Visiting Hospice Doctor

Francis House Children’s Hospice is looking for an experienced and compassionate doctor to join our established team of six visiting GPs.

Francis House provides respite, palliative and end-of-life care to children and young people with life-shortening or life-threatening conditions. Our doctors work closely with the care team and wider multidisciplinary professionals to provide safe, responsive medical support for children, young people and their families.

The commitment

The successful doctor will participate in our 24-hour medical on-call rota, which includes:

· One agreed 24-hour weekday on call every other week.

· A Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday on-call block approximately once every six weeks.

· At least one visit to the hospice on each allocated on-call day to review the children and young people receiving care.

· Telephone advice and additional attendance whenever clinically required.

· Flexibility to arrange approved cover and rota changes with the other hospice doctors.

During end-of-life care, the doctor will be expected to:

· Attend relevant multidisciplinary discussions to support the safe transfer of a child or young person to the hospice.

· Provide timely symptom assessment, prescribing and clinical review.

· Make several visits during the same day when symptoms or treatment needs require continued review.

· Attend the hospice following the death of a child or young person, including during the night, to provide medical presence and support to the family and care team. This expectation applies even where an appropriately trained nurse formally verifies the death.

About you

You will need to:

· Hold full GMC registration and a licence to practise.

· Have substantial recent experience as a practising GP or doctor with appropriate generalist skills.

· Be confident working autonomously and responding to urgent and changing clinical situations.

· Have strong assessment, prescribing, communication and clinical decision-making skills.

· Understand safeguarding, consent, mental capacity, best-interest decision-making and professional accountability.

· Communicate sensitively with children, young people and families during periods of uncertainty, deterioration and bereavement.

· Work collaboratively with hospice staff, hospital teams, community professionals and specialist palliative care services.

· Be able to travel to and attend Francis House promptly when required.

· Maintain adequate and appropriate professional indemnity insurance covering the full scope of independent children’s hospice work, at your own expense.

Experience in paediatrics, palliative care, complex disability, out-of-hours medicine or end-of-life care would be welcomed. Support and induction will be provided to help the successful applicant understand the hospice, its clinical systems and local procedures.

This is a self-employed contract for services and does not create a contract of employment. Appointment will be subject to satisfactory references, professional registration and revalidation checks, confirmation of appropriate indemnity, right-to-work checks and an Enhanced DBS check with the legally appropriate barred-list information.

How to apply

For an application pack or an informal discussion about the role, please contact:

Name: Karen Smail

Email: karen.smail@francishouse.org.uk

Telephone: 0161 434 4118

Closing date: 13/11/2026

Francis House Family Trust is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk. We welcome applications from suitably qualified people from all backgrounds and will make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.