Consultant Haematologist With A Special Interest In Paediatric Haematology

Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin

Children’s Health Ireland, Crumlin is an acute paediatric teaching hospital employing approximately 1600 staff. It is Ireland's largest paediatric hospital and is responsible nationally for the provision of the majority of quarternary, tertiary and secondary healthcare services for children. Children’s Health Ireland, Crumlin is a national and regional centre with specialist services including Anaesthesia/Critical Care, Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Dental, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, Endocrinology, ENT, Gastroenterology, Clinical Genetics, Haematology, Infectious Diseases, Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology, Oncology (including Paediatric Radiotherapy at St. Luke’s Hospital), Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Pathology, Psychiatry, Radiology, Respiratory Medicine, Rheumatology, Paediatric Surgery and Urology and Plastic Surgery (including the National Burns Unit). The Hospital provides primary and secondary care for the children of the Dublin Mid-Leinster region and provides tertiary care for the children of the same region and the nation as a whole - with a child population of approximately 1 million.

The services provided are underpinned by a commitment to medical and nurse education and the development of the skills of staff generally. The hospital is built on a site of approximately 5 hectares which was provided by the Archbishop of Dublin. It first opened its doors in 1956 and was specifically designed to care for and treat sick children. Bed accommodation provided in the original design of the hospital was 324 beds and currently 227 beds and cots are in use including 38 day case beds.

The hospital is also involved in the teaching of medical personnel. Undergraduate students from University College Dublin, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Trinity College Dublin receive training in Paediatrics at Our Lady's Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.

Research is a fundamental component of all paediatric disciplines and the provision of a specialised research facility is recognised as an integral part of a modern comprehensive children's hospital. The National Children's Research Centre at this hospital provides well equipped laboratory facilities for the investigation of the biological basis of childhood disease and has made significant progress in the development of a Clinical Research Programme.

Department of Haematology

The development of a Comprehensive National Paediatric Haematology & Oncology Service at Children’s Health Ireland, Crumlin was completed in December 2006. This development was in full agreement with the previous Minister(s) of Health & Children’s initiative in this area and it fully incorporated similar recommendations of Comhairle n’Ospideal in respect of tertiary non-malignant paediatric haematology services, including a National Paediatric Haemophilia Programme and a Haemoglobinopathy Service. The greatest advantage of this development has been the opportunity to concentrate the clinical and research & developmental aspects of childhood blood and cancer in a single location.

The National Paediatric Haematology & Oncology Service also includes the designated National Children’s Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT) unit. The unit performs allogeneic and autologous peripheral blood and bone marrow stem cell transplants for a variety of malignant and non-malignant conditions, using standard and, more recently, reduced-intensity conditioning protocols. It has been the policy of the programme to have all results assessed internationally by the European Bone Marrow Transplant Registry (EBMTR). This has provided an internal audit of the outcome of all patients and all laboratory data. The unit compares favourably to results obtained by other units internationally and is JACIE accredited. Over the past 5 years the HSCT activity at OLCHC has increased exponentially not only in terms of numbers but also in complexity of the stem cell replacement therapy, making it now one of the biggest paediatric transplant programmes in these islands.

The appointee will share responsibility for and will provide senior clinical leadership for the haemato-oncology programme at CHI, crumlin. This will involve HSCT procedures in children and young adolescents requiring stem cell replacement.

The post-holder will be assisted by the lead consultants in malignant haematology, solid tumour oncology, haemoglobinopathies, inherited marrow failure syndromes and immunodeficiencies.

The post-holder will take joint responsibility for clinical governance and quality as it relates to haemato-oncology practice at OLCHC. The post-holder will actively participate in clinical trial accreditation and by doing so will ensure that standards of care and accreditation are maintained across this highly specialized field of paediatrics.

There is also an urgency to create the capacity to follow the patients following high dose therapy in terms of late effects and survivorship issues.

On-call consultant cover, including all aspects of paediatric haemato-oncology, medical oncology and stem cell transplantation and laboratory advice of paediatric matters, will be run on a 1:11 weekly rota with, Dr Andrea Malone, Dr. Pamela Evans, Dr. Neil Barrett, Dr. Valerie Broderick, Dr Michael Capra and Dr Jane Pears, Dr. Sarah Curry, Dr. Noelle Cullinan, Dr. Peter McCarthy, Dr. Scheryll Alken

In addition, the post-holder will provide as part of the consultant haematology team a comprehensive laboratory and consultative service to CHI, Crumlin, with its very busy cardiothoracic, general medical and surgical services, emergency department, and many complex subspecialty services.

St. James’s Hospital

The Haematology Service provides care for patients with general and malignant haematological disorders including leukaemias, myeloma, lymphoma, Haemoglobinopathy and Coagulations disorders. The comprehensive multidisciplinary programme in haematological malignancies within the HOPe Directorate represents the largest programme for the management of leukaemia/lymphoma and related disorders in Ireland and delivers care on regional, supra-regional and national levels. As the National Adult Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Unit, the service carried out 89 autologous and 78 allogeneic stem cell transplants in 2015. The unit was established in 1984 and since then has performed over 1,400 allogeneic /autologous transplants.

SJH is the national centre for allogeneic stem cell transplants and has a longstanding tradition of working closely with the Paediatric stem cell transplant unit in OLCHC. The unit has a large post-transplant long-term follow up/survivorship clinic and patients from OLCHC are transferred to the clinic for their follow on care. It is envisaged the appointment will facilitate this transitional care.

There is a cohort of patients with haematological malignancies that fall into the adolescent/young adult age group. These patients are currently being treated in either OLCHC OR SJH depending on where they were referred. There is increasing international data which supports their treatment in a more unified approach with input both from Paediatric and Adult trained Haematologists. The development of the Paediatric Hospital on the SJH campus will facilitate the further development of these links and planning of treatment through Multi-disciplinary team meetings which this appointment would facilitate.

Essential Criteria:

(a) Be registered as a Specialist in the Specialist Division of the Register of Medical Practitioners maintained by the Medical Council in Ireland in the in the specialty of haematology (Clinical and Laboratory).

And

(b) One year certified postgraduate training in paediatric haematology.

Competition Specific Selection Process:

The criteria for short listing are based on the requirements of the post as outlined in the eligibility criteria and/or the essential & desirable knowledge, skills and competencies section of this job specification.

Failure to include information regarding these requirements may result in you not being called forward to the next stage of the selection process

To apply for this position, please send a CV and letter of application.

The closing date for submission of CV’s to include the names and address of three referees, two to be recent. The closing date for applications is Sunday, 12th May at 11.30pm. Applications must be completed through the advertised post on CHI.jobs.ie by clicking ‘Apply for Job’.

Applications will not be accepted through direct email or any other method.

Informal Enquiries can be obtained from:

Dr. Andrea Malone, Consultant Paediatric Haematologist and Associate Clinical Professor at CHI at Crumlin, Andrea.Malone@childrenshealthireland.ie

For other queries relating to this recruitment process, please contact: Mr Cillian Gibbons at Cillian.gibbons@nchg.ie