Lead Orthoptist & AHP Lead (Ophthalmology)

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

The closing date is 25 April 2025

Job summary

To be responsible for the day to day orthoptic clinics and management of the Orthoptic services in the department and be able to do extended role within ophthalmology using Ophthalmic Practitioner Training (OPT) training programmes.

To take the lead of orthoptic services across other service boundaries including Neuro-ophthalmology, Glaucoma, Paediatric and Eye Emergency clinics and other sub-specialities within ophthalmology.

To provide an Orthoptic service as an autonomous practitioner in assessing, diagnosing, planning management and supervising treatment of orthoptic patients at the Princess Alexandra hospital (PAH),

As lead to work with strategic planning, development and delivery of a quality driven Orthoptic, Paediatric, and Neuro-ophthalmology service in line with the overall objectives and strategy of the department.

To be responsible for line managing AHP (Allied Health professionals) team of orthoptist, optometrist and recording, inputting and reporting and managing sickness, absence, annual leave, study leave, yearly appraisals, 6 monthly reviews, training programmes and maintaining competencies and deal with any issues related to the team. In addition, provide training, supervision and assessment of undergraduate and post graduate orthoptists.

Main duties of the job

To provide high quality Orthoptic services as an autonomous practitioner and manage own clinical workload. Clinics include; Orthoptic led follow up clinics, Joint Orthoptic and neuro-ophthalmology, paediatric clinics Ophthalmologist/Optometrist clinics, eye casualty and visual fields.

To take part as extended roles within ophthalmology using Ophthalmic Practitioner Training (OPT) programme.

To assess, diagnose, treat and manage (including discharge when clinically appropriate) the patients referred to the Orthoptic service. These include Paediatric visual disorders (squint, amblyopia, and reduced visual responses), ocular motility disorders, neuro-ophthalmology and other ophthalmic conditions and congenital developmental abnormalities.

To take managerial role as lead orthoptist for fellow colleague, junior orthoptist and optometrist including: management of sickness absence and reorganisation of workload according to clinical priority of patient needs, dealing with any issues or complaints that may arise, leading orthoptic staff meetings and representing the head orthoptist at meetings

About us

Our Organisation

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) provides a full range of general acute, outpatient and diagnostic services at The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, the Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishop's Stortford, and St Margaret's Hospital in Epping.

We employ 3,500 staff and serve a local population of around 350,000 people living in west Essex and east Hertfordshire, centred on the M11 corridor and the towns of Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and Epping. Our extended catchment area incorporates a population of up to 500,000 and includes the areas of Hoddesdon, Cheshunt and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.

Our Values

The Princess Alexandra Promise to our patients as identified by our 3 values which will contribute to improving our patient experiences:

Patient at heart - Always holding the patient and their wellbeing at the centre of our thoughts and efforts

Everyday excellence - Sharing and celebrating our successes, being honest when we get it wrong, giving us the ability to learn from both

Creative collaboration - Knowing strength comes from diversity, we combine our experiences, skills and talents, working together to find new and better ways to care

The Trust believes in investing in all our staff and rewarding high standards of care whilst building for excellence and in return we expect our staff to uphold the Trust values to the highest level.

Date posted

11 April 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£53,755 to £60,504 a year Per Annum plus 5% high cost area supplement

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Job share

Reference number

292-6934339-SCC

Job locations

PAH

Harlow

CM20 1QX


Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached Job description and person specification for the full job details. This is available to download at any time.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached Job description and person specification for the full job details. This is available to download at any time.

Person Specification

Interview

Essential

  • Registered Orthoptist with HCPC
  • Ophthalmology Knowledge and Experience

Desirable

  • Master's degree or leadership courses
  • Previous experience in all aspects of Orthoptics (adults/paeds)

Interview

Essential

  • Excellent analytical skills and ability to resolve problems
  • Single handed clinics- management of patients in hospital settings

Desirable

  • Experiencing of dealing with incidents, serious incidents, harm reviews and writing Rapid review reports and closing incidents and managing risk register
  • Supervising and assessing in a clinical setting
Person Specification

Interview

Essential

  • Registered Orthoptist with HCPC
  • Ophthalmology Knowledge and Experience

Desirable

  • Master's degree or leadership courses
  • Previous experience in all aspects of Orthoptics (adults/paeds)

Interview

Essential

  • Excellent analytical skills and ability to resolve problems
  • Single handed clinics- management of patients in hospital settings

Desirable

  • Experiencing of dealing with incidents, serious incidents, harm reviews and writing Rapid review reports and closing incidents and managing risk register
  • Supervising and assessing in a clinical setting

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

Employer details

Employer name

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

Address

PAH

Harlow

CM20 1QX


Employer's website

https://www.pah.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

Address

PAH

Harlow

CM20 1QX


Employer's website

https://www.pah.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)


For questions about the job, contact:

Matron for Ophthalmology, ENT & OMFS

Sonia Edmon

sonia.edmon@nhs.net

Date posted

11 April 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£53,755 to £60,504 a year Per Annum plus 5% high cost area supplement

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Job share

Reference number

292-6934339-SCC

Job locations

PAH

Harlow

CM20 1QX


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

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