The exact nature of consultant duties will depend on the job plan agreed with individual applicants. Some of the duties are clearly setting-specific.
Provide clinical leadership and expert knowledge in the field of palliative medicine for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT).
Specifically:
To work collaboratively with other palliative care consultants and colleagues in primary and secondary care across the County to ensure the provision of high quality palliative care consistent with national and Northern England Clinical Strategic Network standards and guidelines.
To work as part of the Specialist Palliative Care Consultant Team providing cover for all settings in County Durham and Darlington, specifically:
Clinical leadership for community based specialist palliative care teams and senior nurses working into Care Homes.
Consultant support and advice for primary health care teams and prisons as needed.
Consultant support and supervision to medical staff and patients within the in-patient palliative setting.
About us
If you are being interviewed you must accept an interview slot in the system to continue, even if you have arranged with the manager.
You must be able to produce ALL certificates stated essential in the person specification or you will not be able to complete pre-employment checks.
We provide hospital services from two acute sites - Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham. We have a centre for planned care in Bishop Auckland and provide care from community hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Shotley Bridge, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield and Weardale as well as over 80 other community based settings and providing care in patients\' homes.
We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented.
Full Job Descriptions can be found in the adverts supporting documents
Over reliance on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant\'s chances of success
For the most up-to-date information on visa requirements and eligibility, please check online to determine whether you can apply.
From April 9th 2025 - Healthcare assistants - You must have a minimum of two years of experience working within the NHS as a HCA for the Trust to consider sponsorship (we will only consider sponsorship if you meet this criteria and have a current visa expiring within 3 months)
Job responsibilities
Duties across all settings
Function as an essential member of the specialist palliative care teams throughout the county.
Provide expert advice and support regarding complex ethical and clinical decision making.
Work collaboratively with other palliative care consultants to provide consultant advice, support and clinical expertise to CDDFT Monday to Friday 9-5pm including contributing to the trust wide palliative care telephone advice rota.
Provide a 1 in 7 commitment to the Out of Hours Advice Service for professionals (all the senior doctors contribute).
Undertake administrative duties associated with the care of patients (including activity data as required) in line with Trust Policy.
Setting specific duties
Hospital
Provide expert advice and support to health care professionals caring for patients with palliative and end of life care needs.
Provide clinical leadership and support for the hospital palliative care team.
Community
Provide expert advice and support to health care professionals providing care to patients with palliative and end of life care needs e.g. specialist palliative care teams, primary care teams, community nurses and care home staff.
Lead specialist palliative care multi-disciplinary team (MDT) and clinical review meetings as required.
Undertake domiciliary visits to patients in their usual place of residence (including community hospitals, care homes and prisons) as required.
Work with community hospital clinicians to provide identification, assessment and review of patients with palliative care needs in community hospitals.
Support and attend as appropriate Primary Care Team palliative care register meetings.
Hospice
Provide expert advice and support to the hospice multi-disciplinary team through weekly ward rounds and weekly in-patient unit MDTs.
Provide leadership to the multi-professional specialist palliative care team, including hospice teams and primary care colleagues.
Provide supervision of other doctors within the service including appraisal.
Provide strategic leadership within local Network groups as appropriate.
Provide leadership and support in the development of generalist and specialist palliative care services across all settings including leadership of service developments and change initiatives.
Contribute to CDDFT, local, and regional Network initiatives to support the development and improvement of palliative care and end of life care services.
6.3 Clinical Governance
Contribute to the clinical governance activities of the specialist palliative care team, including regular audit, development of appropriate trust-wide standards and annual appraisal.
Participate and lead on local and national audit as agreed with the service.
Participate and lead on quality improvement initiatives.
Provide significant contribution to the management of clinical risk and patient safety.
Contribute to the development, implementation and response to local and national policy and guidance.
Lead on governance issues relating to the appraisal and revalidation for palliative medicine colleagues.
6.4 Education
Maintain continuing professional development in accordance with the requirements of the Royal College of Physicians/the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Contribute to the planning and delivery of undergraduate medical education and GP trainees in all aspects of palliative, end of life care, communication skills and ethics.
Contribute to Specialty training in Palliative medicine as appropriate.
Contribute to the development and implementation of a palliative and end of life care education strategy for CDDFT and partner organisations.
Support the continuing professional development of specialist palliative care nurses.
Support the continuing professional development of specialist palliative care medical staff.
Participate in undergraduate, post-graduate and multi-professional education programmes across primary care and within the Trust.
Lead on and/or participate in Specialist Palliative Care Service education sessions
6.5 Research
Identify research proposals applicable to palliative care.
Develop links with academic centres and Trust Leads to support local research studies as appropriate.
Develop and implement research projects and programmes as appropriate.
Person Specification
Special Skills & Knowledge
* Clinical Skills
* Expert clinician in the specialised field of palliative medicine.
* Ability to work autonomously in all care settings
* Excellent diagnostic and clinical skills.
* Supervision and mentorship skills of undergraduate students and post graduate trainees.
* Ability to lead and motivate a multidisciplinary team.
* Ability to prioritise workload in changing environment.
* Ability to work in a team with sensitivity and diplomacy.
* Analytical and evaluative with critical appraisal skills.
* In depth knowledge of NHS agenda for palliative and end of life care.
* Clinical Governance/Audit Skills
* Thorough understanding of clinical governance and its place in clinical practice.
* Experience of initiating and conducting clinical audit.
* Evidence of undertaking audit in line with national and local requirements for palliative and end of life care.
* Experience of teaching palliative care at undergraduate and post graduate level and to multidisciplinary audiences.
* Teaching and education of junior staff.
* Supervisory skills for the MDT teams.
* Mentorship and assessment skills.
* Excellent presentation skills.
* Team player.
* Enhanced communication skills both interpersonal and with wider stakeholders.
* Ability to demonstrate leadership and management qualities to deliver this challenging role.
* Ability to manage people in difficult and emotional situations.
* IT Literate.
* Evidence of innovative service development.
* Experience of initiating and conducting clinical audit within a foundation trust setting.
* Teaching qualification.
* Publication.
* Original research or working towards.
Special Requirements
* Capable of independent travel across the county.
Qualifications
* Full GMC Registration
* MRCP or MRCGP or equivalent
* Right to work in the UK
Experience
* On the GMC specialist register or within 9 months of registration for attaining CCT in palliative medicine at time of interview.
* Training in palliative medicine including experience in hospice, hospital and community settings
Statutory Registration
* Full GMC registration
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.
County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
£109,725 to £145,478 a year YC72 Pay Scale per annum pro rata
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