Company Description
Here at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, we are proud to provide expert, compassionate care for our local population. We are ranked as the third in the country for research, embedding education and training across the organisation. Our main hub is the Queen Alexandra Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals on the south coast employing over 8,700 staff.
Our patients come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes our hospital stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for getting it right for patients, colleagues, and our community, you will find a home at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.
Job Description
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust are seeking enthusiastic and forward-thinking Consultant Geriatricians to join our extremely committed team of 22 Geriatricians. Older Persons Medicine in Portsmouth is an expanding department that has responsibilities in acute and community Geriatric Medicine.
The Older Persons Medicine Department operates an acute admissions policy for patients aged 85 plus and 75 plus for people with Parkinson’s. Acute care is provided at Queen Alexandra Hospital (QAH), with daily consultant input to each ward and Acute Medical Unit, supported by a full medical team including registrars, doctors in training, Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP), trainee ACPs, Nurse specialists and Physician Associate. Our current service covers acute admissions, OPM Same Day Emergency Care unit, short stay unit, acute wards and orthogeriatrics. We also offer a range of clinics including Rapid Access / admission avoidance and movement disorders as well as input to local Virtual Wards and community clinics. We want to expand to support liaison services within the hospital and continue to progress our closer working with community partners for supported discharge and admission avoidance.
There is the opportunity to enhance our developing work in OPM SDEC, acute admissions, inpatient geriatric ward working, community work, Parkinson’s, orthogeriatrics and enhancing our liaison services. Any post can include developing geriatric specialist services depending on the needs of the department and desire of the applicant. Post holders are actively encouraged to participate in service improvement projects, audits, research, teaching and represent the clinical service centre at college level and nationally.
The post holder will be a Consultant Geriatrician with inclusion or eligibility for inclusion on the Specialist Register for Geriatric Medicine or General Medicine. They will have a specialist interest in the management of complex frail elderly patients in acute and community settings. The post may involve:
- Acute inpatient care on a ward at QAH supported by a multidisciplinary team; they will work in tandem with a “buddy” consultant within each ward area.
- Participation in the Frailty Interface Team, working in the emergency corridor providing early assessments of patients requiring unscheduled care. Work will also include actively managing patients on our Older Persons Medicine SDEC, supporting early discharge, admission avoidance and early senior clinical review, supported by a dedicated specialist nursing team, geriatrics trainee SPR, dedicated junior doctor team and trainee ACPs.
- Supporting the orthogeriatric service and aiming to progress support for silver trauma.
- Supporting development of a Surgical liaison service and additional liaison services.
- Community working including outpatient activity, virtual wards, Parkinson’s Disease Clinics and admission avoidance.
The post will include weekends (1 in 8) and weekday out of hours cover (1 in 16).
The post will not involve stroke care or thrombolysis, which is delivered by the Stroke service.
The post will be based at Queen Alexandra Hospital. Full participation in teaching, audit and research will be expected.
The working pattern may involve delivering acute Geriatric in-patient care on a ward, plus additional sessions in either front door working, sub-speciality or community Geriatrics. The exact timetable will depend on the special interest being pursued so 2 representative 10 PA job plans are shown. On the wards you will work in tandem with a “buddy” Consultant and multidisciplinary team within each area. Each ward consultant has 15-20 patients under their care. The Job Plan includes time allocated to cover for your ward colleague’s absence to ensure continuity of care. Further changes should be anticipated as clinical / professional interests evolve.
The department’s working pattern will fluctuate around individual consultant commitments, so consultants are expected to interpret their timetables flexibly. Consultants should exercise discretion in re-balancing the allocation of DCC according to clinical needs and to provide averaged annual service.
Part of the Job Plan is participation in the Frailty Interface Team (FIT), working in the emergency corridor providing early Comprehensive Geriatric Assessments of patients. There is a Consultant Geriatrician as part of FIT from 0800-2000 every day, and this is split into 2 sessions of 0800-1300, and 1400-2000 – the latter being delivered as part of the on-call rota.
Consultants will participate in the on-call rota for Older Persons Medicine and be part of the FIT from 1400-2000. These clinical hours are specifically allocated in job plans. After 2000 the expectation is to be contactable by telephone, and available to come back to site if needed. The rota is currently running on a 1 in 16 pattern, this may change with anticipated reduced frequency if successful appointments are made.
Part of the on-call rota is weekend and bank holiday working when two consultants are working on site. One Consultant will provide FIT and on-call on Saturday from 0800-2000 and be on call overnight, whilst the buddy is providing senior support to wards and OSDEC from 0800-1400. On the Sunday the roles will swap over. So, there is 1 long day and 1 short day per set of weekends. The frequency for this weekend working is currently 1 in 8 – but may change if the total number of consultants changes.
All regular out of hours working (after 7pm weekday FIT, weekend and bank holidays) is job planned, and currently if participating in all sessions as a whole time equivalent is allocated 2 PAs.
Intending applicants may obtain further information and/or arrange a visit by contacting Dr Zoe Hemsley, Care Group Director on 02392 286000 Ext 6893, Dr Nicole Moss, Clinical Director 02392 286000 Ext 5933.
AAC Panel Interview: 8th October 2025
Qualifications
Qualifications
Essential
- Full GMC registration with a licence to practice.
- Completed Higher professional training in Geriatric Medicine and/or General Medicine.
- Membership of Royal College of Physicians.
- MB BS or equivalent.
Desirable
Clinical Experience
- Entry on the GMC specialist register via CCT (proposed date must be within 6 months), CESR or European Community Rights.
Essential
Clinical Skills
- Demonstrable skills and experience of Geriatric Medicine.
- Understanding of clinical risk management.
Desirable
- Demonstrated skills in acute management and intervention in the frail elderly and extensive community working.
- Specialist interest or additional training or experience in specialist area of Geriatric practice i.e., Parkinson’s disease, syncope, falls, liaison or peri-operative medicine.
Knowledge
- Able to demonstrate appropriate level of clinical knowledge.
- Knowledge and use of evidence-based practice.
- IT skills.
- Effective, confident presentation ability.
- Experience in and outside speciality.
Other
- Evidence of participation in audit.
- Good oral and written communication skills.
- Publications.
- Prizes and honours.
- Logical thinking, problem solving and decision making.
Additional Information
The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.
We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.
