Women, Children and Sexual Health Division
There are so many great reasons to come and work for us, and on this page, you will find out more about some of the individual specialist teams across NHS Dumfries & Galloway. Each division within our Health Board has a dedicated Manager which allows for excellent lines of communication for our different teams.
Why work for NHS Dumfries & Galloway?
- Smaller teams providing a real sense of community within the workplace
- Positive culture throughout the organisation
- Visible and approachable senior managers
- Free parking across all of our sites
- Regular social events in and out of work hours
- State of the art facilities including clinical training spaces and simulation suite
Please select from the specialties below for more information
Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services
The Dumfries services are all co-located in The Willows, Stranraer services are located in the Oak Tree Family Centre. Locality services are provided in a range of locations including local health centres and schools. The CAMHS service also have close working relationships with General Practitioners, Health Visitors, School Nurses, Public Health and our partner agencies which enable the provision of services that are responsive to the needs of the population.
We have a ISSU 18 team with specialist skills in working with children and young people affected by alcohol and substance misuse.
Neurodevelopmental assessment and diagnostic service is a team we have dedicated to providing a comprehensive assessment and diagnostic service to children up to the age of 18 with possible difficulties which includes Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum, Intellectual Disability and Tic Disorders.
There are good working relationships with the Community Adult Mental Health Teams, the life span Learning Disability Team and the Child and Adolescent Psychology service which are all clinically governed within the mental health directorate.
Why work here...
- Small team – opportunity to work with peers on a daily basis - weekly peer group meetings
- Multi-disciplinary teams working side-by-side - closely connected to other services (Paediatrics, CAMHS, Social Work)
- Co-location of services at the Willows (CAMHS specific unit set within historic grounds) increases opportunity for collaboration
- Team very supportive and workloads are always tailored to the individual and department needs
- Homeworking packages available for Consultants
- Opportunity to influence service re-design
- Low staff turnover
- Consultants offices are two consultants to an office, often on site together - opportunity for sharing of knowledge, collaboration, etc
- Work-life balance and the Willows is set within the Crichton Estate, beautiful scenery/walking routes
- Service is linked to national networks
Hear from the team and take a tour of the department
In just minutes from The Willows you can take a break in our lovely surroundings
Midwifery
Working as a midwife in Dumfries and Galloway can be a really rewarding experience.The maternity service has approximately 1200 births each year and offers hospital and home births. The service is small enough to support the feeling of a close and friendly team where everyone knows each other but large enough to provide a diversity of roles and challenges.
The consultant unit is located in Dumfries and functions as a shared facility with midwifery led care supported within the unit with referral to obstetric colleagues for more complex cases. The staff take a quality improvement methodology to implement change.
Senior Charge Midwife
Why work with us..
- Opportunity to work with a small friendly but motivated team
- Opportunity to practice as a midwife and have your own caseload in a low-risk, complex pregnancy or vulnerability team.
- Opportunity to work in a hospital or community setting.
- Opportunity for career progression.
- Protected study time
- A purpose-built birthing and maternity suite with single room capacity. Large birthing rooms with plenty of natural day light.
Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Based at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, the Obstetrics and Gynaecology team has access to state of the art theatres, inpatient wards (all single occupancy rooms) and outpatient clinics with colposcopy and outpatient operative hysteroscopy suites.
We have a working arrangement with NHS Ayrshire & Arran to provide urogynaecology services, and provide specialist womens’ health physiotherapy, urodynamic assessment and community-led continence support clinics. Our specialist vulval clinic is supported by pyschosexual services in Sexual Health and by the West of Scotland Vulval MDT.
Key Features...
- At DGRI, we have a Gynaecological assessment area for same day urgent assessments with state of the art scanning equipment
- Colposcopy suite which has a trained medical led colposcopy service
- We perform advanced laparoscopic surgery
- Nurse led urodynamic service
- Established community continence and physio team
- Perinatal Midwife support
- Combined diabetic obstetrics clinic – with remote monitoring for blood glucose monitoring
- Have our own Gynaecology Cancer Nurse Specialist & Linked to the Gynaecology cancer MDM, complex pelvis MDM and endometrious MDM in Edinburgh
- Great teaching environment, supportive management, keen to develop staff. Top department in Scotland for support and 4th nationally for training, support and development in GMC. Protected teaching time given.
- Social activities within the department, team building etc
- Engaged with Scotgem clinical placements
- Great on site Education Centre at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary including Obstetrics simulator and laparoscopy simulator
Paediatrics and Child Health
Our Paediatrics and Child Health services are spilt into 3 areas:
- Acute Paediatrics – Children’s ward at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
- Neonatology – Neonatal Unit at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
- Community Paediatrics – Based at The Willows
We are an integrated service across all three areas.
Key Features
- Friendly and supportive integrated team - visible and approachable managers with excellent links to other teams
- Award winning team - 'Scottish Nurse of the year 2020' , 'Neonatal nurse of the year 2020' and Finalists 'Best Doctor 2020'
- Broad range of medical and nursing opportunities, cross working between Acute and Community paediatric teams
- Great Education Centre on site at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary with simulation equipment. Paediatrics, Neonatal and Maternity have simulation training equipment inhouse within the Paediatrics department
- Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary has a separate entrance for Women & Children's with further entrances to neonatal and the acute ward. The acute ward has been designed so it is adjacent to Accident and emergency, theatres and Xray allowing great patient flow.
- Our Children's Ward at DGRI takes in every speciality under Medical and Surgical - these are not separated into different wards
- Excellent facilities at DGRI including negative pressure room onsite and 3 neonatal ICU cots
- Child protection is managed by Consultant in DGRI
- New Neurodevelopment pathway - Joint team working with CAMHS, and colleagues within multi disciplinary teams
- Links with Scottish Paediatrics Society, West of Scotland Paediatrics Society, as well as with Tertiary Care Centres in Glasgow, and Endocrinology in Edinburgh and Glasgow
- Clinicians have home working packages including laptop and mobile phone, some clinics can be carried out from home using NHS near me
- We have full time Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioners
- Best start model of work
Sexual Health
Meet the team and hear about our service
Our Sexual Health service is open access and offers the following services:
- All methods of contraception
- Male Sterilisation (vasectomy)
- Pregnancy testing and termination referrals
- Post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for HIV and Hepatitis B following high risk sexual exposure including sexual assault
- Pre exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV
- Hepatitis B and HPV Immunisation
- Psychosexual Counselling
- STI testing and treatment
Clinics run at different sites over the region. Our main clinics run from Nithbank in Dumfries and Outpatient department at The Galloway Community hospital in Stranraer. We also run Drop in Youth clinics and other outreach clinics across the region.
The service is supported by various professionals including Consultant, Associate Specialist and Specialty Doctors, Specialist Nurses, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and supportive Administrative staff. The service has great relationships and links with our general practitioners who also provide support for the service.
The team have their own public website which you can view by clicking here
Key Features
- Small, forward thinking team with highly skilled nursing staff
- Nurse led clinics, offering all integrated sexual health service : sexually transmitted infection and various methods of contraception
- Innovative team – forefront of technologies to increase reach of services
- Electronic records with internal messaging service - efficient when needing record for patients outwith NHS D&G
- Online booking system with automatic text service to pass on info to patients (including videos)
- Self taking history kiosk - allowing patients to enter health history ahead of appointment
- Kiosk service app - allows patients to check in from mobile device
- Strong partnership working with 3rd sector and local authorities including all hard to reach groups throughout the region
- Community working - Outreach clinics throughout the region
- Highly skilled and supportive administrative support – can assist in appointment triage which allows efficient working
- Health Improvement Officer based in the department
- Good links to national services – opportunity to represent profession at national level and to be on national committees
- Part of the West of Scotland Sexual Health Managed Clinical Network (WOSMCN)
- Our band 6 nurses all work towards their non medical prescribing
- Department support staff working towards post grad skills and certificates
Hear from the team
‘I love working in Sexual Health as every day is different and we meet people from all walks of life. I enjoy working in Sexual Health as we are a close small team. I feel supported in my role as a nurse prescriber. Working in Sexual Health I have had many training opportunities and feel involved in developing the service.’
Sexual Health Nurse
Team Administrator
‘Sexual Health is an intensely rewarding job where you are able to work alongside colleagues who value open mindedness, excellent communication skills, and an ability to empathise with clients from all walks of life. It is truly a holistic specialty with the focus on wellbeing rather than ill health.’
Sexual Health Doctor