Trust Resident Doctor ST- General Surgery

Go back West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

The closing date is 17 February 2026

The is a full time, fixed term position as a Trust Resident Doctor in General Surgery. Duties include the management and care of emergency general surgery patients and of elective general surgery subspecialty patients.

The initial subspecialty covered is colorectal surgery with the opportunity by mutual consent to rotate to other specialties after a minimum of 6 months. The job is based at Watford General Hospital with some work across sites in St Albans City Hospital.

You will be required to work to a 1:10 on-call duty rota, which will be produced in advance and will include prospective cover for annual leave for colleagues.

The Main duties of the post will involve seeing, diagnosing, and treating General Surgical patients, referring to other clinicians or general practitioners where appropriate and theatre, including CEPOD.

You will be expected to work closely with appropriate nursing, professional, technical, administrative and support staff.

You will be responsible jointly with the Registrars for ensuring high standard of care is delivered to patients. In particular, the teams should organise themselves to give safe cover on the wards at Watford General Hospital.

You will be responsible for ensuring adequate clinical notes are made in accordance with good medical practice.

You may, on occasion, be asked to assist in the teaching of medical students.

With a new hospital planned for Watford and work underway to update theatres at St Albans City Hospital, this is an exciting time to join us.

We are building on the success of our award-winning virtual hospital and re-imagining models of care, working ever more closely with partners and making the most of advances in digital healthcare.

Staff wellbeing and development are a priority at our Trust, as is the role of innovation in improving clinical care, outcomes and patient experience.

Our vision is Excellent patient care, together and our values are to be empowered, compassionate, professional and inclusive. They capture an important balance across what we must all do as individuals and to support others.

We offer a variety of flexible working options as we recognise the importance of a good work life balance.

If you have a disability or long-term health condition and should you require support or guidance please contact

If you are a Service Leaver, Veteran, Military Reserve, Cadet Force Adult Volunteer, or partner/spouse of those serving please tick "Member of the Armed Forces Community" on the application form.

We reserve the right to close this advert early due to the volume of applicants. Please apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

If you do not hear back within 3 weeks of your application, please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

VALUES:
The post holder will uphold and display Trust values.

DUTIES IN AN EMERGENCY:

Junior doctors are required to perform duties over and above their contracted hours in occasional emergencies and in unforeseen circumstances, at the request of the Clinical Director of the service. It has been agreed with the profession and the Department of Health that these additional commitments are exceptional and juniors should not be required to undertake work of this kind for a prolonged period or on a regular basis.

MEDICAL AND CLINICAL AUDIT:

The department is fully committed to the practice of Medical and Clinical Audit and you will be expected to take part in this process.

The department has a programme of continuing quality improvement, in which you may become involved.

STUDY AND TRAINING:

You are encouraged to formulate clinical projects and be capable of performing and interpreting audit findings.

This Trust encourages junior medical staff to study for approved postgraduate qualification, and it is therefore important that junior doctors should discuss their study leave requirements with their consultants and the clinical tutors early in their appointment.

RESEARCH:

The SHOs and Trust SHOs, though heavily committed to the service needs of the department, will be encouraged to pursue an appropriate research interest.

POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL CENTRE:

There are very active Postgraduate Medical Centres on both hospital sites, with lecture theatres, seminar rooms and well-stocked libraries taking a number of journals.

There are facilities for on-line literature searches and MEDLINE available on CD-ROM at both sites. There is a full-time administrator and librarian at both hospitals.

Regular lunchtime meetings are held for local General Practitioners and hospital medical staff (weekly Grand Round) on both sites. There is in addition a wide variety of Postgraduate training in other disciplines and the trainee will be able to attend a range of such meetings.

The respective Postgraduate Medical Centres Administrators issue a full programme each…