Senior Paediatric Audiologist
- Main area: Senior Paediatric Audiologist
- Grade: NHS AfC: Band 7
- Contract: Permanent
- Hours: Full time – 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref: 196-LIS8609
- Employer: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS Site: St Thomas’ Hospital, London
- Salary: £51,488 – £57,802 p.a. inc HCA
- Closing: 14/07/2024 23:59
- Interview date: 06/08/2024
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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
We are looking for an enthusiastic and well-motivated Senior Paediatric Audiologist to join our large, friendly, multi-disciplinary paediatric audiology team.
This mainly clinical role will keep you busy with behavioural hearing assessment and re/habilitation for infants and children aged 6 months+, including in our complex needs Hummingbird clinic. The role will not initially involve ABR testing but will include service development and leadership and mentoring responsibilities. The role will offer the opportunity to grow and develop as a Senior Paediatric Audiologist as part of a team that strives to continually improve.
Main duties of the job
As a Senior Paediatric Audiologist your clinical responsibilities will include:
- Behavioural hearing assessment clinics for children of all ages, including those with additional needs
- New paediatric hearing aid fittings
- Paediatric hearing aid reviews
Your leadership responsibilities will include:
- Support and mentoring of junior staff members
- Training and support of trainees and apprentices
- Service development through service review, audit and research
Alongside our main site at St Thomas’ we run regular clinics at our satellite sites in Gracefield Gardens (Lambeth), Sunshine House (Southwark) and Kaleidoscope (Lewisham). The majority of the clinical team work compressed hours (08:00-18:00) across 4 days, and typically the post holder would be based at St Thomas’ 2-3 days a week and at a satellite clinic 1-2 days a week. Following the COVID19 pandemic we have also
embedded Remote Care into our clinical pathways offering team members the opportunity to occasionally work from home.Working for our organisation
The Children & Young People’s Audiology Centre in St Thomas’ Hospital is recognised as a comprehensive non-consultant led audiological centre providing a high quality service for the children residing in South East London. We have developed an innovative specialist hearing assessment service for autistic and complex needs children known as Hummingbird Clinic and have involvement in a number of national and international research projects.
The service is a UKAS accredited medical diagnostic service No. 9980.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Professional/Clinical responsibilities
- To work independently as part of a multi-disciplinary team, within professional boundaries. To be ultimately accountable to the Clinical Lead and Head of Service, and to seek guidance from peers or senior staff whenever necessary.
- To carry out all audiological procedures according to national, professional and local protocols. To justify and document any contraindications or necessary deviation from protocol in the case notes and/or medical notes, seeking guidance on justification if required. To maintain empathy and rapport with the patient during testing to maximise the quality of test results and minimise patient anxiety including identifying the relevant concerns of the patient, any contraindications to procedures, and explaining and carrying out procedures.
- To undertake clinical assessments of hearing function in children of all ages and for those with complex needs, using a wide range of behavioural and electrophysiological test procedures in line with departmental practice and protocols, operating a comprehensive range of electromedical equipment and analysing and interpreting complex clinical data.
- To undertake the selection, fitting and evaluation of personal hearing aids and other devices for hearing rehabilitation for children of all ages beyond the neonatal stage, and those with complex needs, in accordance with departmental practice and protocols, using recognised fitting protocols and exercising expert judgement to determine appropriate hearing aid settings for individual patients.
- To supervise and mentor more junior or temporary clinical audiological staff in carrying out clinical audiological assessments and hearing aid fittings and evaluations.
- To work closely with educational staff and parents to ensure that children’s hearing aid systems are used to achieve the best outcomes.
- To refer to and work with other agencies in providing a co-ordinated programme of rehabilitation, support and advice for hearing-impaired children and their families, taking into account their needs and preferred care options.
- To provide demonstrations, advice and counselling to the parents and families of hearing-impaired children and, where appropriate, the children themselves.
- To prepare comprehensive and accurate reports for relevant professionals, educational services and parents, on the assessment, management and special needs of children seen by him or her.
- To approve and authorise hearing aid selections by more junior or temporary clinical staff.
- To maintain complete and accurate paper and electronic records about children seen by him or her on local and national databases.
Management and Leadership
- To take lead responsibility, under the overall direction of more senior staff, for one or more clinical, administrative, technical support or liaison functions of the Service, in agreement with the Head of the Service.
- To assist in the maintenance of the facilities and equipment of the Service, in line with national and local protocols and practice.
- To collect and analyse data for clinical audit, reports and service development proposals as required.
- To attend and actively contribute to planning and administrative meetings, both internal and external to the Trust, as required by the Head of Service.
- To undertake such duties as may be required from time to time as are consistent with the responsibilities of the grade and the needs of the service
Clinical development, teaching and research
- To provide teaching on audiological issues, to medical and non-medical staff, and others, as agreed with the Head of Service.
- To provide immediate clinical supervision of BSc, MSc and other students on clinical placements within the Service.
- To draft protocols for aspects of service provision, under the direction of the Clinical Lead
- To participate in research and service development projects, as agreed with the Clinical Lead and Head of Service.
Education and Professional development
- To fulfil the requirements of professional registration and the Continuing Professional Development programme of the relevant professional body.
- To maintain current awareness of audiological issues, and competence in relevant aspects of audiology, through the reading of audiological journals and attendance at meetings, conferences and courses, as agreed with the Head of Service.
- To attend mandatory training courses, participate in the Trust appraisal scheme and seek to further own professional and personal development
Person specification
Skills
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of the causes and appropriate management of hearing impairment in children
- Knowledge of the scientific bases of clinical and electrophysiological procedures relevant to paediatric audiology
- Understanding of current approaches to hearing aid selection in children
- Ability to work co-operatively within a team
- Knowledge of the current NHS structure and developments
Experience
Essential criteria
- Substantial experience in clinical audiology with majority to have been paediatric audiology
- Evidence of CPD
- Skills to perform Clinical Audit/Service review
Desirable criteria
- Experience of teaching other professional staff and/or lay people
- Experience of clinical research and dissemination of findings through articles, publications and presentations
Qualification
Essential criteria
- BSc in Audiology or equivalent
Desirable criteria
- Formal training in counselling in relation to childhood disability
- Registered/in the process of registration with HPC /RCCP
- MSc in Audiology or equivalent
Find the job description and person specification here: more information