Scottish Ambulance Service: Specialist Transport and Retrieval (ScotSTAR)

Transcription

1 Scottish Ambulance Service: Specialist Transport and Retrieval (ScotSTAR) Job Description for the post of: Locum Consultant in Paediatric Critical Care Transport 1. Outline of the post This post is aimed a doctors who hold a CCT in emergency medicine, anaesthetics, intensive care or other relevant specialty who wishes to undertake a period of work focusing on care of critically ill children in an exciting and challenging retrieval environment. The post will be based at the Air Ambulance / ScotSTAR base at Glasgow Airport. This is a full time fixed term post for 6 months in the first instance but may be extended to one year by mutual agreement after review. The post is available from 1 st August Scottish Ambulance Service The Scottish Ambulance Service is a Special Health Board of NHS Scotland providing emergency and scheduled care on a national basis. The service vision is to deliver excellent clinical care wherever it is required and it is developing and diversifying its clinical roles, functions and workforce in pursuit of this vision. Scotland has a population of 5.3 million people and a varied geography. Services are delivered across a range of environments from major urban conurbations to remote islands. The Scottish Ambulance Service has its headquarters in Edinburgh and a number of divisional headquarters around Scotland. Control centres are operated in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. Fixed wing and helicopter air ambulance services are operated from Aberdeen, Glasgow and Inverness. The air ambulance headquarters is co located with Specialist Transport and Retrieval services at a new purpose built facility at Glasgow Airport. 3. Specialist Transport and Retrieval (ScotSTAR) ScotSTAR was established as a division of the Scottish Ambulance Service in April Its purpose is to bring the existing transport and retrieval services into a common management and governance structure. It aims to support the development of collaborative working between services and any new critical care transport services required by NHS Scotland. The services initially included in ScotSTAR are: Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS) providing secondary retrieval of adult patients from remote and rural locations in Scotland and pre hospital critical care. Paediatric Critical Care Transport providing inter-hospital transfer of paediatric patients requiring critical care support. Includes emergency retrieval from remote and rural locations as well as intensive care transfers from general hospitals.

2 Neonatal Transport Service providing inter-hospital transfer of younger infants throughout Scotland. From August 2015 ScotSTAR will be based at a new facility at Glasgow Airport. This has been purpose built to accommodate the ScotSTAR and Air Ambulance services. As well as administration and management personnel, EMRS, paediatric and neonatal teams will all operate from the base. Fixed wing, helicopter and dedicated road ambulances will all operate from this site. EMRS and paediatric services will operate exclusively from the base. Neonatal services will additionally be operated from Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Facilities will include teaching, simulation, conference and office facilities. On call accommodation is available at the base should it be required. The base will accommodate dedicated intensive care ambulances, response cars and other support vehicles. The Scottish Ambulance Service operates 2 Beachcraft Kingair 200 fixed wing air ambulances and 2 brand new EC 145 T2 helicopters with night vision capability. One of each will be based at the Glasgow Airport facility. The Scottish Ambulance Service maintains a close relationship with Search and Rescue Services. ScotSTAR teams are most frequently supported by the SAR base at Prestwick Airport 30 miles south of the ScotSTAR base (approx. 15 mins flying time). The new UK SAR service will operate Augusta Westland AW189 helicopters from the base at Prestwick and from Inverness airport, and Sikorsky S-92 helicopters from bases in Stornoway and Sumburgh. 4. ScotSTAR staff ScotSTAR employs 80 WTE nursing, paramedic, technical and administrative staff overall. It is supported by 50 medical staff most of who work on a part time and sessional basis in conjunction with a hospital specialty. Key staff include: Head of Service: Associate Medical Director: Clinical lead for paediatrics: Nurse consultant for paediatrics: Clinical lead for EMRS: Clinical lead for neonatology: Consultants for paediatric service Carole Morton Andrew McIntyre David Rowney Sandra Stark Stephen Hearns Allan Jackson Christina Harry Mark Davidson Alistair Turner Tim Geary Jon McCormack Omair Malik Gil Gavel

3 Nandita Chinchankar Nursing staff working with the paediatric service are currently released from the Paediatric Intensive Care Units in Glasgow and Edinburgh when required. A number of full time nursing posts are currently being appointed. These will be employed directly by ScotSTAR / Scottish Ambulance Service and will form a core paediatric staff group. 5. Paediatric Critical Care Transport Service This paediatric element of ScotSTAR has previously operated as an integrated part of the Paediatric Intensive Care services provided from the children s hospitals in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The move to the base at Glasgow airport will see the service operated as a stand alone service separate from both intensive care units. The retrieval of critically ill children from general hospitals to the paediatric intensive care units is a core function of the service. Patients may also be transferred to units outside Scotland in order to access some specialist services. Such transfers are undertaken by air ambulance. The service includes support of remote and rural facilities which do not have access to paediatric or critical care specialists or facilities. Patients can require time critical retrieval by air but may not require admission to an intensive care unit. This element of the service is distinct from other paediatric services in the UK. The service generally supports patients up to the age of 16 years and who require critical care support during transfer. There is an overlap in function with the neonatal service in relation to younger infants and with the adult services for older patients. It is a core objective of ScotSTAR to support collaborative working between adjacent services. Consultant input to the service is from doctors with a variety of specialty backgrounds including emergency medicine, anaesthesia and paediatric intensive care. Senior trainees often participate in the service and may provide autonomous transfers with remote consultant support based on their skills and seniority. The service provides outreach education which is focussed on remote and rural units as well as case feedback sessions for general hospitals. The service will operate a regular program of teaching, audit presentation and case review meetings. There will be both specific meetings for the service and cross over meetings with neonatal and EMRS services. 5. Details of the Post This is a fixed term post contracted for six months in the first instance but with an option to extend to one year by mutual agreement. The principle clinical duties of the post will be arrangement and provision of intensive care transfer of paediatric patients. This will include receiving referrals and requests for advice. The post holder will be expected to provide remote decision support to referring clinicians who may be working with limited resources. An ability to maintain a supportive and positive relationship with all client staff and services is essential.

4 The post holder will be required to make appropriate onward referrals where the transport service has been the first point of contact from a referring clinician. The service will aim to provide comprehensive support to post holders in relation to navigating the logistic, geographic and communication challenges integral to the post. The post holder will be expected to interact and negotiate with clinical coordination staff as well as adult and neonatal clinicians in order to identify the best solution for any individual patient. The post holder will provide 24 hour periods of emergency clinical cover on a 1 in 6 basis. The out of hours component of this will be on a non resident basis. The post holder will be expected to be able to return to the ScotSTAR base within 30 minutes. Transfer of patients will most commonly be in conjunction with a specialist nurse. Workload during transfers will be shared flexibly depending on the needs of the individual patient. Preparation and equipment checking duties will be programmed and undertaken jointly with nursing staff. Other time will be occupied with scheduled clinical work, clinical administration, training, teaching, service development, audit and research. The post holder will have opportunities to engage with the wider Scottish Ambulance Service. The post holder will have opportunities to interact and work with partner services at the ScotSTAR base. Provision of clinical duties with other service elements will be subject to negotiation. An outline job plan is presented below. 8. Job Plan Speciality: Critical Care / Emergency Medicine Principal place of work: ScotSTAR base; Glasgow Airport Contract: Full time On call availability: 1 in 6 + prospective cover (1 in 4.8 overall frequency) Availability supplement: Level 1 8% Availability Supplement Accountable to: Dr David Rowney Lead Clinician Dr Andrew McIntyre Associate Medical Director Ms Carole Morton Head of Service Breakdown of Programmed Activities: Description Emergency service clinical cover (inc. on call / out of hours) 6 Scheduled clinical activity and clinical administration 2 Education, teaching and service development (including input to wider Scottish Ambulance Service) Personal administration and development 1 PAs allocated 1

5 9. Contact Details Informal enquiries to: Dr David Rowney, Lead Consultant for ScotSTAR - Paediatric Retrieval Service, Tel: ; [email protected] Dr Andrew McIntyre, Associate Medical Director - Scottish Ambulance Service; Tel: ; [email protected] Ms Sandra Stark, Paediatric Retrieval Nurse Consultant - ScotSTAR, Tel: [email protected]

6 10. Person Specification: Consultant in Paediatric Critical Care Transport Requirements Essential Desirable Qualifications and Training Specific Experience Ability Academic Achievements Personal Attributes Audit and patient safety Teaching GMC registered medical practitioner On, or eligible for inclusion on, the GMC Specialist Register in relevant specialty CCT holder in relevant specialty Experience of managing acutely ill paediatric patients Recent experience of adult or paediatric critical care Current advanced airway skills Evidence of ability to take full responsibility for independent management of patients Ability to manage complex communication under pressure Ability to manage risk Ability to discuss, analyse and present research, and apply to practice Enthusiasm to work in a demanding role and in challenging environments Affinity for team working Ability to lead and support colleagues Ability to work in close proximity to colleagues for long periods Excellent written and verbal communication skills Ability to communicate with and support parents of critically ill children Enthusiasm to learn from colleagues regardless of professional background Able to organise time efficiently and effectively Knowledge of and commitment to principles of Patient Safety Evidence of completing audit Evidence of commitment to formal and informal teaching Training in paediatric intensive care or paediatric anaesthesia. Ability to evaluate and redesign clinical service or process Successful publication of research Design of audit and implementation of change Experience of designing teaching programmes. Experience of instructing on formal courses