Job summary
- Screen and diagnose diabetic eye disease in line with National Screening recommendations and decide on referral outcomes where appropriate, amongst other responsibilities outlined in the JD.
- Assist the Programme Manager, Deputy Programme Manager, other retinal screeners, and clinicians to provide a retinal screening service for people with diabetes
- Ensure that the diabetic populations of NHS Brighton and Sussex DESP (B&S DESP) are offered, and receive, high quality systematic screening, grading, referral and treatment for sight threatening eye disease.
- Support the DESP Programme to deliver a first class service and build ever stronger partnerships with the healthcare community.
Main duties of the job
Assist the Programme Manager, Deputy Programme Manager, other retinal screeners, and clinicians to provide a retinal screening service for people with diabetes
- Ensure that the diabetic populations of NHS Brighton and Sussex DESP (B&S DESP) are offered, and receive, high quality systematic screening, grading, referral and treatment for sight threatening eye disease.
- Support the DESP Programme to deliver a first class service and build ever stronger partnerships with the healthcare community.
The post holder will be qualified in the provision of OCT interpretation for diabetes and other macula retinal eye conditions to ensure safe outcomes for all service users.
About us
Join us at UHSussex, every day is different, you can be the change, better never stops
At UHSussex we're proud to be at the heart of the NHS. As one of the UK's largest acute Trusts, we're a leading example of the excellence, the ambition and the values that have embodied the NHS for over 70 years.
Improving lives: We are a vibrant and inclusive organisation, with hardworking, talented and dedicated individuals, who work together towards a common goal, to always put our Patient First. Our mission is summed up by our 'where better never stops' motto and no matter the role at UHSussex, you will play a part in driving us forwards and in improving the lives of patients across Sussex. We treat our patients and staff with the same compassion and empathy we expect for ourselves. We're here for them when they need us, and we go above and beyond to meet their needs. This can be seen in our wellbeing programme for staff which is extensive and designed to support you when you need it because we know that to look after others we must first look after ourselves.
Build a career with us: As a university trust and a leader in healthcare research, we value learning, teaching and training so that we can be the best that we can be. From the moment you start with us and throughout your career we will help you to grow and develop. We hope that in choosing UHSussex you are choosing a long and happy career where you will be able to see the difference you make and feel valued for all that you do
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication
- Communicate effectively and in such a way as to promote a positive image of the NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme.
- Function as an effective member of the multi-disciplinary DESP, developing and maintaining good working relationships and effective communication with all Acute and Primary Care Trust clinical and non-clinical colleagues
- Work collaboratively with the Programme Manager, Deputy Programme Manager and Lead Clinician to ensure that high quality clinical services are being offered by B&S Diabetic Screening Service.
- Have the ability to communicate effectively with patients, sometimes in difficult circumstances, about diabetic eye disease and the associated risk factors of diabetes generally and convey unwelcome news regarding visual impairment if required.
- Managing patients emotions over their anxiety of their condition.
- Proven competence to deliver effective one-to-one patient education, using their retinal image as a teaching tool, in a motivating and persuasive manner so as to encourage effective diabetes management and encouraging annual screening attendance.
- Patients will range from those with learning difficulties and dementia to those who are highly informed of their medical condition, from young persons in their early teens to patients in late old age, from those who are highly articulate to those who have little ability to conduct a conversation in English. All patients must be dealt with in the same professional manner
- Ability to manage conflict within the team in a sensitive, diplomatic and professional way.
- Post holder must be approachable so staffs feel confident to raise issues and speak openly about any concerns without fear of judgment.
- Must be able to deliver feedback to staff in a sensitive and constructive way.
Service Delivery and Improvement
- Grade to full disease classification level to NSC guidelines including arbitration, ROG and OCT interpretation
- To take responsibility in referral outcome grading with the support of the clinical lead
- Ensure timely referral of those images requiring referral to the hospital eye service and take the lead in the internal quality process as per NSC guidelines
- To take responsibility with grading OCT images outcomes with the support of the clinical lead
- Independently analyse and ensure safe outcomes are chosen for assessment of retinal images presenting with a complex variety of normal and abnormal features including identification of non-diabetic eye disease
- Participation in all clinical duties as planned by the Deputy Programme Manager
- Competence to grade unsupervised, sustaining high levels of concentration over extended periods, to analyse and interpret diabetic retinopathy and non-diabetic eye disease
- Have a duty of care to follow up non DR referrals appropriately when other pathology is identified.
- To support with or lead on different tasks that are allocated or delegated by the Deputy Programme Manager. E.g. dealing with external companies, managing the location sites, managing cameras and technical equipment, dealing with issues related to clinic locations, etc.
- Lead audits & support other team members with their audits.
- Work as a trustworthy and co-operative member of B&S Diabetic Eye Screening Programme and make a positive contribution to the team.
- Maintain an up to date knowledge and work within agreed policies, protocols and procedures. Recognise and report where they are inadequate or unclear.
- To help with identifying areas for improvement of policies, procedures and protocols for screening and grading pathway so that the screening team works as smoothly as possible and is consistent with national requirements.
- At all times promote the safety, privacy and dignity of patients. Recognise individual needs and preserve confidentiality at all times.
- Follow infection control procedures.
- Ensure that standards of patient care meet National DESP Quality Assurance Standards, including those for the administration of eye drops, photography, grading and referral.
- Demonstrate a high level of accountability and autonomy for professional actions and decision making due to the frequent absence of direct supervision.
- Competence to train new screeners/graders in all aspects of the job.
- Work with the Programme Manager and Deputy Programme Manager to develop the service and in producing protocols to be followed.
- Manage competing claims on time, ensuring that their own clinical work is to the highest possible standard whilst remaining responsive to team members changing needs.
- Demonstrate a high level of accountability and autonomy for professional actions and decision making due to the frequent absence of direct supervision.
- Clinical incidents are reported, suitable action taken (including upward reporting in accordance with Trust procedures) and effective preventative strategies are devised to minimise future incidents.
- Ability to apply knowledge in a pressurised environment, often in a remote site and without direct supervision.
- Support the deputy programme manager to ensure that the number of images graded and the diagnostic standard between the primary graders is consistent.
- Provide feedback to graders via quarterly grading reviews.
- A sound grasp of quality assurance in the NHS B&S DESP
- Create staff rotas to ensure clinical needs are met and duties are fairly delegated to staff.
- Use screening software to establish appointment requirements so that clinics can be opened at the correct capacity to ensure all patients are seen within the correct recall period
- Manage the Discharge ROG list to ensure that patients discharged from the hospital eye service are invited for screening in the correct pathway and within the timeframes required.
- Support the Programme Manager and Deputy Programme Manager in ensuring the grading matrix is configured correctly.
- Provide input on the contents of patient, GP and ophthalmology letters
People Management and Development
- Responsible for the delivery of the training for the clinical services within the diabetic eye screening programme in line with the NSCG (national screening committee guidelines
- Work with the Deputy Programme Manager to ensure that all grading is being managed in a safe and efficient manner, with reference to locally agreed qualitative and quantitative targets.
- Take responsibility for tasks such as rota planning, keeping the grading queue in date.
- Provision of training in clinical/grading aspects of the screener/grader role to those members of the team who have been newly appointed or require additional assistance, when identified.
- Attend MDTM meetings and collect interesting cases for discussion
- Run normal screening clinics according to the rota and as and when needed.
- To mentor, supervise and support other junior members of the screener grader team as and when needed.
- Maintain their own CPD to a high standard through reading, research, audits & attending courses.
- Complete 10 Test & Training sets per year to an agreed standard
- To participate in inter-grader agreement reviews with Clinical Lead
- To actively search for ways to improve the department
- To support learners and undertake assessment of the Health Screening Diploma and work closely with the IQA lead Gloucester Retinal Education Group.
- To act as team leader within the screening team
- To manage and monitor performance of their team and to ensure that the team meets its financial and operating targets (when managing a team).
- Day to day managerial responsibility for all members of his/her team.
- To line manage members of their team as requested by the Deputy Programme Manager.
- Set objectives and review performance of their team, identify individual training and development needs and promote continued personal and professional development.
- Ensure that Intergrader reports, T&T & CPD are kept up to date.
- Manage annual leave, attendance, disciplinary and performance issues of their team in line with Trust policies and the effective delivery of service, as requested by Screening Manager.
- To mentor, supervise and support other junior members of the screening team as and when needed
- To take a leading part in Screeners Meetings eg by presenting case studies, interesting images, running a journal club
Patient Care Delivery
- To run slit lamp biomicroscopy clinics at different sites to meet the programme demands
- To effectively assess the levels of disease and to ensure timely referral to Slit Lamp Biomicroscopy (SLBM), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Digital Surveillance (DS) clinics as appropriate.
- Highlight cases that require same day direct referral to ophthalmology, eg detached retina/AION.
- To undertake arbitration grading once approved by the Clinical Lead and to ensure that the agreed targets in this area are met.
- To undertake Referral Outcome Grading (ROG) once approved by the Clinical Lead and to ensure that the agreed targets in this area are met.
- Be accountable for the identification of eye pathology resulting in the discharge of patients with normal eye images for a period of 12 months.
- Independently run an OCT clinic and interpret the results of the OCT examination, once approved by the Screening Manager & the Clinical Lead, and provide patient education and information as appropriate.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication
- Communicate effectively and in such a way as to promote a positive image of the NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme.
- Function as an effective member of the multi-disciplinary DESP, developing and maintaining good working relationships and effective communication with all Acute and Primary Care Trust clinical and non-clinical colleagues
- Work collaboratively with the Programme Manager, Deputy Programme Manager and Lead Clinician to ensure that high quality clinical services are being offered by B&S Diabetic Screening Service.
- Have the ability to communicate effectively with patients, sometimes in difficult circumstances, about diabetic eye disease and the associated risk factors of diabetes generally and convey unwelcome news regarding visual impairment if required.
- Managing patients emotions over their anxiety of their condition.
- Proven competence to deliver effective one-to-one patient education, using their retinal image as a teaching tool, in a motivating and persuasive manner so as to encourage effective diabetes management and encouraging annual screening attendance.
- Patients will range from those with learning difficulties and dementia to those who are highly informed of their medical condition, from young persons in their early teens to patients in late old age, from those who are highly articulate to those who have little ability to conduct a conversation in English. All patients must be dealt with in the same professional manner
- Ability to manage conflict within the team in a sensitive, diplomatic and professional way.
- Post holder must be approachable so staffs feel confident to raise issues and speak openly about any concerns without fear of judgment.
- Must be able to deliver feedback to staff in a sensitive and constructive way.
Service Delivery and Improvement
- Grade to full disease classification level to NSC guidelines including arbitration, ROG and OCT interpretation
- To take responsibility in referral outcome grading with the support of the clinical lead
- Ensure timely referral of those images requiring referral to the hospital eye service and take the lead in the internal quality process as per NSC guidelines
- To take responsibility with grading OCT images outcomes with the support of the clinical lead
- Independently analyse and ensure safe outcomes are chosen for assessment of retinal images presenting with a complex variety of normal and abnormal features including identification of non-diabetic eye disease
- Participation in all clinical duties as planned by the Deputy Programme Manager
- Competence to grade unsupervised, sustaining high levels of concentration over extended periods, to analyse and interpret diabetic retinopathy and non-diabetic eye disease
- Have a duty of care to follow up non DR referrals appropriately when other pathology is identified.
- To support with or lead on different tasks that are allocated or delegated by the Deputy Programme Manager. E.g. dealing with external companies, managing the location sites, managing cameras and technical equipment, dealing with issues related to clinic locations, etc.
- Lead audits & support other team members with their audits.
- Work as a trustworthy and co-operative member of B&S Diabetic Eye Screening Programme and make a positive contribution to the team.
- Maintain an up to date knowledge and work within agreed policies, protocols and procedures. Recognise and report where they are inadequate or unclear.
- To help with identifying areas for improvement of policies, procedures and protocols for screening and grading pathway so that the screening team works as smoothly as possible and is consistent with national requirements.
- At all times promote the safety, privacy and dignity of patients. Recognise individual needs and preserve confidentiality at all times.
- Follow infection control procedures.
- Ensure that standards of patient care meet National DESP Quality Assurance Standards, including those for the administration of eye drops, photography, grading and referral.
- Demonstrate a high level of accountability and autonomy for professional actions and decision making due to the frequent absence of direct supervision.
- Competence to train new screeners/graders in all aspects of the job.
- Work with the Programme Manager and Deputy Programme Manager to develop the service and in producing protocols to be followed.
- Manage competing claims on time, ensuring that their own clinical work is to the highest possible standard whilst remaining responsive to team members changing needs.
- Demonstrate a high level of accountability and autonomy for professional actions and decision making due to the frequent absence of direct supervision.
- Clinical incidents are reported, suitable action taken (including upward reporting in accordance with Trust procedures) and effective preventative strategies are devised to minimise future incidents.
- Ability to apply knowledge in a pressurised environment, often in a remote site and without direct supervision.
- Support the deputy programme manager to ensure that the number of images graded and the diagnostic standard between the primary graders is consistent.
- Provide feedback to graders via quarterly grading reviews.
- A sound grasp of quality assurance in the NHS B&S DESP
- Create staff rotas to ensure clinical needs are met and duties are fairly delegated to staff.
- Use screening software to establish appointment requirements so that clinics can be opened at the correct capacity to ensure all patients are seen within the correct recall period
- Manage the Discharge ROG list to ensure that patients discharged from the hospital eye service are invited for screening in the correct pathway and within the timeframes required.
- Support the Programme Manager and Deputy Programme Manager in ensuring the grading matrix is configured correctly.
- Provide input on the contents of patient, GP and ophthalmology letters
People Management and Development
- Responsible for the delivery of the training for the clinical services within the diabetic eye screening programme in line with the NSCG (national screening committee guidelines
- Work with the Deputy Programme Manager to ensure that all grading is being managed in a safe and efficient manner, with reference to locally agreed qualitative and quantitative targets.
- Take responsibility for tasks such as rota planning, keeping the grading queue in date.
- Provision of training in clinical/grading aspects of the screener/grader role to those members of the team who have been newly appointed or require additional assistance, when identified.
- Attend MDTM meetings and collect interesting cases for discussion
- Run normal screening clinics according to the rota and as and when needed.
- To mentor, supervise and support other junior members of the screener grader team as and when needed.
- Maintain their own CPD to a high standard through reading, research, audits & attending courses.
- Complete 10 Test & Training sets per year to an agreed standard
- To participate in inter-grader agreement reviews with Clinical Lead
- To actively search for ways to improve the department
- To support learners and undertake assessment of the Health Screening Diploma and work closely with the IQA lead Gloucester Retinal Education Group.
- To act as team leader within the screening team
- To manage and monitor performance of their team and to ensure that the team meets its financial and operating targets (when managing a team).
- Day to day managerial responsibility for all members of his/her team.
- To line manage members of their team as requested by the Deputy Programme Manager.
- Set objectives and review performance of their team, identify individual training and development needs and promote continued personal and professional development.
- Ensure that Intergrader reports, T&T & CPD are kept up to date.
- Manage annual leave, attendance, disciplinary and performance issues of their team in line with Trust policies and the effective delivery of service, as requested by Screening Manager.
- To mentor, supervise and support other junior members of the screening team as and when needed
- To take a leading part in Screeners Meetings eg by presenting case studies, interesting images, running a journal club
Patient Care Delivery
- To run slit lamp biomicroscopy clinics at different sites to meet the programme demands
- To effectively assess the levels of disease and to ensure timely referral to Slit Lamp Biomicroscopy (SLBM), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Digital Surveillance (DS) clinics as appropriate.
- Highlight cases that require same day direct referral to ophthalmology, eg detached retina/AION.
- To undertake arbitration grading once approved by the Clinical Lead and to ensure that the agreed targets in this area are met.
- To undertake Referral Outcome Grading (ROG) once approved by the Clinical Lead and to ensure that the agreed targets in this area are met.
- Be accountable for the identification of eye pathology resulting in the discharge of patients with normal eye images for a period of 12 months.
- Independently run an OCT clinic and interpret the results of the OCT examination, once approved by the Screening Manager & the Clinical Lead, and provide patient education and information as appropriate.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- City & Guilds full Diploma (8 modules) in Diabetic Retinopathy or Diploma for Health Screeners
Desirable
- MSc in Diabetic Retinopathy
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- City & Guilds full Diploma (8 modules) in Diabetic Retinopathy or Diploma for Health Screeners
Desirable
- MSc in Diabetic Retinopathy
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).
