Job summary
This vacancy is for 1.0WTE Advanced Practice Sonographer (Education), band 8a, who must already possess significant experience in non obstetric ultrasound, be highly skilled in clinical practice and be passionate about sonography education. The post holder should possess a Masters' qualification, or be prepared to achieve this qualification within the first 2 years in post. The Advanced Practice Sonographer must fulfil the Multi Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England, with evidence for advanced clinical practice, education, research, leadership and management.
The post holder will work closely with external stakeholders, in particular Health Education England and Academy teams, and develop the strategic vision to manage an increasing need for ultrasound training for a diverse group of healthcare professionals. The post holder will be based predominantly at the Academy and manage all aspects of the ultrasound service at the Academy including having managerial responsibility for Sonographers who are Clinical Practice Educators. The post holder will be accountable to the Ultrasound Consultant Team.
Candidates should be available for interviews on 1st November 2022.
***Preference will be given to internal Trust staff, as well as 'Priority' and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon who are able to display recent relevant experience as dictated by the Person Specification.***
Main duties of the job
- To plan, co-ordinate and lead the practical training in diagnostic ultrasound to a diverse group of health care staff including trainee radiographers, radiographers, trainee sonographers, specialist radiology registrars and other health care professionals training to use ultrasound within the radiology directorate.
- To liaise with other stakeholders, in particular Health Education England and Academy, to maximise training opportunities in ultrasound and balance these opportunities against resource constraints. Other stakeholders might include Higher Education Institutions, Radiology and Radiography training leads as well as internal directorate management structure.
- To be innovative and lead in developing new teaching methods and creating new spaces for ultrasound training (Eg The South-West Imaging Training Academy).
- To collaborate with stakeholders to establish priority of access to practical ultrasound training, seeking to promote equity of access.
- To work pro-actively and collaboratively with service users and referrers to ensure the best possible quality outcomes within the resources available.
- To be receptive to new ways of working to ensure that the ultrasound department continues to remain resilient and flexible to changing service pressures and needs.
- To be open, positive and flexible in considering implementation of changes which align with national priorities, particularly in terms of training requirements and opportunities.
About us
Plymouth Hospitals is the largest hospital trust in the South West Peninsula and is a teaching trust in partnership with Plymouth Medical School. Our Ultrasound Department prides itself on the quality of its ultrasound scanning and reporting service. We have a fleet of more than 20 state of the art ultrasound equipment and adhere to recommended appointment times advised by the Society and College of Radiographers.
The Ultrasound Department is based in multiple locations which include ultrasound rooms within the main department in Imaging with additional rooms located in the Antenatal Clinic, Children's and Young People's Outpatient Department, Surgical Assessment Unit, Acute Assessment Unit, Orthopaedic Outpatients Clinic, and peripheral external sites such as Peninsula Radiology Academy, which is soon to be rebranded as South West Imaging Training Academy.
Ultrasound team consists of 19 qualified Sonographers. Our organisational structure includes these posts: Superintendent Sonographer (8a), Advanced Practice Sonographer (8a), Consultant Sonographer (8b), Consultant Practitioner in MSK (8b) and Consultant Radiologists with a special interest in Ultrasound.
We actively encourage and set aside protected time each week for continuing professional development. Our department benefits from excellent administrative support.
We welcome informal discussions and/or visits. This can be arranged by contacting Jo Dunn, Ultrasound Rota Coordinator, 01752 432015 or jo.dunn@nhs.net.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Education
- Critically assess and address own learning needs, negotiating a personal development plan that reflects the breadth of ongoing professional development across the four pillars of this role with respect to the Advanced Practice Framework.
- To provide practical and theoretical tuition in ultrasound to trainees from a range of professional backgrounds.
- Work collaboratively with an appropriate range of inter-professional groups, developing, maintaining, and evaluating links to manage training issues within and external to the ultrasound department.
- Act as a role model, educator, supervisor, coach and mentor, seeking to instil and develop the confidence of trainees within the ultrasound department.
- Engage in self-directed learning, critically reflecting to maximise skills and knowledge, as well as own potential to lead and develop education and training opportunities within the ultrasound department.
- Identify specific training needs for trainees from many professional backgrounds within ultrasound and provide support them to be addressed.
- Act as a role model, educator, supervisor, coach, and mentor, seeking to instil and develop the confidence of trainees within the ultrasound unit.
- Provide pastoral support to trainees within the ultrasound unit, during their period of training.
- To develop a variety of training methods considering the background, existing skills and knowledge of ultrasound trainees.
- To liaise with Higher Education Institutions to develop specific training packages which may be of benefit to trainees.
- To collaborate with other stakeholders to ensure equity of access to ultrasound training and ensure that training resources are used efficiently.
- To identify those trainees who are struggling and develop suitable support and intervention packages to successfully manage these trainees.
Leadership
- Pro-actively initiate and develop effective relationships, both within and outside of the directorate fostering clarity of roles, to encourage productive and safe training placements.
- Role model the values of UPHT, demonstrating a sensitive and pro-active approach to effective training and service delivery.
- To lead on identifying the training needs in diagnostic ultrasound for the department, the Trust and the region and develop plans to meet this need.
- Recognise the training and development needs of those delivering ultrasound training and develop strategies to meet these needs.
- Demonstrate leadership, resilience and determination within the ultrasound training team, managing situations that are unfamiliar, complex or unpredictable and seeking to build confidence in others.
- Demonstrate receptiveness to challenge and preparedness to constructively challenge others, escalating concerns that affect trainees safety and well-being when necessary.
- To manage and lead the ultrasound training by overseeing the student coordinator and student mentors group in the Ultrasound Department to ensure that they can provide high quality education in ultrasound.
- To have direct managerial responsibility for Sonographers/Clinical Practice Educators based in the Academy.
- To manage feedback from service users and patients and manage any Datix incidents related to the ultrasound service delivered at the Academy.
- To manage ultrasound clinical service at the Academy on a day to day basis.
.
Clinical Practice
- Negotiate an individual scope of practice within legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies, governance and procedures, with a focus on managing risk and upholding safety.
- To carry out advanced ultrasound investigations and procedures safely as agreed with the consultant radiologist and consultant sonographer, and to produce a report on such investigations within the agreed level of authorisation.
- To participate in clinical audit to support advanced clinical practice.
- To ensure that clinical results are provided in a timely fashion and with the appropriate level of urgency.
- To assist in vetting and prioritising of ultrasound requests according to service needs.
- To practise in compliance with the HCPC (or equivalent) code of professional conduct and within individual scope of practice, being responsible and accountable for individual decisions, actions and omissions at this level of practice.
- To have a critical understanding of the individual level of responsibility and autonomy and the limits of own competence and professional scope of practice, including when working with complexity, risk, uncertainty and incomplete information.
- To act on professional judgement about when to seek help, demonstrating critical reflection on own practice, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and openness to change.
- To act as a clinical role model/advocate in developing and delivering care that is responsive to changing requirements, informed by an understanding of local and national health care agendas.
- To work collaboratively with the ultrasound SIG group, directorate management structure and other directorates in ensuring that the highest possible level of patient care is offered within available resource limitations.
.
Research
- Evaluate and audit own and others clinical practice, selecting and applying valid, reliable methods, then acting on the findings.
- Critically appraise and synthesise the outcome of relevant research, evaluation and audit, using the results to underpin own practice and to inform that of others.
- Take a critical approach to identify gaps in the evidence base and its application to practice, alerting appropriate individuals and organisations to these and how they might be addressed in a safe and pragmatic way.
- Facilitate collaborative links between training and research through proactive engagement, networking with academic, clinical and other active researchers
Please refer to job description for full details.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Education
- Critically assess and address own learning needs, negotiating a personal development plan that reflects the breadth of ongoing professional development across the four pillars of this role with respect to the Advanced Practice Framework.
- To provide practical and theoretical tuition in ultrasound to trainees from a range of professional backgrounds.
- Work collaboratively with an appropriate range of inter-professional groups, developing, maintaining, and evaluating links to manage training issues within and external to the ultrasound department.
- Act as a role model, educator, supervisor, coach and mentor, seeking to instil and develop the confidence of trainees within the ultrasound department.
- Engage in self-directed learning, critically reflecting to maximise skills and knowledge, as well as own potential to lead and develop education and training opportunities within the ultrasound department.
- Identify specific training needs for trainees from many professional backgrounds within ultrasound and provide support them to be addressed.
- Act as a role model, educator, supervisor, coach, and mentor, seeking to instil and develop the confidence of trainees within the ultrasound unit.
- Provide pastoral support to trainees within the ultrasound unit, during their period of training.
- To develop a variety of training methods considering the background, existing skills and knowledge of ultrasound trainees.
- To liaise with Higher Education Institutions to develop specific training packages which may be of benefit to trainees.
- To collaborate with other stakeholders to ensure equity of access to ultrasound training and ensure that training resources are used efficiently.
- To identify those trainees who are struggling and develop suitable support and intervention packages to successfully manage these trainees.
Leadership
- Pro-actively initiate and develop effective relationships, both within and outside of the directorate fostering clarity of roles, to encourage productive and safe training placements.
- Role model the values of UPHT, demonstrating a sensitive and pro-active approach to effective training and service delivery.
- To lead on identifying the training needs in diagnostic ultrasound for the department, the Trust and the region and develop plans to meet this need.
- Recognise the training and development needs of those delivering ultrasound training and develop strategies to meet these needs.
- Demonstrate leadership, resilience and determination within the ultrasound training team, managing situations that are unfamiliar, complex or unpredictable and seeking to build confidence in others.
- Demonstrate receptiveness to challenge and preparedness to constructively challenge others, escalating concerns that affect trainees safety and well-being when necessary.
- To manage and lead the ultrasound training by overseeing the student coordinator and student mentors group in the Ultrasound Department to ensure that they can provide high quality education in ultrasound.
- To have direct managerial responsibility for Sonographers/Clinical Practice Educators based in the Academy.
- To manage feedback from service users and patients and manage any Datix incidents related to the ultrasound service delivered at the Academy.
- To manage ultrasound clinical service at the Academy on a day to day basis.
.
Clinical Practice
- Negotiate an individual scope of practice within legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies, governance and procedures, with a focus on managing risk and upholding safety.
- To carry out advanced ultrasound investigations and procedures safely as agreed with the consultant radiologist and consultant sonographer, and to produce a report on such investigations within the agreed level of authorisation.
- To participate in clinical audit to support advanced clinical practice.
- To ensure that clinical results are provided in a timely fashion and with the appropriate level of urgency.
- To assist in vetting and prioritising of ultrasound requests according to service needs.
- To practise in compliance with the HCPC (or equivalent) code of professional conduct and within individual scope of practice, being responsible and accountable for individual decisions, actions and omissions at this level of practice.
- To have a critical understanding of the individual level of responsibility and autonomy and the limits of own competence and professional scope of practice, including when working with complexity, risk, uncertainty and incomplete information.
- To act on professional judgement about when to seek help, demonstrating critical reflection on own practice, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and openness to change.
- To act as a clinical role model/advocate in developing and delivering care that is responsive to changing requirements, informed by an understanding of local and national health care agendas.
- To work collaboratively with the ultrasound SIG group, directorate management structure and other directorates in ensuring that the highest possible level of patient care is offered within available resource limitations.
.
Research
- Evaluate and audit own and others clinical practice, selecting and applying valid, reliable methods, then acting on the findings.
- Critically appraise and synthesise the outcome of relevant research, evaluation and audit, using the results to underpin own practice and to inform that of others.
- Take a critical approach to identify gaps in the evidence base and its application to practice, alerting appropriate individuals and organisations to these and how they might be addressed in a safe and pragmatic way.
- Facilitate collaborative links between training and research through proactive engagement, networking with academic, clinical and other active researchers
Please refer to job description for full details.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Post Graduate Diploma in Medical Ultrasound (CASE accredited), or DMU, or equivalent.
- Master's degree in appropriate subject (may be undertaken subsequent to appointment by negotiation and to be completed within 2 years of appointment)
- Diploma of College of Radiographers or BSc in Radiography (or equivalent health care qualification)
- State registration with the HCPC (or equivalent statutory regulator)
Desirable
- Qualification in clinical education.
- Evidence of attendance at relevant leadership programme.
Knowledge
Essential
- Broad, general medical imaging background and comprehensive specialist knowledge of ultrasound since qualification in ultrasound.
- Demonstrable evidence of extensive involvement/experience in delivering ultrasound training at education.
- Portfolio of continuing professional development based around the 4 pillars of practice.
- Proven evidence of collaborative working with others to ensure best possible outcomes within available resources.
- Proven working knowledge of the advanced practice framework and how this applies to this particular role.
- Proven working knowledge of research and audit techniques
- Proven knowledge, understanding and compliance with the HCPC code of professional conduct.
Desirable
- Recent extensive, substantive NHS experience.
- Advanced practitioner accreditation with the Society and College of Radiographers.
- Proven evidence of previous collaboration with Higher Education Institutions.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Post Graduate Diploma in Medical Ultrasound (CASE accredited), or DMU, or equivalent.
- Master's degree in appropriate subject (may be undertaken subsequent to appointment by negotiation and to be completed within 2 years of appointment)
- Diploma of College of Radiographers or BSc in Radiography (or equivalent health care qualification)
- State registration with the HCPC (or equivalent statutory regulator)
Desirable
- Qualification in clinical education.
- Evidence of attendance at relevant leadership programme.
Knowledge
Essential
- Broad, general medical imaging background and comprehensive specialist knowledge of ultrasound since qualification in ultrasound.
- Demonstrable evidence of extensive involvement/experience in delivering ultrasound training at education.
- Portfolio of continuing professional development based around the 4 pillars of practice.
- Proven evidence of collaborative working with others to ensure best possible outcomes within available resources.
- Proven working knowledge of the advanced practice framework and how this applies to this particular role.
- Proven working knowledge of research and audit techniques
- Proven knowledge, understanding and compliance with the HCPC code of professional conduct.
Desirable
- Recent extensive, substantive NHS experience.
- Advanced practitioner accreditation with the Society and College of Radiographers.
- Proven evidence of previous collaboration with Higher Education Institutions.
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.
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
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).
