Dr Lorraine Petersen, Medical Director and Consultant in Palliative Medicine

I work mainly in out-patients seeing people in the hospice and in their own homes.  I may see patients on my own or jointly with the specialist palliative care home team nurses. I also work one day a week in the Addenbrookes palliative care team, which provides a real contrast to my work at the hospice. 

We are a teaching hospice and I am the lead for the medical student teaching and the educational supervisor for one of the trainee doctors. I am closely involved in the clinical governance of the hospice and am joint chair for the Clinical Governance meeting and the Information Governance steering group. I am also leading the OACC (Outcome Assessment and Complexity Collaborative) project looking at the way we measure and improve our care.

As Medical Director I have senior roles in the organisation.  As Responsible Officer I am in charge of making recommendations to the GMC (General Medical Council) for the revalidation of doctors for this and 2 other local hospices.  Being the Caldicott Guardian means I can be consulted for advice about issues regarding confidentiality and data sharing. As part of the senior management team I contribute to trustee meetings and events.  

Even though I find I am juggling lots of different roles, seeing patients and their families still remains the best thing about my job.