Child Friendly Salaried & Partnership Opportunities for Doctors
Pathfields is a large, modern practice with 32,000 patients in Plymouth, Britain’s Ocean City. A vibrant city nestled on the south Devon coast with an abundance of history and culture. Devon has two National Parks and five official Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty which makes it a great place to work with so much right on our doorstep. Our practice covers large parts of the city with very varied patient demographics dependent on area: leafy suburbia, a large student population and the more deprived areas of the inner city.
Despite our size we manage to maintain that traditional, friendly small practice feel. We are looking for doctors to join our medical team in either a salaried or partnership role and we are flexible regarding the number of sessions and working pattern. As a larger practice we have flexibility to offer the right candidate a role that can be adapted to suit their lifestyle and fit around childcare arrangements or other commitments as well as providing a supportive environment for those wishing to expand their skills or take on additional responsibilities. In partnership with Sentinel we are also able to offer interested candidates a portfolio career to include minor surgery, dermatology or other GPwSI roles.
Pathfields is a training centre for medical students, Physicians Associates and GP trainees. We are passionate about providing high quality training to the next generation of the primary care workforce and we would be keen to recruit another doctor who is already a trainer or support someone who would be keen to develop this role. Pathfields runs a monthly educational meeting with guest speakers followed by discussion of patient cases to promote shared learning.
Supporting our staff is a key principle of how we run our practice and we therefore have a stable staff base and great staff loyalty. We are different to most super-practices because we have a flat hierarchy with no senior or lead partner. Every partner has an equal voice and role in managing the business. Each partner has a specific area of interest that they are supported to pursue. Some partners have an almost exclusively clinical role whilst others have time to develop business opportunities or special interests. We are always keen to explore ways of expanding the business and improving services for our patients. Our recent successful merger with another large local practice is testimony to the great team at Pathfields.
Sub-specialty interest areas
Pain & functional illness
Many of our patients have led challenging lives and we have a lot of patients with chronic pain and functional illness. We have a proactive program of care for these patients with extended appointments (15 to 30 minutes) and high levels of continuity. The 2 GPs leading this program find this massively rewarding and we have had some great outcomes for this patient group reducing analgesic prescribing and reducing unnecessary referrals. We would welcome a GP who has already developed skills and interest in functional illness and pain to join this team or alternatively someone who would be keen to develop skills in these areas with appropriate support and training.
Minor Surgery
We have a team of minor surgeons working at the practice, some with extended skills in vasectomy and BCC excision and we are looking to expand this team with opportunities for candidates to be trained up and develop additional skills and GPSI accreditation.
Acute care
We run an acute triage service across all our sites to help ensure the patient gets to see the right person, in the right place at the right time. Many patients we manage on the phone but when we need to bring them in we have held slots across all our sites with every GP so we can help the patients see their preferred GP or be seen in their preferred location. When patients present with complex problems such as depression that need longer appointments we book them double slots to ensure we better meet their needs.
Health optimization and disease management
Pathfields consistently achieves high levels of QOF achievement – we are disappointed by anything less than 100%! Much of this work is down to our highly skilled nursing team which includes chronic disease nurses and nurse prescribers. We are one of the highest achieving practices in terms of diabetes care in the Western Locality despite having a mixed population covering deprived areas. This excellence in diabetes care is achieved through the dedication of the practice team and a close working relationship with a consultant diabetologist at the hospital who comes out to our practice and whom we can task directly from our clinical system.
Come and visit us!
If you are interested in meeting us, discussing flexible working or the opportunities available to you at Pathfields please get in contact on any of the numbers at the top of the page. Emails also welcome: pathfields.practice@nhs.net
Closing date: Monday, 12th March 2018
