About this role
Job summary
Hospice Doctor
Bank Contracts
Location - Saint Michaels, Harrogate
Hours:- - one weekday night per week and approximately every 5 to 6 weekends
Salary - £129.85 Weekdays (Mon-Thurs 5pm to 8am), £779.12 Weekends (Fri-Mon 5 pm to 8am inc WR Sat/Sun), additional hours paid at the rate of £29.44 per hour.
Brand - Saint Michaels Hospice
Closing date - Wednesday 21st October 2026 (the advert may close early if we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications)
Do you want to be part of an organisation that makes a real difference to our local communities? Our family of services including Herriot Hospice Homecare, Just B and Saint Michaels Hospice provide vital support to people when they need it most. Our vision is of a community where everyone gets the care they need, want and deserve You can help make that a reality.
We are an independent charity powered by local communities. Every day, we help to improve quality of life for people living with terminal illness, bereavement and mental health concerns, because our belief is that no one should suffer. Our incredible teams work together to make this happen.
About the role
We are seeking an enthusiastic and committed doctor to provide essential out-of-hours medical support for patients and staff at Saint Michaels Hospice in Harrogate. This role is key to enabling the delivery of the existing specialist palliative care service in the area.
Main duties of the job
Role Overview
Non-resident out-of-hours medical cover: one weekday night per week and approximately every 56 weekends
Face-to-face assessment and review of inpatients
Admission of new patients and ongoing management of existing patients
Communication with relatives and the wider multidisciplinary team, including allied health professionals
Essential Criteria
Medical degree with GMC registration
Minimum of 2 years post-GMC registration experience (CT1equivalent grade or above)
Strong communication skills
Ability to work effectively within a team
Able to prioritise workload and perform under pressure
Interest in palliative care
Desirable Criteria
Previous palliative care experience
Formal palliative care qualifications
Personal Qualities
We are looking for an individual who is:
Compassionate, kind, and empathic
Honest, trustworthy, and committed to providing high-quality specialist care
Able to work autonomously when required
Motivated, hardworking, and collaborative
About us
Our values:
We put the people who use our services at the heart of everything we do
We are caring and compassionate
We are personal and supportive in our approach
We engage positively
We are responsive
We are driven to do better
We are fair
We are professional
We work collaboratively
We are accountable
Living out our values
Our behaviour framework puts our values in the context of our everyday work. See what this includes atsaintmichaelshospice.org/behaviour-framework
We positively encourage applications from all areas of the community, regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age, or sexual orientation and from users of mental health services. This is part of our commitment to equality and reflecting the diversity of our communities.
We believe that children, young people and adults should never experience abuse of any kind. Our safer recruitment and safeguarding processes help protect those accessing our services, please see our safeguarding statement on our website:https://saintmichaelshospice.org/safeguarding-statement/
If you require any support or adjustments to be able to apply for this role, please let us know by emailing [email protected].
We will need to complete satisfactory pre-employment checks before appointing you. These include but are not limited to identity checks, DBS clearance at an appropriate level for the role, verification of right to work in the UK, employment references and employment history. We will cover the cost of these.
Job description Job responsibilities
Hospice Doctor
On Call
Job Description
North Yorkshire Hospice Care is a registered charity in England and Wales (518905) with a family of services operating as Herriot Hospice Homecare, Just B, Saint Michaels Hospice and Talking Spaces.
Saint Michael's Hospice is an established independent voluntary sector provider of a range of specialist and general palliative care services including a 10 bedded specialist palliative care inpatient unit. It also provides @Home care; HCA care for patients with fast track funding in the community, lymphoedema clinics, bereavement services for children and young people, as well as adults (Just B), a hospice Allied Health Professional outreach team, a volunteer visitor scheme and a specialist community based nurse for patients living with Motor Neurone Disease.
Medical staffing within the hospice services consists of 1 part time Palliative Medicine consultant and 2 part time hospice doctors. Two hospice doctor posts are based on the inpatient unit. The medical team provides specialist palliative care as part of a wider multidisciplinary team with access to physiotherapy, occupational therapy and chaplaincy support. There is a weekly MDT meeting to plan patient care.
Patients over the age of 18, with an advanced, progressive, terminal illness may be admitted to the inpatient unit for symptom control, terminal care and crises of care.
The medical on call rota is up to a 1 in 7 frequency of weeknights and weekends. The role of the on-call doctor is to provide out of hours advice to hospice inpatient unit, community teams, Harrogate and District Foundation Trust (HDFT) hospital teams and Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS). Face to face reviews are provided when needed for the hospice inpatients out of hours. The weekday on call hours run from 5pm until 8am. Weekends on call involve seeing any hospice inpatients that require review on both days from approximately 9.30am until all required face to face reviews have been completed. There is access to advice from the 2nd on call Palliative Medicine Consultant, who can provide a further face to face assessment if required.
This post is to fill a current vacancy on the on call rota. This is a permanent post subject to satisfactory completion of the 6 month probationary period.
Support
There is an opportunity to access the online symptom management tutorials that we will provide for the GP registrars on rotation at the hospice.
There will be additional on call telephone and if needed face to face support provided by the hospice consultants for the first three months of the post. The hospice has a policy of a six-month probationary period for all employees with an organisational appraisal at the end of this period.
Hospice (nonclinical) appraisals are conducted every 6 months. All doctors must share revalidation ready appraisal outputs with their line manager. Contact meetings are held every 2 months and can be conducted remotely.
There is the opportunity to access the virtual journal clubs every month.
The post holder is required to complete relevant hospice mandatory training on WeLearn (accessible from home). The hospice will recognise any relevant raining undertaken in other healthcare settings if evidence is provided.
The post holder is encouraged to spend two whole days (paid) each year working on the inpatient unit alongside other doctors to help update clinical skills and knowledge. There is the offer to work on inpatient unit to cover leave and to increase knowledge and skills.
Access to professional supervision is available for issues that arise from work related to the hospice.
Depending on previous palliative medicine experience, we encourage the post holder to enroll on the European Certificate of Palliative Care home-based learning programme. This is run by St Gemmas Hospice and part funding may be available.
The post holder must hold their own medical indemnity that will also cover the hospice work and provide evidence of this cover once appointed and annually thereafter.
Job Plan
Job Summary
To provide effective, high quality medical care and advice for patients of Saint Michaels Hospice and the surrounding community as identified in the job plan.
Key Objectives
1.To provide effective high-quality medical care for all inpatients within Saint Michaels Hospice whilst on call.
2.To participate in the hospice doctor first on call rota.
3.To provide effective medical advice and support over the telephone, ensuring palliative care support is available within the hospital and community to other members of the specialist palliative care services, generalist teams and Yorkshire ambulance service. Advice to be recorded using agreed template and care record system.
4.To play an effective role within the multi-disciplinary team to ensure that holistic care of a high standard is available to all patients.
5.To liaise with other health care professionals in hospitals and communities to ensure seamless provision of palliative care for the patients.
6.To commit to continuous professional development to extend knowledge and skills in specialist palliative care.
7.To attend and participate in team education and business meetings (quarterly).
8.To play an effective personal role in all structures and forms of clinical governance and outcome measurement to ensure the maintenance and development of high standards.
To carry out all duties in accordance with the law, Hospice philosophy and Hospice policies on equal opportunity and collective responsibility.
The above is indicative of the tasks required as at the date the job description was written, however it may be subject to change in line with service need and development.
Terms and conditions
Line managed by - Medical Director
Line management - No line management responsibility
Salary - Pro rata on call payment for on call duties undertaken.
Hours - up to a 1 in 7 on call rota
Location - North Yorkshire Hospice Care
Person Specification
Essential Education and Qualifications
Registered doctor
Essential Experience
2 years post registration experience
Essential Knowledge Skill
Excellent interpersonal skills
Effective communication skills
Good team player
Understanding of collective responsibility
Note and report writing skills
Organising and planning skills
Assessment skills
Able to remain calm in situations of pressure
Able to pay attention to detail
Commitment to continuous professional development
Commitment to clinical governance
Essential Attributes
Interest in Palliative Care
Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team setting
Willingness to undertake mandatory training
Ability to travel between sites
An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and diversity
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Essential Criteria Medical degree with GMC registration Minimum of 2 years post-GMC registration experience -CT1equivalent grade or above Strong communication skills Ability to work effectively within a team Able to prioritise workload and perform under pressure Interest in palliative care
Desirable
Desirable Criteria Previous palliative care experience Formal palliative care qualifications
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Saint Michaels Hospice
Address St. Michaels Hospice
Hornbeam Park Avenue
Harrogate
North Yorkshire
HG2 8NA
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://app.healthboxhr.com/jobs-feed/web/company/65d86b0053344 (Opens in a new tab)