NHS Lothian
University Hospitals Division
Directorate of General Surgery
HOSPITAL BASE Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Consultant Gastroenterologist
1.
Outline of the post
The above post is a new substantive post necessitated by the large and growing clinical out-patient
and endoscopy workload and the pressures on emergency care. It will help meet nationally-set
waiting time targets for scheduled and unscheduled care. It will be based in the Gastroenterology unit
of the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh and involve out-patient and in-patient activities. The
weekly timetable will include two outpatient clinics initially seeing new gastroenterology patients and
three endoscopy lists. Endoscopic sessions will include both upper and lower procedures and the
applicant should be fully trained in both. In-patient duties will principally entail responsibility for acute
gastroenterology patients in wards 52 & 53 and elsewhere in the Western General and involvement
in an out-of-hours acute bleeding service. There will be a sessional commitment to endoscopy at the
new Regional Endoscopy Centre which is to be based off site in Dunfermline, Fife. There is no
General Medicine commitment.
2.
NHS Lothian
NHS Lothian was created on 1 April 2004 following dissolution of three Trusts; Lothian University
Hospitals Trust, Lothian Primary Care Trust and West Lothian Trust. Mr Tim Davison is Chief
Executive and Dr David Farquharson is Medical Director. NHS Lothian serves a population of
800,000 and has two operating divisions – the University Hospitals Division and the Primary Care
Organisation.
2.1 University Hospitals Division
The University Hospitals Division provides a full range of secondary and tertiary clinical
services to the population of the Lothians, in particular, and of Scotland, in general. The
Division is one of the major teaching centres in the United Kingdom. Hospitals included in the
Division are:
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
The Western General Hospital
The Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh
St Johns Hospital
Royal Victoria Hospital
Liberton Hospital
The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion
The Western General Hospital (WGH) has 600 beds and 5 operating theatres and is
equipped with modern theatre and critical care equipment and monitoring. The Anne
Ferguson building was completed in 2001. The hospital provides for most specialties and is
the centre for colorectal disease (medical and surgical), neurology (medical and surgical),
urology, breast surgery, rheumatology, infectious diseases, haematology and oncology.
DATE 12.01.15
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The Royal Infirmary (RIE) is a major teaching hospital in the South East of the city of
Edinburgh, having moved to its current Greenfield site 10 years ago. It comprises some 25
wards, 869 beds, and 24 operating theatres, and is equipped with much state of the art
theatre and critical care equipment and monitoring. Within the main building is a dedicated,
multidisciplinary, 5 theatre day surgery complex. The hospital provides for most specialties,
and is the centre for upper GI disease (medical and surgical), hepatobiliary disease (medical
and surgical), organ transplant (liver, kidney and pancreas), cardiac and thoracic (medical
and surgical), orthopaedics, obstetrics & gynaecology.
St John’s Hospital opened in 1989 and is located in the centre of Livingston, a new town 30
minutes drive west from Edinburgh. The hospital provides for most common specialties but
does not have emergency general surgery or orthopaedic trauma operating. The hospital has
a paediatric ward.
The Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC) is a 141 bedded hospital providing general
and specialist services for children. The hospital is situated in a residential area close to the
centre of Edinburgh. In 2017 it will re-locate, along with Neurosciences (currently at WGH) to
the RIE site.
3.
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh was established in 1582 and is one of the largest in the United
Kingdom located on a number of prominent sites in Scotland’s capital city. It is Scotland’s
premier research university, graded within the top six multi-faculty British universities: in the
last national research assessment exercise, 90 percent of its academic staff were in units
rated 4, 5 or 5*. It has 3,000 academic staff, 16,000 undergraduate and 4,000 postgraduate
students and an annual expenditure of over £261M for teaching and research. The University
is organised into 3 Colleges: Humanities and Social Science; Medicine and Veterinary
Medicine; and Science and Engineering.
4.
NHS Library and Postgraduate Facilities
There are excellent facilities on all sites.
5.
Departmental Information
Gastroenterology at the Western General Hospital is based in wards 52 & 53. This is a busy 22
bedded mixed-sex unit with 4-bedded bays but mainly single rooms. There is a mix of patients with
gastrointestinal and liver disease. It is the centre for luminal Gastroenterology Services in Lothian
with a particular clinical and research interest in Inflammatory Bowel Disease as well as ano-rectal
physiology, therapeutic colonoscopy and colonoscopy training, short bowel syndrome and medical
education.
There is a purpose-built endoscopy suite on the ground floor which has three well-equipped rooms.
Diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract are
performed (approx 7500 colonoscopies per annum). There is a state-of-the-art ano-rectal physiology
lab and facilities for capsule endoscopy.
Endoscopy sessions by the Gastroenterology service are also delivered at Leith Community
Treatment Centre and it is anticipated that the successful applicant will have a sessional commitment
to a new Regional Endoscopy Unit, off site in Dunfermline, Fife.
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The unit benefits greatly from close interaction with the University of Edinburgh and with other clinical
specialties. Particularly strong links exist to Colorectal Surgery, GI Pathology and Radiology. These
links foster an environment of cooperation and multidisciplinary working.
There is a separate GI/Liver unit based at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh incorporating the Scottish
Liver Transplant Unit (90-100 transplants per annum). Clinical and research interests focus on liver
disease, therapeutic upper GI endoscopy, EUS and ERCP.
6.
Details of the Post
As well as outpatient and endoscopy sessions, the successful applicant will share responsibility for
in-patient beds in the Gastrointestinal Unit of the Western General Hospital as well as being on call
(approximately 1:5) for acute gastrointestinal emergencies including acute GI bleeding.
Beyond these fundamental requirements, there will be flexibility to develop the successful applicant’s
particular interest(s). Possibilities include, but are not limited to, neurogastroenterology/functional GI
disease and nutrition. This will be taken into account when agreeing the job plan.
The Gastroenterology medical staff at the WGH are Dr I Arnott, Dr C Lees, Dr G Ho*, Dr C Noble,
Prof J Satsangi*, Dr A Shand and Dr M Eugenicos**.
The Gastroenterology and Hepatology medical staff at the RIE are Dr A Bathgate, Dr C Blair, Dr N
Church, Dr J Fallowfield*, Prof S Forbes*, Prof P C Hayes*, Prof J Iredale*, Dr A MacGilchrist, Dr I D
Penman, Dr J Plevris, Dr K Simpson*, Dr K Trimble, Dr K Dabos**, A Koulaouzidis** and Dr L
Meekison**.
(* = University of Edinburgh, ** = associate specialist or specialty doctor)
In addition there are 3 gastroenterology trainees and 3 research fellows working within the GI Unit.
7.
Job Plan for Consultant Gastroenterologist
Principal Place of Work: Western General Hospital
Programmed Activities...10
EPAs…0
Availability Supplement Level 1 8%
Extra programmed activities may be negotiated between the successful candidate and NHS Lothian
Timetable of activities (subject to change according to clinic and endoscopy template)
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a) Timetable of activities which have a specific location and time
DAY
HOSPITAL/ LOCATION
TYPE OF WORK

Monday
From / To
WGH
0900 – 1600
0900-1300
1300-1400
1400-1530
1530-1600
Outpatient clinic
Clinical admin
Ward round
Clinical admin
Tuesday
From / To
WGH
0900 - 1600
0900-1300
1300-1400
1400-1500
1500-1600
Endoscopy
Clinical admin
Undergraduate teaching
Clinical admin
Wednesday
From / To
WGH
0900 – 1600/1700
Thursday
From / To
REU
0845-1715
Friday
From / To
WGH
0900 - 1500
0900-1300
1300-1400
1400-1500
1500-1600
1600-1700
0845-0930
0930-1230
1230-1330
1330-1630
1630-1715
0900-1300
1315-1500
Outpatient clinic
Grand rounds
X-Ray meeting (unit M&M monthly)
Ward Round
Consultant Meeting (monthly)
Travel time
Endoscopy
Clinical Admin
Endoscopy
Travel time
SPA time
IBD MDT meeting
Saturday
From / To
WGH
0900-1400
When on-call (1: 6 with prospective)
Ward round/ward consults/urgent endoscopies
Sunday
From / To
WGH
0900-1400
When on-call (1: 6 with prospective)
Ward round/ward consults/urgent endoscopies
The Job Plan is negotiable and will be agreed between the successful applicant, the
Professional Lead for GI (WGH) and the Clinical Director for GI/liver. It is 10 PAs made up of 9
PAs in Direct Clinical Care (DCC), i.e. 36 hours/week and 1 SPA, i.e. 4 hours/week.
8.
Research and Development
There will be opportunities for research and development. These will be negotiable according to the
interests of the successful applicant and the needs of the service,
9.
Person Specification
REQUIREMENT
QUALIFICATIONS/
DATE 12.01.15
ESSENTIAL
Recognised on GMC Specialist
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DESIRABLE
Additional post graduate
TRAINING
Register in Gastroenterology.
qualifications e.g. MD, PhD, etc
General Medical experience
including MRCP(UK) or equivalent
EXPERIENCE/
KNOWLEDGE
Applicants should have a wide
experience in gastroenterology, be
fully trained and competent in
most diagnostic and therapeutic
endoscopic procedures
1. Experience in managing and
developing gastroenterology
services
2. Interest in functional GI
Experience and commitment to
clinical audit
disease and/or
neurogastroenterology.
3. Interest in nutrition.
4. An interest in development
of patient safety
ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENTS
Publications in peer reviewed
1. Higher academic degree
journals
2. Keen to develop clinically
focused/patient orientated
research
PERSONAL
ATTRIBUTES
1. Good communication skills
2. Ability to function in a
1. Able to motivate
departmental colleagues
multidisciplinary team
3. Able to organise time
efficiently and effectively
4. A Driving Licence
10.
Draft Advertisement
To be Attached.
Further details of the post can be obtained from Dr Alan Shand, Clinical Director for
Gastroenterology. E-mail alan.shand@luht.scot.nhs.uk or telephone 0131 537 1755.
DATE 12.01.15
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