Consultant Gastroenterologist
The closing date is 30 November 2026

Job summary
We are seeking an enthusiastic and experienced Consultant Gastroenterologist with a specialist interest in Clinical Nutrition to establish our Nutrition Support Team (NST) within a leading tertiary cancer centre. This substantive part-time post (5 PAs) offers a unique opportunity to focus exclusively on nutrition support, with no general gastroenterology, endoscopy, or on-call commitments.

Based within the Nutrition and Dietetics Department, the successful applicant will work in close partnership with the Head of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Complex Artificial Nutrition Support Dietitian to provide clinical leadership for patients with complex nutritional needs, including cancer-related intestinal failure, malnutrition, enteral feeding, and parenteral nutrition.

Working within a highly skilled multidisciplinary team, you will collaborate closely with dietitians, specialist nurses, pharmacists, oncologists, palliative care teams, and surgeons to deliver high-quality, patient-centred care. This is an exciting opportunity to help shape and develop a specialist nutrition support service within a world-renowned cancer centre while contributing to education, research, service development, and quality improvement. The role offers a predictable job plan and excellent work-life balance, making it ideal for consultants seeking a specialist leadership role in clinical nutrition.

Main duties of the job
The postholder will provide specialist gastroenterology expertise to the Nutrition Support Team, supporting patients with complex nutritional needs requiring parenteral nutrition, and complex enteral feeding and including those with cancer-related intestinal failure and advanced gastrointestinal complications.

Working alongside the Head of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Complex Artificial Nutrition Support Dietitian, the successful candidate will lead Nutrition Support Team ward rounds, outpatient clinics, and multidisciplinary discussions, ensuring safe, effective, and evidence-based nutritional care. They will provide expert advice to clinical teams across the Trust, support decision-making regarding home parenteral nutrition, and contribute to complex discussions around artificial nutrition, including palliative and end-of-life care.

The role includes developing and enhancing the Nutrition Support Service, promoting best practice in line with national guidance, leading audit and quality improvement initiatives, supporting research activity, and delivering education and training to medical, nursing, pharmacy, and dietetic colleagues.

We are looking for a collaborative consultant with expertise in clinical nutrition, excellent communication skills, and a commitment to multidisciplinary working and patient-centred care.

About us
The postholder will contribute to the delivery of high-quality consultant-led care across 7 days. This includes participation in planned weekend and weekday clinical activity to support safe, timely decision-making and continuity of care for patients.

The Christie is one of Europe's leading cancer centres, treating over 60,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester and Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 15% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country.

We provide radiotherapy through one of the largest radiotherapy departments in the world; chemotherapy on site and through 14 other hospitals; highly specialist surgery for complex and rare cancer; and a wide range of support and diagnostic services. We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We run one of the largest early clinical trial units in Europe with over 300 trials every year. Cancer research in Manchester, most of which is undertaken on the Christie site, has been officially ranked the best in the UK.

Salary
£113,565 to £150,569 a year per annum pro rata

Contract
Permanent

Working pattern
Part-time

Pay scheme
Hospital medical and dental staff

Grade
Consultant

Reference number
413-MD-V2025-24575-DM-A

Job responsibilities
Clinical: Provide specialist gastroenterology and nutrition input for inpatients and outpatients requiring complex nutrition support, including cancer-related intestinal failure, complex enteral feeding, and parenteral nutrition. Provide specialist input into the assessment and management of patients requiring artificial nutrition support, including parenteral nutrition (PN) and complex enteral feeding. Undertaking outpatient clinics (OPC) for patients on home parenteral nutrition, ensuring continuity of care and prevention of avoidable admissions. Lead two ward rounds (WR) and multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings within the Nutrition Support Team. Support shared care models with regional centres (e.g. Salford) to optimise patient pathways. Manage complex PN nutrition-related complications, including line sepsis, liver disease, fluid/electrolyte imbalance, and gastrointestinal failure. Actively contribute to multidisciplinary team meetings, collaborating with dietitians, nurses, pharmacists, oncology, palliative care, and other relevant specialties to ensure coordinated patient care. Maintain effective communication and coordination with the patient's parent team, ensuring shared decision-making and seamless care planning for complex artificial nutrition support. Support oncology and other clinical teams in ethical, patient-centred, and evidence-based decision-making for complex artificial nutrition support cases, including end-of-life care considerations. Provide consultant-level advice to other clinical teams within the Trust. Ensure safe initiation and monitoring of parenteral and complex enteral nutrition. To support decision making in appropriateness for home PN and providing support and advice to medical teams for palliative and EOL patients.

Leadership and Service Development
Contribute to the strategic development of the Nutrition Support Service in line with national guidance (e.g. BAPEN, NICE). Be an active member of the trust Nutrition Steering Committee. Promote and monitor standards of complex nutritional care for cancer and intestinal failure patients. Strengthen governance, audit, and quality improvement processes within the NST service. Provide leadership in decision-making around artificial nutrition in patients with advanced cancer, ensuring decisions are evidence-based, ethical, and aligned with patients' values. Contribute to goals-of-care discussions, advance care planning, and end-of-life care decisions. Act as a source of specialist advice on ethical dilemmas related to artificial nutrition, capacity, and best-interest decision-making in collaboration with legal and ethics committees if required. Participate in the strategic planning of nutrition support services, including potential expansion into broader gastroenterology/late effects work. Engage with regional and national networks to promote best practice.

Education and Training
Provide teaching on ethical principles in artificial nutrition support and complex decision-making. Contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes. Undertake CPD and maintain GMC revalidation.

Research and Audit
Contribute to the development, implementation, and review of policies, guidelines, and audit programmes to ensure compliance with best practice standards. Engage with research activity in clinical nutrition and gastroenterology and support the development of research capacity and innovation within the team. Present and publish findings at local, national, and international level. Participate in or initiate research projects, and contribute to audit, service evaluation, and clinical research in nutrition and cancer. Develop and participate in clinical trials and translational research related to artificial nutrition, cancer cachexia, and survivorship.

Governance and Professional Standards
Participate in annual appraisal, job planning, and revalidation. Comply with Trust and GMC standards on clinical governance, risk management, safeguarding, and data protection. Maintain continuing professional development in line with Royal College of Physicians guidance. Uphold equality, diversity, and inclusion principles in clinical and educational practice.

Office Equipment and Secretarial Support
The role will have a consultant office within our Supportive Oncology Directorate, shared with a colleague from Endocrinology. The role will also have access to a secretary based within Dietetics and Nutrition. Any role-specific clinical equipment required for the Gastroenterologist will be purchased as required. The consultant will be issued a Trust laptop.

Job Planning
The job plan outlines the requirements of the post and may be altered by joint agreement with the Divisional Clinical Director and Service Manager and in response to service needs. Job plans are prospectively agreed subject to an annual individual job plan review (May to September). It is expected that the initial job plan discussion will take place within the first six months of employment at the Trust and then be aligned to the Trust's annual job planning review cycle.

The consultant job plan will include a combination of Direct Clinical Care (DCC) and Supporting Professional Activities (SPA) delivered across the 7-day week. Weekend working will consist of programmed clinical activities that are job-planned, scheduled in advance, and reviewed annually through the job planning process.

On Call Commitments
This role does not require participation in the on-call rota.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential: MRCP; GMC registration with a licence to practise; Entry on the GMC specialist register via Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) (proposed CCT date must be within 6 months of interview) or Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR).
Desirable: Higher degree (MD/PhD) in gastroenterology, nutrition or related field; Qualifications in oncology.

Research and Publications
Essential: Participation in relevant research in the field of nutrition/oncology.
Desirable: Publication in peer-reviewed journals; active research in nutrition/gastroenterology.

Training
Essential: Broad training in nutrition including enteral and parenteral nutrition and gastroenterology.
Desirable: Training in oncology patients.

Experience
Essential: Experience in clinical nutrition, enteral and parenteral nutrition; MDT experience in tertiary/specialist setting; knowledge and experience of ethical decision-making in artificial nutrition and end-of-life care; experience of working in an acute setting and clinical leadership; evidence of audit, quality improvement and governance participation; evidence of teaching and clinical supervision.
Desirable: Experience in cancer-related nutrition or intestinal failure; service development or leadership; team management.

Personal Skills
Essential: Team working; communication skills; commitment to patient-centred care; evidence of clinical leadership skills; ability to work under pressure, self-motivated, able to motivate a team, enthusiastic and professional demeanour.
Desirable: Leadership in national societies; member of BAPEN.

Circumstances
Essential: Domicile within 60 minutes travel time to the hospital.

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 the NHS Careers website.

Employer details
Employer name: The Christie NHS FT
Address: Endocrinology Medical - E00252, Manchester, M20 4BX, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.christie.nhs.uk/

Contact for questions about the job
Head of Nutrition and Dietetics: Loraine Gillespie, loraine.gillespie@nhs.net, 01619187588

Privacy notice: The Christie NHS FT's privacy notice.

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