Connecting clinical expertise to patient care
What is NHS Emeritus Consultants?
NHS Emeritus Consultants is an initiative to connect recently retired consultants across the country with organisations and teams looking to reduce waiting times for outpatient care. Telehealth technology enables highly skilled clinicians to deliver outpatient care remotely, fitting in as much or as little as they would like to do around their other interests, activities and commitments.
It has been set up to help reduce the number of patients waiting for outpatient appointments by enabling retired specialists to support elective recovery efforts.
Benefits of joining as a consultant
- Work flexibly, from any location, to suit both your requirements and expertise
- Manage your pay and receive rapid payment for the cases 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
NHS Emeritus Consultants uses a cloud-based, digital platform to connect you with secondary care providers who require additional highly skilled and experienced consultant capacity.
Provider trusts will be able to enter required remote or in-person Direct Clinical Care (DCC) activity on the platform. Consultants with the relevant specialty training and experience will be able to view required clinical activities by specialty, signal their interest and availability and be considered for engagement and booking by the trust.
The NHS Emeritus Consultants programme is limited to secondary care consultants to specifically support clinical activities to support reducing non-admitted elective care and cancer backlogs including:
- Face-to-face outpatient clinics on the provider trust’s site
- Remote consultations – video and telephone
- Diagnostic reporting, on site or remote
- Specialist advice, on site or remote
The scope of the programme does not include Admitted Care, Urgent and Emergency Care, Primary Care or Mental Health.
There is no cost to consultants or providers to register on the NHS Emeritus Consultant platform. Neither is there any cost to providers to promote requirements for consultant cover. However, providers will be responsible for bearing the costs for delivery of the clinical activity, including consultant time.
NHS Emeritus Consultants will not accept registration of consultants via recruitment agencies.
Provider trusts who wish to engage an emeritus consultant will be responsible for:
- Registering their organisation on the platform
- Entering the clinical activity needing to be covered
- Reviewing consultants’ expressions of interest and suitability
- Selecting and booking (via the platform) the preferred clinician
- Providing a named clinical lead and local induction for the consultant
- Providing necessary systems access e.g., EPR, video platform, digital dictation
- Contracting with the consultant and approving timesheets
- Providing usual administrative support for clinical activity e.g., clerking in of patients, cashing up of clinics, typing and dissemination of clinic letters
- The short form below is available for soon-to-retire or recently retired consultants to register expressions of interest in participating.
- Consultants will be contacted to commence formal registration ahead of launch.
- The NHS Emeritus Consultants digital platform will be launched in autumn and be live for up to twelve months, allowing providers across England to promote requirements for consultant cover, and recently retired consultants to offer their availability and expertise virtually and in person.
Express Your Interest
Expression of interest form
Interested consultants will be contacted ahead of the launch with more information and registration instructions.