NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is one of the largest healthcare systems in the UK employing around 40,000 staff in a wide range of clinical and non-clinical professions and job roles. We deliver acute hospital, primary, community and mental health care services to a population of over 1.15 million and a wider population of 2.2 million when our regional and national services are included. 

These are fixed-term posts for 1 year.

Summary of the post

This post is designed for senior candidates seeking advanced training in microsurgical reconstruction. Those candidates in the process of sitting the FRCS exit exam (or equivalent) or those that have already completed training will be considered. A separate breast reconstruction fellowship is available in the unit and as a result, this fellowship will be most suitable for those with a primary interest in orthoplastic limb trauma and sarcoma reconstruction. Due to the high volume of breast reconstruction in the unit, involvement in these cases will be supported but the fellow should expect this to form a minority of the workload. Opportunities will also exist to focus on microsurgical reconstruction of hand and upper limb, head and neck, facial palsy and brachial plexus. The fellowship will retain an element of flexibility in order to fulfil the learning objectives of each candidate.

Duties of Post 

Delivery of the highest possible standard of care to patients is the ultimate priority. Fellows will be responsible for the day-to-day care of inpatients and will report to the responsible consultants. This care will be delivered alongside specialist plastic surgery trainees and the fellow should expect to provide clinical and educational support to those more junior trainees. Mechanisms are in place to match experience and educational requirements to training provision. Fellows will be given priority for those cases relevant for their subspecialty interests although will be expected to support equity of training opportunities for more junior trainees.

The majority of acute orthoplastic limb trauma is delivered at the QEUH site. This service has evolved with the recent opening of the Major Trauma Centre and is growing. Fellows will be expected to work closely with the on-call orthopaedic and Major Trauma teams and, with the support of plastic surgery trainees and the orthoplastic Advanced Nurse Practitioner, will organize and oversee the management of these patients. This includes leading a weekly MDT and grand round. Fellows will work under the supervision of 4 Vacancy Request Form (VRF) Approved January 2024 Page 4 of 10 orthoplastic lower limb consultants and will have access to a minimum of twice-weekly dedicated orthoplastic theatres and 2-3 orthoplastic clinics per month. Sub-acute and chronic lower limb reconstruction takes place on both QEUH and GRI sites and fellows will be involved with this workload in parallel with acute trauma. Fellows will be involved with data collection for the purposes of microsurgical flap databases and functional outcome assessment and will be expected to present this data within departmental audit and M&M meetings.

Bony and soft tissue sarcoma reconstruction takes place primarily at the GRI, although a minority of cases are performed with the cardiothaorcic surgeons at the Golden Jubilee Hospital and the paediatric orthopaedic team at the Royal Hospital for Children. Fellows will be expected to attend weekly surgical planning meetings and MDTs and will work under the supervision of 3 plastic surgeons involved in care of these patients. Fellows will be flexibly allocated to orthoplastic lower limb and sarcoma theatres, clinics and MDT sessions, in accordance with their subspecialty interests.

Fellows will be expected to contribute to the Specialty Trainee Grade on-call rota (regional service for Hands, Burns, and Plastic Surgery) and must have appropriate competencies and experience to allow this.

More details regarding the role and how to contact the Recruitment Service can be found within the Candidate Information Packs.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde- NHS Scotland encourages applications from all sections of the community. We promote a culture of inclusion across the organisation and are proud of the diverse workforce we have.

By signing the Armed Forces Covenant, NHSGGC has pledged its commitment to being a Forces Friendly Employer. We support applications from across the Armed Forces Community, recognising military skills, experience and qualifications during the recruitment and selection process.

Candidates should provide original and authentic responses to all questions within the application form. The use of artificial intelligence (AI), automated tools, or other third-party assistance to generate, draft, or significantly modify responses is strongly discouraged. By submitting your application, you confirm that all answers are your own work, reflect your personal knowledge, skills and experience, and have not been solely produced or altered by AI or similar technologies. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in your application being withdrawn from the application process. 

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