Connecting clinical expertise to patient care
What is NHS Emeritus?
NHS Emeritus is an initiative which connects recently retired and peri-retired clinicians across England, with NHS providers of acute care who need the help only experienced clinicians can offer.
NHS Emeritus enables providers to engage clinicians for clinical activities such as outpatient planned care, teaching and education.
Whilst recognising that much activity will be in-person, NHS Emeritus aims to make optimal use of technology, enabling clinicians to also deliver care remotely, when clinically appropriate. In this way, members of NHS Emeritus can work flexibly, fitting in as much or as little as they would like to, around their other interests and commitments.
Consultants and SAS doctors are eligible to participate as long as they are on the medical register of the General Medical Council (GMC) and hold a licence to practice. Consultants also must be on the GMC’s specialist register.
Benefits of joining as a clinician
- Work flexibly, from any location in the UK, to suit both your requirements and expertise
- Manage your pay and receive regular payment for assignments completed
- Streamlined application process and dedicated support
- Be part of the effort to reduce the elective recovery backlog, and benefit those waiting for care
Frequently Asked Questions
Clinicians who have expressed interest in the pilot and meet the criteria to join will be invited to register.
Once the necessary pre-employment checks have taken place, the clinician will be onboarded by NHS North of England Care System Support (NECS), the lead employing organisation. A profile will be created for the consultant within TempRE, a job matching platform, and the consultant will be provided with log in details.
TempRE is Liaison Workforce’s temporary workforce management platform that NHS Emeritus uses to match consultants to clinical assignments, for booking and timesheet submission and authorisation.
Clinicians will receive digital notifications of assignments based on their speciality, sub-specialisms and interest in performing supporting professional activities, as nominated within their unique profile. Using the TempRE website or mii mobile-enabled app, consultants can signal their interest and availability for assignments.
Providers sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NHS England and the lead employing organisation, NHS North of England Care System Support (NECS).
After signing the MOU, and onboarding to the TempRE cloud-based platform, providers can upload assignments of clinical activities that require cover remotely or in person on hospital sites. These activities include outpatient clinics, remote consultations, advice and guidance, clinical prioritisation, and diagnostic reporting. Providers may also use NHS Emeritus for supporting professional activities such as appraisal (consultant as appraiser), educational supervision and clinical supervision.
Providers are alerted once NHS Emeritus clinicians have nominated their availability to perform an assignment. Using TempRE, providers review the different profiles and compliance documents, and books the clinician of their choice. Providers are responsible for providing local induction and arranging delivery of clinical activity with the consultant. Patients are booked by the provider in the normal way.
On completion of the assignment, the consultant submits an electronic timesheet for authorisation using the mii app. Clinicians can book confirmations of assignments, submit timesheets and view payslips using the mii app.
The pilot has been commissioned to support the delivery of non-admitted, planned care, teaching and education. Providers of acute care can utilise NHS Emeritus to source cover for the following clinical activities:
- Advice and guidance
- Clinical prioritisation (including triage of referrals and prioritisation of waiting lists)
- Outpatient clinics – face-to-face (onsite)
- Outpatient clinics – video and telephone (onsite or remote)
- Clinical diagnostic work – diagnostic sessions and reporting
- Clinical session (onsite) – including elective operating sessions
- Appraisals (as appraiser)
- Clinical supervision
- Educational supervision
- Risk and governance
- Clinical Audit
The focus of the pilot is to enable providers of acute care to increase consultant capacity for outpatient recovery and transformation. The clinical assignments do not include cover for oncall shifts or responsibilities.
Consultants and SAS doctors can become members of NHS Emeritus and access the NECS Emeritus Support service at no cost. The costs of pre-employment checks are borne centrally by NHS England.
There is also no cost to NHS providers to use the TempRE platform to find suitable cover for their assignments. Providers are responsible for paying for the clinician’s time based on pay rates nominated in assignments. Providers will be responsible for any other operational costs relating to clinical activity, and for provision of any IT equipment and access requirements.
As a provider trust, your organisation will be responsible for:
- Submitting an expression of interest
- Executing the Memorandum of Understanding agreement with NHS England and NECS
- Completing an onboarding document provided by Liaison Workforce
- Completing onboarding to the TempRE platform, including staff training
- Entering details of assignments
- Nominating the rate of pay
- Selecting and booking NHS Emeritus doctors
- Providing the usual induction process and activities for clinical staff
- Providing any equipment, access and training required, including IT systems
- Providing the usual administrative support for clinical activity
- Booking patient appointments in the usual way
- Approving timesheets on the TempRE platform
- Paying for clinician’s time for work performed, as cross-charged by the NECS, the lead employing organisation, within the agreed terms as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding
Led by the Outpatient Recovery and Transformation Programme, NHS England, the initial phase of the NHS Emeritus pilot will run until the end of September 2024.
Express Your Interest
Expression of interest form
To join NHS Emeritus, clinicians need to meet the following critieria:
- A medical doctor in the UK registered with the General Medical Council (GMC), with a licence to practice
- Medical grade of consultant and on the GMC specialist register; or
- Specialty and Associate Specialist (SAS) doctor
- Recently retired, partially retired or in peri-retirement
- Experienced in working in the NHS