Description
An exciting opportunity at Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has arisen for a part-time primary care GP to facilitate an effective, supportive interface across organisational boundaries to improve and maintain quality patient care.
The Associate Chief Medical Officer (Primary Care Interface) is a senior clinical leadership role focused on improving how primary care and secondary care work together for the benefit of patients.
The postholder will act as a key clinical bridge between general practice, community services and the acute Trust, strengthening relationships, improving communication, and reducing friction across the healthcare system.
Main duties of the job
- Provide senior clinical leadership to improve the interface between primary care, community services and secondary care.
- Act as a visible and accessible clinical leader to both GPs and hospital clinicians on interface matters.
- Support a culture of shared responsibility for patient care across organisational boundaries.
- Collect and collate information for self-assessment reports 6 monthly in relation to interface working and the use of the GIRFT checklist bridging the gap.
Relationship Building and Mutual Understanding
- Develop and sustain strong working relationships between general practice, PCNs, neighbourhood teams, hospital specialties and system partners.
- Promote mutual understanding of roles, pressures, constraints and decision-making in both primary and secondary care.
- Establish regular clinical forums that enable constructive dialogue and shared problem-solving.
Referral, Advice and Transfer of Care
- Work with clinical teams to improve the quality and clarity of referrals, advice and guidance, and transfer of care processes.
- Support improvements in discharge communication, ensuring it is timely, clinically useful and patient-centred.
- Help reduce unwarranted variation and administrative burden across interface processes.
Pathway and Interface Improvement
- Identify and address recurring friction points in patient pathways between primary and secondary care.
- Support clinically led pathway redesign where it impacts both hospital and community-based care.
- Facilitate shared learning between hospital specialists and community clinicians, promoting best practice.
Engagement and Collaborative Leadership
- Facilitate regular engagement between primary care clinicians, consultants and operational leaders.
- Support resolution of disagreements in a constructive, patient-focused manner.
Quality, Safety and Patient Experience
- Promote improvements in patient experience at transitions of care.
- Support safe, consistent and effective communication across organisational boundaries.
Strategic Contribution
- Support Trust-wide and system-wide transformation programmes where they affect the primary-secondary care interface.
- Contribute to integrated care system (ICS) priorities relating to integration, neighbourhood working and elective recovery.
Benefits
- The full range of NHS benefits & discounts.