Job summary
Join Our Team as An Advanced Optometrist at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust!
Are you a passionate and experienced Optometrist looking for a career in an acute NHS trust or have experience of working within a hospital setting and now looking for the next career step? Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a dynamic and dedicated Optometrist to join our exceptional team!
The Role: Our eye centre requires an Optometrist to provide a robust and professional Optometric service to support our Ophthalmology pathways. An important focus of the role will be to provide objective and subjective refractions to a wide range of patients, but with a special expertise in managing special needs patients who may have more serious or unusual ocular pathology, in a range of age groups. As part of your role there is also the opportunity to develop your autonomy in extended skills in one of our other Ophthalmology pathways such as Cataracts, Medical Retina or Urgent Eye Care.
You'll thrive in this role because..
- You'll make a real difference as part of a dedicated and supportive team.
- You'll enjoy a Part-time role (29 hours per week) with opportunities for professional development and career progression.
- You'll foster a positive and inclusive team spirit where everyone feels a sense of belonging and part of the team.
Main duties of the job
Key Responsibilities:
- Provide high-level professional expertise in the refraction of children and adults, including prescribing glasses.
- Ensure the delivery of high-quality, safe, and person-centred care through engagement and empowerment of others.
- Collaborate with the Eye Centre Department Lead, Head Orthoptist, Care Unit Matron, and Service Manager to develop and manage the Optometrist service.
- Lead and deliver success across key Ophthalmology Pathways programmes within the Department, including productivity, efficiency, transformation, clinical effectiveness and quality
- Low vision assessment on a small group of patients
- To accept referrals for a small caseload of Bandage contact Lenses, assisting in the monitoring and management of these therapeutic contact lenses alongside their Ophthalmology Care.
- To be responsible and accountable for your clinical caseload and any follow up care.
Essential Qualifications:
- BSc Hon Degree in Optometry and must have completed the additional Pre - Registration year.
- Must be registered as an Optometrist with the General Optical Council.
- Evidence of Post Graduate Qualifications or significant experience, with appropriate professional CPD.
- Previous experience working in a hospital eye service would be desirable
- Previous experience and wide exposure to Optometry in the Primary and Secondary Care Setting.
- Ability to provide a robust and professional Optometric service to support Ophthalmology pathways. Working in a multidisciplinary team.
About us
About Us: At Chesterfield Royal Hospital, we are committed to bringing our people, communities, and partners together to provide patient care we can all be proud of. Our values of Compassion, Ambition, Respect, and Encouragement guide everything we do.
Chesterfield Royal Hospital is located in Calow, Chesterfield, which is situated on a green field site on the edge of the Peak District National Park. It is home to the Crooked Spire and is also close to Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham, thus offering numerous choices for recreational activities and lifestyles.
Chesterfield Royal Hospital was officially opened by the queen in 1985 and since then it has continued to expand and modernise, currently holding approximately 550 beds. We provide acute in-patient and out-patient care for Chesterfield and the surrounding rural area of North Derbyshire, serving a population of approximately 350,000 people.
We are currently rated GOOD by the CQC.
What We Offer:
- A supportive and inclusive work environment where your contributions are valued.
- Opportunities for professional development and career progression.
- The chance to make a positive impact on patient care and the overall success of the hospital.
Join Us: If you are a compassionate, ambitious, and respectful Optometrist with a commitment to excellence, we want to hear from you! Apply now to become a part of our dedicated team and help us achieve our mission of providing exceptional patient care.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see the Job description and Person Specification in the attachments section on this page. This document contains a full detailed description of the role and what the main responsibilities and duties are, along with the criteria that are required for the role.
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter for more:@hrcrhft @royalhospital @WellbeingCRH
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see the Job description and Person Specification in the attachments section on this page. This document contains a full detailed description of the role and what the main responsibilities and duties are, along with the criteria that are required for the role.
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter for more:@hrcrhft @royalhospital @WellbeingCRH
Person Specification
Qualifications & Training
Essential
- Have full GOC registration
- BSc Ophthalmic Optics or Optometry
- Special interest, expertise and knowledge of complex refractions in conjunction with complex ocular conditions and medical needs
- Educated to the level of a Master's degree or equivalent level of experience
Desirable
- Member of the College of Optometrists
- Post-graduate Higher qualifications
- Post-graduate Independent Prescribing qualification
Experience
Essential
- Ability to competently undertake highly specialist refractions and optical care of complex patients
- Experience working with visually impaired patients and others with learning difficulties
- Working within budget constraints and awareness of other product options
- Developing own clinical competencies and those of others
- Taking responsibility for running autonomous clinics, replacing doctor activity
- Informing the patients by developing patient information leaflets
- Responding to clinical incidents and advising others, changing practice accordingly
- Developing departmental policies/ procedures
- Awareness of Safeguarding, Information Governance etc, by implementing safeguards within the Optometry department
- Ability to work under pressure and manage the departmental caseload
- Awareness of emerging clinical treatments that may be adopted for the caseload eg. Myopia Control. And how this may be accessed in a timely way
- Extensive and varied clinical experience (minimum 2 years)
- Broad understanding of the Optometry profession, Primary/Secondary Care interface, NHS service provision
- Knowledge of Governance issues with regards to clinical risk, incident reporting, in particular clinical audit
- Ability to lead junior members of staff and visiting Pre-registration Optometrists in excellent clinical care
Desirable
- Hospital Eye Service experience
- Sound knowledge of ocular therapeutics for a range of ocular conditions with complicated refractive error
- Experience of Post-operative cataract assessment
- Experience of Anterior segment disease
Skill & Knowledge
Essential
- Good communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex information in a range of situations and where there may be barriers to understanding
- Ability to operate a range of complex Optometric equipment
- Fine motor skills eg. to enable insertion of contact lens into compromised eyes
- Ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team, whilst making independent clinical decisions after assessment
- Excellent and detailed record keeping in clinical notes
- IT skills to enable access to a wide variety of data bases, to enable the efficient running of a modern Optometry service
- Ability to supervise and motivate more junior members of staff with regards to clinical ability and development
- Developed a higher level of autonomy/competence in clinical practice
- Ability to make clinical decisions to best meet patient needs and evidence decisions taken
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Excellent organisational skills and ability to prioritise workload to best meet service needs
Desirable
- Excellent presentation skills for both informal and formal teaching scenarios
- Working knowledge of clinical governance, patient administration systems eg. Medisight, Careflow etc
- Skills in an extended clinical setting
Personal Attributes
Essential
- Professional manner
- Professional appearance, at all times
- Demonstrates leadership qualities to motivate
- Meet clinical standards
- Represents the Trust and department in a professional way
- Team worker
- Smart appearance
- Ability to work flexibly
- Demonstrate a friendly, outgoing manner
- Good telephone manner
- Understanding of dignity and confidentiality
- Ability to instil all the above values in more junior staff
- Ability to work as part of a team
- Flexible, reliable and self-motivated
- Put the service needs first whilst developing own skills
Desirable
- Holds full driving licence (or working towards this)
Person Specification
Qualifications & Training
Essential
- Have full GOC registration
- BSc Ophthalmic Optics or Optometry
- Special interest, expertise and knowledge of complex refractions in conjunction with complex ocular conditions and medical needs
- Educated to the level of a Master's degree or equivalent level of experience
Desirable
- Member of the College of Optometrists
- Post-graduate Higher qualifications
- Post-graduate Independent Prescribing qualification
Experience
Essential
- Ability to competently undertake highly specialist refractions and optical care of complex patients
- Experience working with visually impaired patients and others with learning difficulties
- Working within budget constraints and awareness of other product options
- Developing own clinical competencies and those of others
- Taking responsibility for running autonomous clinics, replacing doctor activity
- Informing the patients by developing patient information leaflets
- Responding to clinical incidents and advising others, changing practice accordingly
- Developing departmental policies/ procedures
- Awareness of Safeguarding, Information Governance etc, by implementing safeguards within the Optometry department
- Ability to work under pressure and manage the departmental caseload
- Awareness of emerging clinical treatments that may be adopted for the caseload eg. Myopia Control. And how this may be accessed in a timely way
- Extensive and varied clinical experience (minimum 2 years)
- Broad understanding of the Optometry profession, Primary/Secondary Care interface, NHS service provision
- Knowledge of Governance issues with regards to clinical risk, incident reporting, in particular clinical audit
- Ability to lead junior members of staff and visiting Pre-registration Optometrists in excellent clinical care
Desirable
- Hospital Eye Service experience
- Sound knowledge of ocular therapeutics for a range of ocular conditions with complicated refractive error
- Experience of Post-operative cataract assessment
- Experience of Anterior segment disease
Skill & Knowledge
Essential
- Good communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex information in a range of situations and where there may be barriers to understanding
- Ability to operate a range of complex Optometric equipment
- Fine motor skills eg. to enable insertion of contact lens into compromised eyes
- Ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team, whilst making independent clinical decisions after assessment
- Excellent and detailed record keeping in clinical notes
- IT skills to enable access to a wide variety of data bases, to enable the efficient running of a modern Optometry service
- Ability to supervise and motivate more junior members of staff with regards to clinical ability and development
- Developed a higher level of autonomy/competence in clinical practice
- Ability to make clinical decisions to best meet patient needs and evidence decisions taken
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Excellent organisational skills and ability to prioritise workload to best meet service needs
Desirable
- Excellent presentation skills for both informal and formal teaching scenarios
- Working knowledge of clinical governance, patient administration systems eg. Medisight, Careflow etc
- Skills in an extended clinical setting
Personal Attributes
Essential
- Professional manner
- Professional appearance, at all times
- Demonstrates leadership qualities to motivate
- Meet clinical standards
- Represents the Trust and department in a professional way
- Team worker
- Smart appearance
- Ability to work flexibly
- Demonstrate a friendly, outgoing manner
- Good telephone manner
- Understanding of dignity and confidentiality
- Ability to instil all the above values in more junior staff
- Ability to work as part of a team
- Flexible, reliable and self-motivated
- Put the service needs first whilst developing own skills
Desirable
- Holds full driving licence (or working towards this)
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
