Trainee Retinal Screener Grader
Accepting applications until: 04-Aug-2024 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 04-Aug-2024 23:59
Key details
Location
- Site
- Cross-site
- Town
- London
- Postcode
- SE1 9RT
- Major / Minor Region
- London
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Fixed term: 2 years (YR 1 £19,317 + £5,519 HCA pa YR 2 (if applic.) £20,697 + £5,519 HCA pa)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, with scheduled evening clinics worked 11am to 7pm, and occasional Saturdays.)
Salary
- Grade
- Band 4 (Annex 21)
Specialty
- Main area
- Retinal Screener/Primary Grader
- Interview date
- 13/08/2024
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic Trainee Retinal Screener Grader to join the South East London Diabetic Eye Screening Programme, provided by Guy's and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
Trainees are enrolled on the Health Screeners Diploma, a nationally recognised level 3 qualification. They will be supported by qualified in-house assessors and be assigned a mentor to support their learning. Learning is gained in the clinical environment by learning how to use a retinal screening camera to capture images, how to take the patients relevant medical history, and how to assess the images which is known as 'grading'.
In addition to the practical training the successful candidate will be required to complete a number of written assessments and e-learning modules. Study time will be given for e-learning, however it is expected that trainees will complete some learning in their own time. Successful candidates will need to be engaged and proactive to complete their personal learning plan.
Trainees are employed on an AFC annex 21 training contract, which is equivalent to 70% of the top pay point for the band in the first year and 75% of the top pay point for the band for the second year
This contract is for a fixed term of two years, as the qualification should be obtained within 1 to 2 years of enrolment.
Once the qualification has been obtained the trainee moves to a permanent contract at the starting point of the band 4 pay scale.
Advert
Training is facilitated in Hospital outpatient clinics, NHS health centres and high street opticians. Once qualified, Screener Graders work independently or in pairs in clinics, with a few dedicated grading sessions a month at the central offices at Guy’s Hospital.
The candidate will work in clinics across Bexley, Greenwich, Bromley, Lewisham , Southwark and Lambeth during the training period, later settling into one locality team, with occasional cross cover in other localities.
Main Duties:
- Learning how to use retinal screening cameras to capture retinal photographs
- Learning how to use software to capture patient information
- Learning how to assess a patients visual acuity
- Learning how to instill eye drops
- Learning how to identify eye diseases and pathology
- Learning referral pathways
- Offering excellent patient care in outpatient environments
- Studying independently and providing written work, and/or practical evidence of skills and knowledge gained through training
Working for our organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.
We are among the UK’s busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart and lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.
We have around 22,700 staff, making us one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country and one of the biggest employers locally. We aim to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and continue to develop new and existing partnerships with local people, patients, neighbouring NHS organisations, local authorities and charitable bodies and GPs.
We strive to recruit and retain the best staff as the dedication and skills of our employees lie at the heart of our organisation and ensure that our services are of the highest quality, safe and focused on our patients.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Learning responsibilities
- Enrol onto and undertake the Level 3 Diploma for Health Screeners qualification.
- Engage with trainers and assessors to review own learning and create and update personal development plans.
- Take responsibility for own learning, ensuing that units are completed and submitted in a timely fashion, in accordance with agreed learning plan.
Clinical Duties and Responsibilities
- Greet patients courteously and explain the screening process from assessment to reporting of results;
- work constructively with colleagues to ensure clinics operate smoothly;
- confirm and update patient demographics on the patient’s screening record;
- once trained and qualified, instil mydriatic eye drops into the patient’s eyes, in line with appropriate protocols, recording this information on the IT system;
- to learn to use the retinal camera to gain good quality anterior and peripheral images of patients eyes where appropriate;
- capture digital retinal images of patients’ eyes using retinal screening cameras available at the different screening sites;
- to learn to grade retinal images to secondary level, making an assessment of the level of disease in line with local grading protocol;
- to learn to identify and refer significant non diabetic related pathology;
- to learn to ensure R3 (proliferative diabetic retinopathy) is appropriately fast tracked through the grading pathway and to ophthalmology;
- refer any issues preventing patients being screened on that day to the administration team so that they can rearrange appointments and record this in the patient notes;
- ensure the daily clinic list is kept up to date;
- deal with any telephone and drop in enquires, providing information to patients and colleagues that is commensurate with training and referring any clinical queries to the team leader or clinical lead;
- to learn to adjust the camera settings appropriately, and troubleshoot any camera/hardware issues that arise before reporting any problems up the line;
- to learn to use the IT system, finding patients, adding new patients, updating patients and archiving patients in line with screening and administration policies and local training
Communication Duties and Responsibilities
- Act professionally and courteously at all times to patients and colleagues;
- Explain to patients and professional colleagues, the screening process and the importance of eye screening in detecting sight threat-threatening disease;
- Explain to patients how their images will be assessed following their attendance and when they should expect to receive their results;
- To report any complaints or issues that arise to the team leader or deputy programme manager as appropriate.
We have a large integrated team comprising of Screener Graders at three levels of competency, qualified specialist Optometrists, administrators and failsafe officers. The service is led by a dedicated management team and Consultant Ophthalmologist.
The team meet regularly for multidisciplinary meetings, shared learning, practical training and professional development.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Person specification
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent concentration and attention to detail
- Friendly, enthusiastic and professional approach
- Excellent written and verbal communication
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working within a team and to effectively liaise with people at all levels
- Experience with personal computers and databases
- Experience of working flexibly and independently
- Experience of making analytical and judgemental decisions
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working within a clinical environment
Knowledge / Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Good standard of general education, 5 GCSES A-C or equivalent
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Sara Wuka
- Job title
- Lambeth Screening Team Leader
- Email address
- [email protected]
Start your application
You must sign in to a Trac account before you can apply for this job.
Sign in
Create an account
Create your account and apply for your new job!