Senior Medical Officer, General Medicine - Acute Medicine

Acute Medicine Senior Medical Officer (SMO)

•  Middlemore Hospital | South Auckland, New Zealand
•  Permanent | Full-time or Part-time

About the Role

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is seeking Acute Medicine Senior Medical Officers - SMOs with a passion for Acute Medicine at Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau, based at Middlemore Hospital, in South Auckland, New Zealand.

This permanent opportunity offers flexibility with full-time or part-time appointments to support individual lifestyle and career goals.

As a Acute Medicine SMO, you will provide high-quality clinical care across a broad range of acute and general medical presentations while contributing to service development, education, and clinical leadership within a collaborative multidisciplinary environment.

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is firmly grounded in the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is committed to building a health system that serves all New Zealanders.

Key Responsibilities

•          Provide expert clinical care to patients presenting with a wide range of acute medical conditions.

•          Lead a multi-disciplinary team within our Medical Assessment Unit.

•          Supervise initial clinical assessments by junior medical staff, provide early senior decision making, and direct disposition and management.

•          Provide expert clinical advice to referring clinicians from Primary Care, Emergency Department, and other medical specialties.

•          Lead ward rounds on patients anticipated to require a short hospital stay.

•          Conduct urgent assessment & management in an ambulatory setting via the Acute Medicine Rapid Access Clinic.

•          Participate in training of junior doctors and other health professionals.

•          Assist in developing guidelines, clinical pathways, and service quality improvement.

Suitable candidates may also be able to pursue other special clinical interests and/or medical sub-specialties. Experience and/or interest in clinical leadership roles are particularly valued.

About Middlemore Hospital

Middlemore Hospital is the main hub for acute care and referral services within CM Health. It is an accredited, teaching hospital of Auckland University and caters for most medical and surgical specialties with a catchment area of around 600,000 people.

We also provide niche specialist tertiary services for regional and national consumers in orthopaedic and plastic surgery, burns, spinal injury rehabilitation, renal dialysis, and neonatal intensive care.

Acute Medicine & General Medicine:

South Auckland has the highest health needs in New Zealand with relatively high levels of socio-economic deprivation, chronic diseases, and acute presentations with high acuity & complexity. Our population has the highest ethnic and cultural diversity in NZ. This makes the General Medicine experience at Middlemore complex and challenging, but also highly rewarding and interesting for those who value caring for the patients most in need of it. 

Acute Medicine is developing as a specific sub-service of General Medicine focusing on the first 24 hours. It aims to deliver early senior-led decision making in acute referrals, patient assessments, and management pathways. This includes the Acute Medicine Rapid Access Clinic to deliver urgent ambulatory assessment and care without admission to hospital. Acute Medicine is still evolving so there is room to adapt and shape it according to our needs.

Regular educational activities include Grand Rounds, Morbidity and Mortality meetings, peer review, and structured undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes.

To see more about us and our hospital, please click here.

About You

To be considered, you will have:

• You should be either registered, or be eligible for vocational registration within, the scope of General & Acute Care Medicine with the Medical Council of New Zealand. You should also have a specific interest in Acute Medicine.
• Previous experience as a Consultant in Acute Medicine and/or Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) is desirable.
• A commitment to delivering high-quality, patient-centred care.
• Excellent communication, teamwork, and clinical leadership skills.

Applicants will be required to complete source verification of qualifications as part of the Medical Council of New Zealand registration process (EPIC).

To view the position description please click here.

What We Offer

• Permanent full-time or part-time employment options.
• A supportive and collaborative consultant team.
• Opportunities for professional development, teaching, research, and clinical leadership.
• Reimbursement of Annual Practising Certificate costs.
• Regular in-house continuing professional development sessions.
• Access to employee benefits and discounted services.
• Additional allowances for Continuous Clinical Development

Enquiries

For further information, please contact:

You can contact our SMO Recruitment Consultant at Barbara.ridgway@tewhatuora.govt.nz for general enquiries.

For role-specific questions, please contact Dr Ruwan Chaturanga Wijayaratna - Head of General Medicine Department at  ruwanchaturanga.wijayaratna@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz