Main area: Optometrist Grade Band 7
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Part time - 26.25 hours per week (2 days a week as a minimum considered)
Job ref: 387-S-6346-LH
Site: Bristol Eye Hospital
Town: Bristol
Salary: £46,148 - £52,809 pa pro rata
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 09/02/2025 23:59
Interview date: 28/02/2025
As an organisation, we recognise the value of a healthy work-life balance. When applying, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate flexible working, so your work life fits around your home life.
We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within the Trust.
Bristol Eye Hospital is inviting applications from enthusiastic and motivated optometrists to join the Optometry Team. Based in our Optometry Department, Extended Role (Specialist) Optometrists participate in delivering care to people within a range of services including anterior segment, glaucoma, medical retina, and research.
This role is in our Medical Retina Service, delivering care to people with a variety of retinal pathologies in face-to-face and virtual clinics. Working closely with the medical retina team, delivering services to those accessing surgical and medical retinal treatments, you will also liaise with other services within the Bristol and West on Eye Hospital service.
The post is for seven clinical sessions a week, with part-time and job shares considered with a commitment of two days a week as a preferred minimum.
About you:
You are an optometrist with a commitment to professional and personal development and an enthusiasm for complex clinical work as well as service innovation. You may have previous hospital experience or hold higher qualifications, although training is available in post which will support you gaining both.
Keen to be fully engaged with the department, and to contribute to team development as well as clinical service delivery, you will be able to be involved in clinical teaching as well as actively input into audit and service improvement.
Main duties of the job
About the Optometry Department:
The Optometry Department at Bristol Eye Hospital is well established and integrated into the multidisciplinary environment of the hospital, providing clinical management of eye health to people in Bristol, Weston, and across the South West of England.
Optometrists in the department are a diverse team of highly capable clinicians who work across a broad range of multi-professional services from highly skilled core optometry to complex and specialised services, including cornea, medical retina, glaucoma, paediatrics, and ED.
Frequently engaged with the broader aspects of optometry and eye health, including education, research, and leadership, optometrists in the department are encouraged to develop professionally as well as personally.
Working for our organisation
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) is one of the largest acute Trusts in the country, bringing together a combined workforce of over 13,000 staff and over 100 different clinical services across 10 different sites, serving a core population of more than 500,000 people across South West England. UHBW has been rated by the CQC as ‘Good’ overall and our staff are proud to deliver excellent care to the people of Bristol, Weston, and beyond.
As a forward-thinking multi-award winning Trust and a digital exemplar committed to improving patient care, our world-leading research and innovations are having a positive local and global impact. Our hospitals are spread across Bristol and Weston; join us and you can enjoy the very best of both worlds; city living within a stone’s throw of the countryside or beside the seaside, both with easy access to all that the South West has to offer. UHBW is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce that represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For a more detailed job description and main responsibilities, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.
Person specification
Qualifications and Training
* Registration with the General Optical Council
* BSc Hons Optometry or equivalent
* Relevant specialist masters (or higher) level postgraduate qualification(s) or clinical research experience relevant to sub-specialist practice.
Knowledge and Experience
* Highly developed and proven specialist knowledge, at Masters level or above, across multiple areas of specialist clinical practice beyond conventional hospital or community optometry
* Multidisciplinary team working
* Previous hospital experience
Skills and Abilities
* Specialist clinical practice beyond conventional hospital or community optometry
* Can teach or supervise trainees; address queries from support staff whilst performing clinical duties
* Must be able to travel to and perform peripheral clinics as required (i.e. locations away from Bristol Eye Hospital)
* Normal binocular vision
* Able to reach decisions regarding management of sight-threatening disease when guided by knowledge of principles of sub-specialist clinical care and care provision algorithms
* Specialist clinical assessment skills for patients with active and sight-threatening disease in specific areas of clinical practice
* Specialist ancillary test interpretation skills (e.g. visual function and ocular imaging tests) as used by specialist medical staff
* Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills; ability to communicate complex, sensitive, and potentially conflicting information to patients and other stakeholders in an appropriate manner independent of their level of understanding
* Ability to empathise regarding loss of sight and prognoses including blindness and threats to general health from systemic disease with ocular/visual manifestations
* Able to work within a multidisciplinary team & gain credibility with all staff
We hope that you will decide to join us and become part of this exciting journey, helping us to shape our future together.
IMPORTANT:
Please note that if you apply for a position with this Trust, you may be contacted via Trac or via email. This includes invites for job interviews. We therefore recommend that you regularly check your Trac account and email accounts. We may also contact you by texting the mobile number, if provided, on the application form.
Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date. Therefore, please apply for this post as soon as you can, if you are interested and you meet the requirements of the Person Specification.
Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Name: Ben Phipps
Job title: Service lead for Medical Retina Optometry
Email address: ben.phipps@uhbw.nhs.uk
Telephone number: 07902926050
If you have any questions please contact me and I would be very happy to discuss the role in more detail.
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