Consultants in the department currently spend approximately 85% of their time involved directly in clinical service provision and 15% undertaking supporting professional activities (audit, QA, CPD, management, research, teaching etc). Each consultant contributes 43 weeks to the rota with remaining weeks allocated to annual leave, study leave etc. The advertised post is a replacement 10 PA post, NHS-based, although there may be an opportunity for a candidate with an appropriate academic profile to participate in research activities at the Newcastle University. This would be negotiated with the university at the time of appointment. Where appropriate an application will be made for the appointee to be granted the title of Associate Clinical Lecturer in Cellular Pathology. The department undertakes a significant amount of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and you will be expected to participate in these teaching programmes. Cardiothoracic Pathology The Cardiothoracic team is currently composed on 6 consultants (Dr Joaquim Majo, Dr Neelima Thampy, Dr, Neil Robinson, Dr Nicola Lynch, Dr Julian Pulle, Dr Peh Sun Loo). Specimens include a wide range of types including pneumonectomies, lobectomies, lung wedges, heart explants, mediastinal, other cardiovascular specimens (such as temporal artery biopsies, femoral artery samples, cardiac valves etc), smaller biopsies for both benign (including interstitial lung diseases) and malignant conditions. In addition, cardiothoracic pathology team also provides post-cardiac and post-lung transplants (rejection surveillance biopsies) assessment. Within the department, you will have a high quality microscope, and a personal computer with digital dictation and the option of voice recognition. You will also have access to the Departmental secretaries. The department has good facilities for digital photography of macroscopic and microscopic specimens. There is also equipment and technical support for production of material for educational, audit and research presentations. The Department is in the process of introducing Digital pathology for reporting, but this will not be compulsory. You will be expected to participate in audit and in relevant EQA schemes. You will also be expected to take part in continuing professional development and annual appraisal (the latter including annual job plan review). Time and funds will be made available by the Trust for attendance of professional and educational meetings etc. and appraisal familiarisation courses are provided in-house. Current study leave entitlement is 30 days over 3 years. Time will be made available for necessary individual preparation to support the annual appraisal procedure. You will share responsibilities with existing consultant staff for the training and supervision of trainee medical staff, and will be required to devote time to these activities on a regular basis. You will be required to undertake administrative duties contributing to the running of the Cellular Pathology Department in co-operation with the Head of Department. Participation in the autopsy service is not a requirement of this post. Currently, approximately a fifth of the consultant staff undertake Coroners autopsies. Flexibility: In line with the Trusts core value of placing patients at the heart of everything we do, we are developing our service provision to be responsive to the needs of our patients. To meet those needs some staff groups will be increasingly asked to work a more flexible work pattern so that they can offer services in the evening or weekend. As a result any offer of employment to a consultant post will be subject to you agreeing to work a new more flexible pattern or working in the future if required, including evening and weekend work. Please read the attached Job Description and Person Specification.