Job overview
Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospital NHS Trust is a large teaching hospital, boasting over 25,500 surgeries performed annually.
We are located on the northeast edge of London and on the borders of rural Essex making us a bustling hub with a hugely diverse population.
The Mayor’s London Plan 2021 identified Romford as one of the capital’s Opportunity Areas, with potential for large scale development including new homes, jobs and infrastructure. This programme needs to be paired with a healthcare team equally as ambitious. We are looking for motivated and dynamic individuals prepared to meet the challenges of a rapidly approaching future.
We are a growing Trust, and the first in London to be accredited as one of only eight recognised surgical hubs across the UK. This means that we meet the highest standards in clinical and operational practice and are committed to delivering faster access to some of the most common surgical procedures.
This is a joint appointment between BHRUT NHS Trust and Barts Cardiac Centre NHS Trust.
Main duties of the job
The General ITU has a mix of both medical and surgical patients. The trust is also a tertiary centre for vascular and cancer and have a high throughput of elective cancer surgery patients e.g. post upper GI and lower surgery. The Neurosciences department based at Queen’s Hospital is a tertiary referral centre catering to Essex and North East London for Neurosurgery and Stroke Thrombectomy.
ITU Staffing
There are 25 ITU Consultants, 207 critical care nurses, 4 Advanced Critical Care Practioners, 2 ITU Psychologists, ITU Pharmacists, ITU Dietician, 2 ITU Technicians and 2 ITU Speech and language therapists.
Junior ITU staffing includes 8 FY2 in Critical Care, Speciality Trainees from the Barts and London School and UCL schools of Anaesthesia, Speciality Doctors in Critical Care. We have also recently appointed 8 new ITU Specialists (the new grade above speciality doctor).
Operating Theatres
There are 23 theatres – 16 at Queen’s (including 2 interventional radiology theatres) and 7 at King George hospitals. There are also two further obstetric theatres on the Queen’s site. The trust recently split its emergency and elective pathways, making KGH an elective site, to ensure elective operating will be able to continue even if there is another pandemic.
Working for our organisation
We’re an organisation that is getting better and better. We were the most improved Trust in England for A&E performance in 2023/24; we’re no longer in special measures; and Matthew Trainer, our Chief Executive, has been named the top CEO by the Health Service Journal. Our improvements are driven by a determination to deliver care we’re proud of and that our patients are happy with.
Many of our 8,000 staff – who come from 146 different countries - live in the three diverse London boroughs we serve and the majority are from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. More than 400 of them are on apprenticeship programmes and we’re proud to be a London Living Wage employer.
We operate from two main sites - King George Hospital (KGH) in Goodmayes and Queen’s Hospital in Romford. We have two of the busiest emergency departments in London – more than 300,000 people visited our A&Es in 2023.
Patients across northeast London are benefitting from two new state of the art theatres at KGH and our Community Diagnostic Centres at Barking Community Hospital and St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub will significantly increase the number of scans that can be carried out.
We’re looking forward to introducing an electronic patient record next year. This will mean the records of any patient visiting one of the seven hospitals run by BHRUT and Barts Health will be accessible to the clinical teams. It’ll make things easier for staff and will be better for patients.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
There are 67 critical care beds within the trust. 19 at King George’s Hospital and 48 at Queen’s Hospital, including 12 neuroscience beds at Queen’s.
This includes 2 brand new multi-million-pound units built following the covid pandemic to increase capacity within the region.
BHRUT seeks to appoint a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine with an interest in Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia. This is a new, exciting substantive job and applicants will be expected to have suitable experience within Intensive Care Medicine and Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and has been created to facilitate expansion of the Intensive Care Unit and improve relationships with Barts Cardiac Centre.
The new appointee will share the caseload, facilities, and trainee grade support with the existing consultants.
The critical care unit at BHRUT has 57 beds across the two sites of Queen’s hospital and King George hospital. Our elective hub at King George Hospital exclusively performs planned surgery and has ring fenced inpatient and critical care beds ensuring we can operate 52 weeks of the year, with minimal disruption to our elective programme. Our Queen’s site is a neurosurgical centre, undertakes a predominately day case elective surgery and is our hot site for CEPOD and trauma.
As a result of the innovative projects we have undertaken, our elective hub has been nominated for, and won, several HSJ Awards.
We are looking for highly skilled Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine with an interest in Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia, who wants to join our forward-thinking team and make a real difference in the NHS. We offer a supportive and stimulating environment where you can develop your skills and career. We are also an ideal Trust to prepare staff for future roles by giving them the experience they need to pursue a successful career in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthetics.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. MB ChB, MBBS
2. Full and specialist registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), or eligible for registration within six months of interview.
3. This must include at least 8 years working in the speciality of anaesthetics. Of these 8 years of Anaesthesia (at least 2 years’ experience must be within hospitals in the UK). At least 1 referee must be an Anaesthesia consultant.
Desirable criteria
4. Higher Medical Degree (MD or MSc)
5. Six month advanced general training
6. Record of regular attendance at National Specialty meetings
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.