Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Advanced orthoptist

Information:

This job is now closed

Job summary

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has an opportunity for a full time Band 7 Orthoptist. You will be responsible for a personal orthoptic case-load of a highly specialised / complex nature including direct implementation of treatment/management over a range of conditions. The post is based at St Jamess University Hospital in the Multi-Speciality Out-Patients in a dedicated unit for paediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus.

In addition to our hospital work we provide a paediatric orthoptic and optometry service for Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust at various sites around the city. You should be able to travel to undertake these sessional clinics.

The post offers opportunity to participate in adult orthoptic clinics, consultant led neuro and motility clinics, paediatric orthoptic sessions and consultant led paediatric ophthalmology clinics.

Ideally you will have areas of interest that you have developed in, undertaken audit and presented at clinical meetings/conferences.

Main duties of the job

You will undertake orthoptic assessment and management of children and adults in standalone Orthoptic clinics and joint clinics with optometrists and ophthalmologists. Clinics will be hospital and community based. The Orthoptic Department is committed to high quality care for our patients. We encourage detailed orthoptic investigations and you will be expected to be aware of evidence for your clinical decisions. You should have significant post qualification orthoptic experience to support this. Ideally you will have worked in tertiary referral adult strabismus clinics and paediatric ophthalmology clinics.

Ideally you will be able to undertake Octopus Goldmann Visual Fields and be confident on accuracy to enable you to comment on small relevant changes for our brain tumour colleagues in Endocrinology and Neuro.

You will provide leadership support and advice to Band 6 / Band 5 orthoptists and participate in their development.

You should be forward thinking and self motivated to identify and support opportunities for development of the orthoptic service for patients and the team.

We take at least 8 orthoptic undergraduate clinical placements per year so you should have experience in this and have enthusiasm and commitment to provide supervision, education and assessment for students.

You will be a self directed learner with a drive to provide audit and other projects with a willingness to submit/present at National and International conferences.

About us

We are a team of 16 orthoptists and 3 paediatric ophthalmologists / strabismologists with support from consultant oculo-plastics, retinal and corneal. A number of optometrists provide paediatric refraction, contact lens and low vision clinics plus complex adult refraction for motility patients.

We have some very experienced staff who will support your development.

Our Eye Clinic is spread across a number of hospitals with 30 consultants covering all sub-specialities. We also work with a number of other Specialties across our Hospitals. Excellent communication skills are required to convey relevant and important clinical details clearly and concisely to non ophthalmic consultant colleagues.

At Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust we have defined a culture based on values and behaviours known as the Leeds Way - Patient Centred, Fair, Collaborative, Accountable and Empowered. We will expect you to uphold these values to provide an excell

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Details

Date posted

14 January 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£46,148 to £52,809 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

C9298-HAN-092

Job locations

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF


Job description

Job responsibilities

See detailed job description and person specification attached.

As an autonomous practitioner to be legally and professionally responsible and accountable for the management of patients, prioritise own workload and keep accurate contemporaneous records.

Provision of highly skilled and specialised autonomous orthoptic assessment, diagnosis and management / treatment of all types of ocular motility defects, imparting information to patient / carer. Management includes the formulating of individualised treatment plans.

Development of Services with support from senior colleagues.

Effective verbal communication with patients / carers to gain co-operation and handling complex, sensitive and contentious information regarding diagnosis, prognosis and treatment e.g. baby with little or no sight

Supplies and instils eye drops under exemptions, Patient Group Directives and doctors instruction

Community paediatric orthoptic clinics

Humphrey perimetry

Goldmann perimetry

Plan and manage clinical workload within appointment system / clinical time.

Clinical supervision of less experienced orthoptists

Orthoptic teaching of multidisciplinary professionals

Orthoptic teaching, supervision and assessment of undergraduate orthoptic students

Undertake patient data collection as required for the management of the service / audit / research and development

Job description

Job responsibilities

See detailed job description and person specification attached.

As an autonomous practitioner to be legally and professionally responsible and accountable for the management of patients, prioritise own workload and keep accurate contemporaneous records.

Provision of highly skilled and specialised autonomous orthoptic assessment, diagnosis and management / treatment of all types of ocular motility defects, imparting information to patient / carer. Management includes the formulating of individualised treatment plans.

Development of Services with support from senior colleagues.

Effective verbal communication with patients / carers to gain co-operation and handling complex, sensitive and contentious information regarding diagnosis, prognosis and treatment e.g. baby with little or no sight

Supplies and instils eye drops under exemptions, Patient Group Directives and doctors instruction

Community paediatric orthoptic clinics

Humphrey perimetry

Goldmann perimetry

Plan and manage clinical workload within appointment system / clinical time.

Clinical supervision of less experienced orthoptists

Orthoptic teaching of multidisciplinary professionals

Orthoptic teaching, supervision and assessment of undergraduate orthoptic students

Undertake patient data collection as required for the management of the service / audit / research and development

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

  • Post qualification practice, development and training in a number of areas e.g paediatric cataract, complex ocular motility
  • Detailed understanding of visual field defects and assessment
  • Supervision and assessment of orthoptic students
  • Clinical audit practice

Desirable

  • Leadership training
  • Research ability

Qualifications

Essential

  • Degree or diploma in orthoptics with HCPC registration
  • Post qualification Masters / Masters modules

Desirable

  • Clinical teaching qualification or BIOS Clinical Tutors' Course
  • Masters related to Orthoptics, research, teaching or other relevant topic

Skills and Behaviours

Essential

  • Ability to work independently in complex motility but recognises own limitations and when to refer to superiors
  • Effective verbal communication and interpersonal skills to provide and receive complex information for patients /staff
  • Team worker and able to demonstrate leadership
  • Reflective practitioner
  • Self directed learner
  • Able to undertake visual field assessment

Desirable

  • Octopus Goldmann Perimetry
Person Specification

Experience

Essential

  • Post qualification practice, development and training in a number of areas e.g paediatric cataract, complex ocular motility
  • Detailed understanding of visual field defects and assessment
  • Supervision and assessment of orthoptic students
  • Clinical audit practice

Desirable

  • Leadership training
  • Research ability

Qualifications

Essential

  • Degree or diploma in orthoptics with HCPC registration
  • Post qualification Masters / Masters modules

Desirable

  • Clinical teaching qualification or BIOS Clinical Tutors' Course
  • Masters related to Orthoptics, research, teaching or other relevant topic

Skills and Behaviours

Essential

  • Ability to work independently in complex motility but recognises own limitations and when to refer to superiors
  • Effective verbal communication and interpersonal skills to provide and receive complex information for patients /staff
  • Team worker and able to demonstrate leadership
  • Reflective practitioner
  • Self directed learner
  • Able to undertake visual field assessment

Desirable

  • Octopus Goldmann Perimetry

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF


Employer's website

https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF


Employer's website

https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Head of Orthoptics

Janice Hoole

janice.hoole@nhs.net

Details

Date posted

14 January 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£46,148 to £52,809 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

C9298-HAN-092

Job locations

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF


Supporting documents

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