Senior Respiratory Physiologist CRF- Royal Brompton Hospital
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
To play an active role working in this busy prestigious department and be involved in performing, with minimum supervision, a wide range of physiological/clinical tests, including full lung function tests with body plethysmography, cardiopulmonary and specialised exercise tests, provocation tests, hypoxic inhalation tests and many others.
You will also be expected to organise and contribute to performing physiological measurements for research projects taking place within the Clinical Research unit , including setting up portable lung function equipment and attending site inspection visits.
Main duties of the job
Responsibilities include:
- Conducting physiological tests without supervision.
- Ensuring accurate and informative results from patients and other test subjects, and creating comprehensive test reports.
- Implementing all necessary quality control procedures within the department, including personal biological control procedures.
- Setting up and performing lung function testing on multiple research projects.
Working for our organisation
We are a dedicated team of 16 individuals driven by our passion for physiology and our commitment to delivering exceptional services to our patients. Alongside our primary responsibilities, we maintain an active interest in research and continually strive for professional development, particularly in the realm of scientific careers within the NHS.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Main Tasks & Responsibilities:
- Patient/Client Care (both direct and indirect)
- To be able to perform the procedures listed under physiological tests, with minimal supervision.
- To perform all relevant quality control procedures within the department including the performance of personal biological control procedures.
- To help maintain and repair departmental equipment in conjunction with more senior staff and the Clinical Engineering Department.
- To clean and disinfect all departmental equipment if and when necessary.
- To perform general administrative duties when necessary.
- To take personal responsibility for compliance with all Trust and Departmental infection control policies and procedures. See Trust policies and Departmental local health and safety rules.
- To be an active member of the Lung Physiology shift rota for weekday evening working as deemed necessary by the Lead Physiologist
Physiological Tests
Routine Tests- Lung volume measurements using body plethysmography
- Airways resistance measurements using the body plethysmograph
- Spirometry/ Flow volume loops
- Gas transfer measurements
- Bronchodilation assessments
- Pulmonary compliance by the oesophageal balloon technique
- Exercise studies of ventilation and gas exchange
- Continuous Laryngoscopy Exercise studies.
- Submaximal Anaerobic Threshold Exercise Test.
- Blood gas analysis
- Oesophageal pH studies.
- Oesophageal impedance studies
- Methacholine challenge / PC20 studies
- Anatomical shunts
- Dynamic Compression/Hyperinflation tests
- Maximal voluntary ventilation tests
- Hypoxic Inhalation Challenge. Both standard test and special test using the body plethysmograph
- Cold air challenges
- FeNO tests.
- Basic respiratory muscle tests (MIP, MEP, SNIP)
- Eucapnoeic Voluntary Hyperventilation Challenge
- Any other tests as deemed necessary by the Lead Physiologist
- To implement the trust policies and protocols within the department.
- To implement existing departmental procedures ensuring accurate data is obtained in an environment with the best possible patient care.
- To assist in development of departmental procedures.
- To help perform and contribute to complex audits and research projects within the department.
- To aim to complete objectives set during Individual Performance Reviews.
- Involvement in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and attendance at relevant internal/external courses, seminars, lectures etc in which appropriate information can be gained relating to physiological, scientific and medical matters.
- To help with lectures and training to other staff in and outside of the department.
- Offer give general advice to all trust staff.
- Act as a mentor to junior staff members to assist in their training and development.
- To supervise and encourage patients during their time in the department and deal with queries or problems in a suitable manner.
- When appropriate, discuss results with patients using discretion, awareness of patient confidentiality and cross any boundaries of understanding.
- To communicate effectively with department colleagues and other members of the trust in all aspects of patient care and respiratory physiology.
- To check test results and report on the routine lung function tests if required, using interpretation of guidelines and relevant scientific and medical knowledge.
- To perform and interpret specialised tests such as cardiopulmonary exercise testing.
- Safe use of complex equipment involving reporting of faults, routine maintenance and monitoring of stock levels.
- To perform the maintenance and cleaning of departmental respiratory measurement equipment. Including quality control, calibration, problem solving and liaison with other departments and manufacturers.
- To ensure all patient data is stored in a suitable manner.
- To assist with storage of electronic patient data utilising available information technology to manage the department database.
- To ensure all data is as accurate and valid as possible and identify possible sources of erroneous test results.
- To ensure all mandatory training courses such as Manual handling, Fire, Adult and Paediatric Resuscitation, Infection Control, Blood Handling, Health and Safety and GCP training are attended on an annual basis or at the interval deemed necessary and the knowledge gained adhered to.
- To abide by the Trust’s core behaviours for staff and all other Trust policies including standing financial instructions, research governance, codes and practices and health and safety policies
- To perform any other duty as deemed necessary by the Lead Physiologist
Person specification
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential criteria- Training in Clinical Science/Physiology to BSc level or equivilent.
- Familiarity with using routine lung function equipment in a laboratory setting
- ARTP practitioners exam or registration of RCCP
Experience
Essential criteria- Evidence demonstrated of a good scientific background
- Able to communicate well
- Relevant experience
- Experience in medical research
- Experience of specialised testing ie CPET
Skills and abilities
Essential criteria- Familiar with using computer software packages to analysis complex data.
- GCP training
- Evidence of innovation
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.
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