Training Lead in Echocardiography / Network Practice Educator
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
This position is for a senior healthcare scientist specialising in the training of echocardiography. The role will develop, implement, deliver and monitor a training strategy in echocardiography including, but not limited to, trainees undertaking the Scientist Training Programme (STP), Echocardiography Training Programme (ETP) and medical trainees (Resident Doctors).This role within the South London Sector. will deliver a new landscape that innovates an ambitious plan to increase the quality and quantity of echocardiography training.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will provide echo training in a range of sites across the South London Network with responsibility for healthcare Scientists undertaking STP / ETP as well as other healthcare professionals. The position would suit an echocardiographer with extensive experience of training in transthoracic echocardiography.The successful candidate must hold British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) adult accreditation (or an equivalent qualification in echocardiography) and possess broad specialist skills in echocardiography. A postgraduate qualification in education and / or certification as a BSE assessor would be an advantage.
This role would be supported by the echocardiography team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust who were early adopter of the Department of Health’s Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC) programme with over 12 years of experience of training at this level.It is a supportive department with high standards. There are good opportunities for continuing professional development clinically and involvement in research.
Working for our organisation
Although the role is hosted at Guy's & St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust the remit of the job is across the South London Network and will require travel to both hospital and community locations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Key Roles
Professional
The post holder will be required to keep their professional, specialist scientific and clinical knowledge and skills up to date and to engage in and promote evidence-based practice within their field. They will be fully aware of, and work within, their professional scope of practice and within the standards of conduct, performance and ethics for their professional and regulatory bodies.The post holder will lead audit and practice reviews within their area of expertise. They will be expected to act as a role model and mentor to trainees and to junior colleagues.
Scientific
The post holder will be responsible for the evaluation and introduction of specialist scientific and technical knowledge and equipment within the echocardiography and training service across South London. They will provide scientific expertise to other health professionals including its analysis and interpretation within the clinical decision-making process.They will provide complex scientific information in an accessible manner to non-experts. They will be responsible for the monitoring and assurance of the scientific quality of their area and will develop and implement processes to demonstrate and maintain its quality.
The post holder will require IT knowledge and skills commensurate with their role as a healthcare scientist specialist within their field.
Clinical
Their clinical knowledge and skills must be sufficiently advanced to underpin their role as a healthcare scientist specialist and should be equivalent to master’s level plus further specialist training. The post holder will perform echocardiography at specialist scientist (expert) level while complying with local and national standards.The scientist will be able to request other diagnostic tests including other imaging modalities and pathology services.
They will be able to report their findings in an appropriate manner to patients, carers and health professionals. They will participate in discussions about ongoing monitoring, the use of other diagnostic tests and referrals. They will represent their specialist area at MDT meetings to give advice about findings and their interpretation to facilitate the best possible patient outcomes.
The post holder will possess the highly developed motor skills required in the physical acquisition of obtaining images directly from patients. They will be highly skilled at manoeuvring patients to ensure optimisation of images acquired while ensuring patient safety is foremost in the process.They will require a high degree of hand-eye co-ordination utilising and optimising the most appropriate imaging equipment. They will possess the intense concentration required to both perform and report on specialist images acquired in a time sensitive manner within a variety of pressurised clinical environments.
The post holder will need to be able to deliver complex information, which may be of a distressing nature, to patients and their families and to offer advice within their specialist scope of practice.
The post holder will require an understanding of biohazards and hazardous agents that are staff/patients/carers are exposed within cardiac science including contact with bodily fluids and radiation.
eadership
The post holder will be scientifically responsible for training in echocardiography including when its provision is delegated to other healthcare professions. They will be responsible for the audit, review and measures required to ensure that the high-quality training is maintained.They will be the point of contact for other health professionals requiring advice or information about the echocardiography training or its management. As a specialist scientist the post holder will be a key role model in cardiac physiology both locally in South London and nationally.
The post holder will develop a strategy for the delivery of echocardiography training across South London. This will require excellent communication and change management skills to deliver a new landscape that innovates an ambitious plan to increase the quality and quantity of echocardiography training.
Education & Professional Development
To participate in the development of training pathways for healthcare science and other healthcare professionals ensuring that all staff are trained to a high and consistent standard in accordance with individual staff and network objectives.
To act as the principal work-based echocardiography assessor; providing professional advice to other work based assessors and promoting quality control and standardisation of the assessment process across cardiac sub-specialities
Ensure the echo community is conversant with any changes in educational requirements for professional registration and plan accordingly.
To resource continuing educational opportunities for all sonographers; evaluating appropriateness of courses.
To be responsible for ensuring that an accurate record of progress against targets in the training pathways is maintained and available.
To work with the directorate management team to interpret and implement any policy documents as released that impact in training in echocardiography.
The post holder will ensure to continue professional development and will be responsible for keeping own skills up to date, including Immediate Life Support and any accreditations; and acquire new skills to support development of the wider service.To personally undergo such training as is deemed necessary to maintain efficient discharge of duties.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- BSc in cardiac physiology or relevant alternative
- Relevant Masters Qualification
- BSE / EACVI transthoracic accreditation or equivalent
- Initiated the process of professional registration with HCPC as a Clinical Scientist or equivalent
- Higher training qualification (ie Cert Ed, FAETC)
- Clinical Assessment for Healthcare Scientists MSc module or equivalent
- Professional registration with HCPC as a Clinical Scientist
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of delivering education and training within cardiac science to own and other professional groups
- Experience of lecturing to groups
- Extensive practical experience in all areas of transthoracic echocardiography at a level of independent practice including investigation, interpretation, reporting and recommending alternative investigations.
- Experience in the supervision or line management of staff
- Experience of budget and wider management issues.
- Practical experience in specialist echocardiography (e.g. stress, bubbles, TOE or ACHD)
- Proven record of starting and developing a new service
- Published peer reviewed research
- Devising and performing own research projects at masters level or above
Skills
Essential criteria- Broad knowledge of echocardiography, including practice with a wide array of complex technical equipment.
- Experience of delivering education and training within area of expertise to own and other professional groups
- Able to prioritise and manage own work and those of the team / trainees
- Able to use specialised computer software such as ISCV and software programs such Excel and Word. Able to perform statistical analysis on data
- Able to communicate highly complex scientific information across professional boundaries and to patients including where there is a difference of opinion and evidence base
- Ability to undertake research and audit as a contributor
- Able to perform a clinical examination of the cardiovascular system Able to take an advanced history
- Able to acquire and analyse 3D data sets for the assessment of disease on TTE.
- Formal training in Good Clinical Practice
- Knowledge of cardiac science across a broad range of subjects at a level which allows data interpretation and provision of an expert scientific opinion to contribute to patient management.
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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