Job overview

Working Full Time - 10 sessions per week

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Emergency Department is entering an exciting period of clinical workforce expansion which represents the most significant expansion of the ED Consultant team in recent years. 

We are seeking applicants who will join in our commitment to providing high quality, consultant delivered emergency care. You will also make a major contribution to the training & development of our junior medical staff and wider team. We welcome applications from established consultants as well as those looking for their first substantive consultant post. Applications from candidates with a special interest or dual CCT are encouraged.

This ED is one of the major emergency departments for Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales and currently handles around 80,000 cases per annum. The Department deals with the full range of surgical and medical emergencies and has full back up (Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Pathology and Critical Care), together with the normal range of in-patient specialties found within an acute hospital. The department’s many attributes include regional accreditation as a Trauma Unit, delivery of stroke thrombolysis, established use of emergency ultrasound, in-situ simulation and being one of the best performers in the region against national indicators.

Main duties of the job

The successful applicant will be responsible for the care of all self referred patients and patients attending via Welsh and North-West Ambulance Services.

 Clinical

The appointee will be responsible for the care of:

• All self-referred patients.
• Patients attending after 999 or 111 calls.
• Specialty patients referred by their General Practitioner may be assessed in the department but are under the care of the admitting speciality team unless the urgency of their condition dictates a need for input from the emergency department.

Non-clinical

• Taking part in teaching.
• Supervising Audit projects
• Development and promotion of evidence-based practice and guidelines
• Active contribution to the departmental Clinical Governance structure
• Multi-disciplinary team working including community services.

Weekday on-call (1600hrs to 2400hrs and on-call) commitment is on a fixed day basis (Mon to Thur) at a frequency of 1:12 (one shift every 3 weeks).

Weekend cover is provided at a frequency of 1:6, consisting of:

1600hrs to 2400hrs and on-call - Fri/Sat/Sun (1:12)

0800hrs to 1600hrs - Sat/Sun (1:12)

Working for our organisation

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides services to West Cheshire and to Welsh patients covered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. Its services are provided from three locations:

• The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 438 general and acute beds
• Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 56 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility
• Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.                                                                 

The Trust employs over 6258 staff (headcount) which includes temporary bank staff and provides acute emergency and elective services, primary care direct access services and obstetric services to a population of approximately 407,000. This includes 357,000 residents in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire which has a population of approximately 50,000.

The Trust is a busy district general hospital and in 2022/2023, there were more than 503,342 patient attendances (inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic) ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to major cancer surgery. This is an increase of nearly 10,000 compared to the previous year when there were 494,387 patient attendances.