Job Overview

Here in Jersey, we have our own Health Care system, separate from the NHS. We are looking to develop and improve our healthcare services towards a modern, fully digitised and future-proof system, in advance of our new hospital (planned to open in 2029). To do so we need fresh eyes, new ways of working and the next generation of consultants to make our healthcare the best it can be. We aim to provide high quality, safe and effective care to the 110,000 people living on the Island and those who visit. The hospital benefits from a fantastic educational centre with a full SIM lab and dedicated time for all to learn.

Aligned to the Wessex Deanery, we support and develop Foundation trainees as well as Clinical Fellows and SAS doctors. We encourage all our consultants to fully engage with the education and training of our future generation of consultants.

Health & Care Jersey is seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and dynamic substantive Consultant in Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease of Medical Microbiology to join our already passionate consultant body.

Jersey is easily accessible from most regional airports in the UK and has good links with NHS tertiary centres especially in Southampton and London, which affords the successful candidates to maintain links within the NHS and the private sector working. To support your transition to Jersey, we can provide a generous relocation and remuneration package, which is benefitted by lower taxation than within the UK.

The Government of Jersey is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable people (to include children) and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. As this position will work with vulnerable people, the selection process will involve safeguarding measures and include an enhanced DBS check.

For an informal discussion please contact Miklos Perenyei (Clinical Lead for Pathology), by emailing M.Perenyei@health.gov.je. For any recruitment related queries, please contact Sol Bradbury (HR Consultant), by emailing S.Bradbury@gov.je.

The Post

This job description is intended as a guide to the general scope of duties and is not intended to be definitive or restrictive. It is expected that some of the duties will change over time and this description will be subject to review in consultation with the post-holder. This is a whole-time post. The employing body is the Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) of the Government of Jersey. The post consists of 10 public programmed activity sessions. It is based at the General Hospital in St Helier. This is a newly created post. The successful candidate will be the second microbiology/infectious disease consultant in the department.

Duties

The purpose of the role is to provide an infection service including the shared leadership in infection control and communicable disease and direction for the Infection Sciences laboratory to maintain UKAS accreditation. Responsibility for the laboratory services is delegated to the post holder through the authority of the Clinical Lead – Pathology Services.

The Infection Sciences laboratory also incorporates the molecular pathology function for the department. This largely supports infectious disease but also supports other disciplines. The clinical aspects of the non-infection elements are the responsibility of the relevant pathology consultants.

The responsibilities of the Infection Sciences laboratory director include professional, scientific, consultative, advisory, organisational, administrative, educational, and budgetary matters relating to the services of the laboratory as documented here. But they are expected to work alongside the pathology and Infection sciences manager and to delegate as appropriate.

Responsibilities

Clinical duties will be the overriding focus and includes the following:

• Be involved in the clinical management of patients in the hospital and community. This includes both regular ward rounds in ITU and in relation to complex infection patients as well as infection control and appropriate aspects of public health.

• Undertake result reporting in core hours.

• Respond in a timely manner to clinical and laboratory enquires (in line with RCPath KPIs).

• Out of hours clinical advice on call with back up from a tertiary centre if not available. Remote access is available to allow remote interrogation of pathology results.

• Ensure that important findings rapidly reach the requesting clinicians and advise regarding appropriate action.

• Participate in the OPAT service and Infection clinic.

• Liaise with the infection prevention nurses and team to ensure day to day input as appropriate to operational infection prevention work, including outbreak investigation and management, should this be required.

• Support antimicrobial stewardship.

• Be involved in the education of Trust and local PCT staff in infection and microbiological matters.

• Liaise with Public Health and Environmental Health involved in the control of communicable disease as appropriate and in a timely manner.

• Contribute to laboratory oversight, development and diagnostic stewardship.

Laboratory

• This includes day to day supervision of diagnostic methods and examination of specimens.

• Authorisation and interpretation of results electronically and in a timely fashion.

• Involvement in policy and SOP preparation.

• Responsibility for quality assurance performance within the department as appropriate.

• Responsibility for achieving and maintaining full accreditation with UKAS.

• Business planning including the assessment and introduction of new methods and forward planning for staff and equipment requirements.

• Compliance with health and safety and security requirements and with agreed SPS and investigational algorithms.

Infection Control Service

The DIPC role is held under Executive responsibility. It is expected that the consultant microbiologists will (on a rotational basis) act as an Infection Control Doctor (ICD) working with the Infection Control Committee and attending relevant forums to support and clinically advise where appropriate. There is a dedicated part time antimicrobial pharmacist.

As microbiologist/infection specialist there is a close working relationship with public health, health protection and environmental health.

Duties and responsibilities may be delegated to the laboratory manager as follows:

• Ensuring that there are appropriate numbers of staff with the required education, training, and competence to provide medical laboratory services that meet the needs and requirements of the users. (c)

• Selecting and monitoring of laboratory suppliers. (h)

• Designing, implementing, and periodically testing a contingency plan to ensure that essential services are available during emergency situations or other conditions when laboratory services are limited or unavailable. (n)

NOTE: Letters in parentheses refer to the points in 4.1.1.4 of BS EN ISO 15189:2022.

Governance 

The appointees are expected to participate in relevant quality assurance schemes as agreed within the team and is expected to support the continuing professional development of the team as well as maintaining their own CPD record. There is a requirement to participate in annual appraisal, and regular job plan review, any unresolved disagreement with job planning will be escalated to the medical director with no further route of escalation. The post holder will be expected to take part in management and audit activities and represent the service at Hospital meetings, as agreed with colleagues. The post holder will be expected to be fully involved in a Risk Management programme and support the Governance agenda.

Teaching and Research

There are no pathology trainees in Jersey, however there are FY1, FY2 and GP trainees in most medical and surgical disciplines. The post-holder may from time to time be expected to participate in the training of medical, scientific, and other health staff to ensure that their training and learning needs are identified and facilitated.

Opportunities for participation in research are limited, however are supported when appropriate. The HCS has a policy for professional leave and is supportive of external duties for the good of the wider profession.

On-Call Rota

Available for clinical and infection control advice out of hours within a 1:2 rota with external cover if required.

The Specialty

In due course Consultant Communicable Disease Control

The Consultant Microbiologist is responsible for dealing with the surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable disease. They provide specialist advice and support locally to primary care, hospitals, and other relevant organisations. There is particular need to work closely with public health who have overlap responsibility for health protection in Government of Jersey. This arrangement will be supported by a memorandum of understanding (MoU). Together with Public Health, they will investigate and manage a full range of health protection cases and incidents (including outbreaks of diseases e.g., meningitis and food poisoning), and carry out surveillance, co-ordination, support, and the monitoring of local implementation of certain key programmes. The post holder will be expected to play a full part in public health plans to reduce the impact of infectious disease in the community).

Infectious disease Clinics and OPAT Service

The Consultant in Infection/Medical Microbiology will undertake infectious disease clinics (3/ week), in addition to overseeing related nurse lead clinics as well as occupational health infectious disease clinics.

Premises

The laboratory provides medical microbiology services to the hospital and primary care. The laboratory includes facilities for specimen reception, a bacteriology laboratory, a category 3 laboratory, a virology/serology laboratory, and an Andrology laboratory.

The consultant has an office on the 1st floor of pathology adjacent to the bacteriology, virology & category 3 laboratories. The consultant is supported by 1.00 full time secretary.

The infectious disease clinics are held in the hospital outpatient department on three afternoons (Monday, Tuesday & Thursday).

There is a locker room with a shower. There is space on site for bicycles and motorcycles. Car parking is limited. There is a laboratory seminar room that doubles as a staff rest room with hot drink facilities and storage for food brought from home. There is a restaurant and kiosk selling snacks and drinks on site. The hospital site in St Helier has easy access to shops and other local amenities.

There are plans to build a new laboratory within the next few years as part of the Jersey ‘New Healthcare Facilities programme, with the building of a new hospital on the island.

Accreditation

The laboratory holds full UKAS ISO15189 accreditation.

Leadership and Management

One of the two prospective consultant microbiologists will be Laboratory Director/Service lead. This will be shared on a rota (expected to be three yearly). Operational management of the Microbiology Department is provided by the Laboratory Manager, who is supported by 4 Senior Biomedical Scientists. There are 17.89 WTE staff in total. There are also 2 whole time Consultants in Blood Sciences and 3.00 WTE Consultant consultants in Cellular Pathology. Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology Consultant input is provided remotely form the UK. Specialised work in the other disciplines is referred except where there is an imperative for on-island delivery (such as urgent red cell serology).

There is dual clinical and operational accountability within Pathology. The Laboratory Managers have operational accountability to the Pathology Manager - who in turn is accountable to the General Manager for Medical Services - and clinical accountability to the Heads of Department. The Consultants and Pathology Manager have clinical accountability to the Diagnostics Lead for Pathology, who in turn is accountable to the Chief of Service for Medical Services.

As a consultant in infection and microbiology, the post-holder will be invited to regular Pathology Board Meetings and is expected to participate in leadership and management activities to support microbiology and the wider Medical Services Care Group leadership team. The post-holder will be expected to:

• Participate in leadership, management, and audit activities both within Pathology and to support the Medical Services Care Group leadership team (and in due course Public Health) in planning for services and ensuring the service meets key performance indicators to ensure excellent patient care.

• Represent the service at various hospital meetings, as agreed with colleagues.

• Be fully involved in a ‘risk management’ programme and support the governance agenda.

• Support operational and clinical staff with business planning within and outside the department.

• Support the department in activities relating to retaining its UKAS accreditation.

Specialty Medical Staff

The Clinical Lead for Pathology is Dr Miklos Perenyei, Consultant Cellular Pathologist. The role of Clinical Lead is appointed by the Chief of Service on application and is for a fixed term.

WTE Consultant Histopathologist/Cytopathologists:

• Dr Bruce Lyons, Head of department and lead clinician for histopathology/ cytopathology

• Dr Miklos Perenyei Consultant Cellular Pathologist

• Dr Niki Stefanos, Consultant Cellular Pathologist

WTE Consultant Haematologists

• Dr Waseem Nagi

• Vacant

WTE Consultant Microbiologist

• Dr Charles Langoya

• Vacant

Medical Services Care Group

The Pathology Department sits within the Medical Services Care Group which comprise the following range of services, a full structure chart of the care group can be found in the appendix:

Ambulatory Emergency Care

Cardiology

Dermatology

Diabetes

Emergency Admissions Unit (EAU)

Emergency Department

Haematology

Medical Day Unit

Medical Outpatients

Medical Wards - Plemont, Corbiere and Rozel Wards

Neurology

Oncology

Palliative Medicine

Pathology Rehabilitation Ward – Plemont Ward (Interim Rehabilitation Unit)

Renal Medicine

Respiratory

Rheumatology

Sexual Health

Medical Services Care Group

Medicine in Jersey is fully age and specialty integrated. There are 3 medical wards, Plemont, Rozel and Corbiere. A 5-bedded Enhanced Care Area is sited on AAU and there is a separate intensive care unit led by intensivists. There is also an Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit led by the Acute Medicine Department. There is a 25 bed Acute Assessment Unit.

SAS doctors are responsible for the day-to-day management of their patients on the wards with the help of clinical fellows, FY1 or FY2 doctor whom they closely supervise.

On call, the SAS doctor is responsible for seeing patients referred by the Emergency Department and reviewing patients admitted to the AAU by GPs in conjunction with the Acute Medicine team. A core responsibility of the Medicine Care Group is the provision of a safe acute medical service. The Care Group always provides named Consultant supervision for non-Consultants and ensures that prompt review and treatment is provided for acute medical emergencies referred by General Practitioners or the Emergency Department.

Consultants are responsible for producing and updating guidelines for the management of acute medical emergencies in their specialist area.

Care Group Statistics

There are 63 medical beds. 12-20 acute medical admissions on average during each 24-hour period on call within a range of approximately 6-24. There are approximately 4,500 medical admissions annually.

Specialty Medical Staff

The current Consultants providing acute and specialist medical care to the Island population.

Dr A Mahmoud, Acute Medicine 

Dr I Bodzioch, Acute Medicine

Dr J Vaz, Acute Medicine 

Dr K Dabeedin, Acute Medicine 

VACANCY, Care of the Elderly

Dr A Mitchell, Cardiology

Dr P Le Page, Cardiology

Dr D Hopkins, Diabetes, Clinical Director for General Medicine

Dr E Chacko, Diabetes

Dr A Varma, Emergency Department

Dr J Terris, Emergency Department

Dr J McInerney, Emergency Department

Dr K Anderson, Emergency Department

Dr M Finn, Emergency Department

Dr N Charles, Emergency Department

Dr N Payne, Emergency Department

Dr R Greig, Emergency Department

Dr S Chapman, Emergency Department

Dr V Patel, Emergency Department

Dr M Hanna, Gastroenterology

Dr M Duku Gastroenterology

VACANCY, Gastroenterology

Dr G Ortiz-Prieto, General Medicine

Dr W Nagi, Haematology

VACANCY, Haematology

Dr B Lyons, Histopathology

Dr M Perenyei, Histopathology

Dr N Stefanos, Histopathology

Dr C Langoya, Microbiology

VACANCY, Microbiology

VACANCY, Neurology

Dr E Gomes Dos Santos, Oncology

Dr M Butt, Oncology

Dr R Soomal, Oncology

Dr J Grose, Palliative Care

VACANCY, Renal Medicine

VACANCY, Respiratory Medicine

Dr S Tosounidou, Rheumatology

Dr R Hembrom, Sexual Health

VACANCY, Stroke Medicine

In addition to outpatient clinics and 3 general medical wards containing 63 beds, the Medical Service Care Group is involved in the management of several specialist facilities. These include:

25 bedded Acute Assessment Unit (AAU)

5 bedded Enhanced Care Area (ECA)

6 chair Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC)

A well-equipped Clinical Investigations Department providing echocardiography, exercise ECG, respiratory assessment and GI physiology.

An endoscopy suite providing a full range of endoscopy and bronchoscopy services.

Diabetes Centre providing outpatient care for the diabetic population of Jersey, including retinal photography and specialist nursing support.

Renal/Dialysis unit, providing emergency, acute and longer-term renal support as well as management of transplanted patients and assessment and treatment of renal conditions.

6 bedded isolation area for infected or neutropenic patients.

Other Hospital Departments

The following departments are located outside of the medical division:

3 Surgical Wards - Surgical Floor, Beauport and Rayner Ward

7 Critical Care beds which includes Medical and Surgical Intensive Unit

Designated Day Surgery Theatre (2)

Main theatre Suite

Outpatient Dental Department

Outpatient ENT Facilities

Outpatient Ophthalmology Department 1

Private Wing Ward (beds with admitting rights)

Private Patient Services

Radiology Department

Physiotherapy Department

Anaesthetic Department

This job description is intended as a guide to the general scope of duties and is not intended to be definitive or restrictive. It is expected that some of the duties will change over time and this description will be subject to review in consultation with the post holder.

Proposed Job Plan

The Job Plan can be discussed at the time of employment but will broadly be based on the provisional timetable outlined below until the joint review takes place between the successfully candidate and other consultant pathologists. The Job Plan will be authorised by the Chief of Service and is subject to annual review. However, it should be noted that this service requires a flexible approach.

The final job plan will be agreed with the Clinical Director and Chief of Service, before final approval with the Medical Director. The post holder’s job plan will be reviewed annually and will be appraised according to the current guidance. The outlined job plan would apply to both appointees; however, the precise distribution of the workload will be agreed between the two successful consultants. In the event of inability to agree a job plan either at appointment or upon annual review, or in the event of issues arising from the appraisal process, negotiation will be with the Chief of Service.

Qualifications and Skills

Essential: 

Full and Specialist registration (and with a licence to practise) with the General Medical Council (GMC) or be eligible for registration within six months of interview.

Applicants that are UK trained, must be a holder of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), or be within six months of award of CCT in Microbiology by date of interview.

Applicants that are non-UK trained, will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT

M/FRCPath or equivalent.

Broad range of IT skills.

Desirable: 

Applicants that are UK trained, must be a holder of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), or be within six months of award of CCT in Infectious Disease by date of interview.

General Experience

Essential:

Evidence of thorough and broad training and experience in clinical Microbiology and Infection.

Able to take responsibility for reporting own workload without supervision.

Knowledge of evidence-based practice, benchmarking, and peer review

Participation in Clinical Audit & Risk Management Activities.

Leadership and Management Skills

Essential: 

Excellent knowledge of, and ability to use, spoken and written English.

Ability to Work Flexibly with Colleagues to provide services.

Ability to Work Effectively with a Multi-Disciplinary Team, motivating and influencing others through their enthusiasm.

Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, patients, relatives, GPs, other health and social care professionals, management and other agencies.

An understanding of and ability to demonstrate your ability to:

• Empower others

• Lead through change

• Influence strategically

• Work collaboratively

• Drive for improvement

• Ability to present effectively to an audience, using a variety of methods and to respond to questions and queries

Personal Attributes

Essential: 

Able to work flexibly in a changing health service

Hepatitis Vaccination

Other

Essential: 

Participation in Clinical Audit & Risk Management Activities

Demonstrates a commitment to safeguarding young people and vulnerable adults

Evidence of annual appraisal

Experience of service development

Desirable:

Evidence of research and publication in peer reviewed journals