Consultant Paediatrician

Job summary

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust seeks to appoint a substantive Consultant Paediatrician to join the Department of Paediatrics at Manor Hospital. The post will support the delivery and development of acute and general paediatric services, including the Paediatric Assessment Unit, inpatient ward and outpatient services. The successful candidate will participate in the Consultant of the Week and on-call rota and will contribute to service development, quality improvement, teaching, training and multidisciplinary working. Applicants with a subspecialty interest that complements existing departmental services are encouraged to apply. Interviews - 26th November 2026.

Main duties of the job

• Provide consultant-led care for children and young people across acute and general paediatric services, including the Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU), inpatient ward, day-case unit and outpatient clinics.

• Participate in the Paediatric Consultant of the Week (PCOW) model and the general paediatric Tier 3 on-call rota, ensuring safe, high-quality care for children and young people.

• Work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, primary care, community services, emergency medicine and tertiary centres to deliver integrated paediatric care.

• Contribute to the development of acute paediatric pathways, service improvement initiatives and innovative models of care to enhance patient outcomes and experience.

• Support the teaching, training and supervision of resident doctors, medical students, physician associates and advanced practitioners.

• Participate in clinical governance, audit, quality improvement, appraisal and revalidation activities to maintain high standards of clinical practice.

• Provide senior clinical leadership within the department and contribute to safeguarding services for children and young people.

• Develop and deliver a specialist interest that complements existing departmental services and supports the ongoing development of paediatric care within the Trust.

About us

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is an integrated Trust and the only provider of NHS acute care in Walsall, serving a population of 284,300, providing inpatient and outpatient services at the Manor Hospital as well as a wide range of services in the community. Walsall Manor houses the full range of district general hospital services under one roof. The £170 million development was completed in 2010 and the continued upgrading of existing areas ensures the Trust now has a state-of-the-art Critical Care Unit, Neonatal Unit, Obstetric Theatre, and Integrated Assessment Unit facilities.

A new Urgent Emergency Care Centre was opened in March 2023. The two-storey development has significantly improved emergency care facilities and capacity and has provided almost 5,000 square metres of additional clinical space.

Job responsibilities

Proposed Job Plan

A job plan will be agreed with the appointed candidate and the Clinical Director amounting up to 8.0 PAs of direct clinical care (DCC) and 2.0 PAs of supportive programmed activities (SPAs) upon commencement.

Work

The appointee will be expected to:

Work with other consultants to provide integrated paediatric services with responsibility for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness. This will include the planning and development, management and delivery of these services.

Provide effective leadership to all staff engaged in specialty and related services.

Undertake all work in accordance with Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust policies and procedures, and conduct clinical practice in accordance with contractual requirements and within the parameters of Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust service plans

Have excellent communication and liaison skills and the ability to work within a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency team

Participate in the paediatric consultant of the week (PCOW) and paediatric out of hours on-call system as per rota currently operational in the department. The PCOW frequency is 8-10 per year depending on the individualized job plan of the post holder. The out of hours cover includes resident tier 3 commitment from 1700-2130hrs followed by non-resident on-call. The tier 3 consultant is supported by a team of resident tier 2 and tier 1 doctors and ANNP/APNP/Physician Associate. The frequency of on-call commitments are currently about once in a fortnight for weekdays and 8-10 weekends per year; it is subject to change with changing work patterns of the team in future and any amendments will be agreed through mutual discussion. Safeguarding cover out of hours is also provided by the on-call consultant

Supporting the general paediatric service will be integral part of this post though additional interests are always welcome, e.g., palliative care, paediatric ambulatory medicine, HDU, medical education, safeguarding etc.

Provide prospective cover for colleagues for purposes of annual, study and professional leave. This is arranged by exchange of acute commitments including on-call duties.

Provide supervision and training of junior medical staff including undertaking supervised learning events.

Participate in the established teaching programme for junior doctors and medical students, and act as educational and clinical supervisors for junior doctors following formal accreditation.

Ensure that staff in their work area receive appropriate mandatory training commensurate with the range and level of work to be undertaken.

Take responsibility for ensuring evidence-based practice and improving quality of service by participating in departmental clinical governance activities, audit programme and QI projects.

Engage actively in the Trust appraisal and revalidation process.

Participate in on-going research activity as deemed appropriate

Other Duties

The information supplied above is intended to summarise the key responsibilities and duties of the role. The post holder may be required from time to time to carry out other reasonable requests and duties as required andagreed between employee and manager. These may be revised and changed from time to time. Discussions will take place with the post-holder.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• MBChB or equivalent degree
• MRCPCH or equivalent
• Relevant GMC Specialist Registration: CCT or CESR or in final stages of application
• APLS/EPALS or equivalent provider status
• Children Safeguarding Level 3 Training

Experience

Essential

• Broad range of general Paediatric knowledge and experience at middle grade level or higher
• Experience of leading children's safeguarding process

Desirable

• Special interest complementing the current service

Personal attributes

Essential

• Ability to communicate and liaise effectively with patients, their parents and other relatives and with colleagues in all disciplines
• Ability to develop effective working relationships on an individual and multi-professional team basis with all levels of staff
• Enthusiasm and proven record of teaching doctors and nurses
• Ability to organise and prioritise workload effectively
• Ability to plan strategically and to exercise sound judgements when faced with conflicting pressures