Consultant Paediatrician with a special interest in Neurodisability

The purpose of the role is to provide medical assessment and supportive medical care to children attending the CHO 7 Enable Ireland Motor Management Service.

This is a 0.5WTE consultant post, primarily based with Community teams in CHO 7 but will CHI based sessional commitment for specific tone management (botulinum toxin), combined paediatric-orthopaedic clinics and the management of complex medical co-morbidities.

This approach to care for children with disability will deliver on the vision of the National Model of Care for Paediatric Healthcare Services (2016), which advocates for the delivery of safe and appropriate care to paediatric patients as close to home as possible so that children and young people with urgent care needs get the right advice at the right place, first time.

The Model of Care for Paediatric Neurodisability proposes consultant paediatrician delivered support for disability services at local, regional and tertiary (hospital) levels to:

• Optimise care that can be delivered in the community and reduce hospital attendances

• Advise and encourage a holistic approach to health within the CDNT

• Support children with complex medical needs and to keep up to date with the latest medical evidence for the ever expanding numbers of children diagnosed with rare genetic conditions

• Seek senior/specialist medical advice and guidance as appropriate.

The paediatrician with a special interest in motor management / physical disability will work with clinical specialist therapists on the regional teams to provide timely evidence-based care to children with physical disability.

This will include timely diagnosis, appropriate access to investigations and additional expertise (eg neuroimaging, genetics), timely access to radiology, gait analysis and orthopaedics based on evidence-based structured musculoskeletal surveillance, appropriate introduction and monitoring of medications for altered muscle tone and pain, timely identification and management of co-existing conditions (eg aspiration, epilepsy, faltering growth).

The paediatrician will support appropriate access to specialist and tertiary services, optimising the use of the acute setting for families and services.

The hospital setting provides access to specialist care and diagnostics which are unavailable in primary care and community settings. The paediatrician will also provide an important link for the CNDT to the acute services to facilitate excellent interagency communication.

The Consultant's presence within an acute service will allow input from the consultant who is familiar with the child in the community setting and well placed to contribute to management during an inpatient stay. Ready access to paediatrics in the community setting may reduce the frequency of acute unscheduled attendances to hospital.

• Significant experience in clinical practice of managing the medical needs of those with physical disability and associated conditions
• Supportive and expert in the spectrum of physical disability and the possible impacts on health.
• Experienced clinician with credibility and the ability to command the respect of all clinical and non-clinical professionals
• Experience of developing, applying and reviewing an evidence-based approach to decision making.
• Informed and willing to engage in constant CPD in the area of genetics and neurodevelopment.
• Excellent inter-personal skills, including experience and familiarity with public, professional, media and political communications and stakeholder relations
• Demonstrate commitment to fostering partnerships, multi-professional and multi-disciplinary relationships
• Demonstrate a knowledge and undertaking of the current governance structures and anticipated changes with the establishment of the new children's hospital
• Experience in reconfiguring acute services across organisations and regions
• Demonstrate leadership and team management skills including the ability to manage his/her staff and service and work with multi-disciplinary team members
• Experience of operating in complex and challenging environments
• Knowledge of the Irish health sector, national health programmes and health reform agendas
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills
• Effective change management skills
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Risk and issue management skills
• Ability to recognise and respect the expertise of others and the contribution of team members and harness good teamwork and open contributions to enable the achievement of programme aims
• Demonstrate evidence of effective planning and organizational skills including awareness of resource management
• Have computer skills, competencies and knowledge of hospital data/ information systems