Paediatric Audiologist

Paediatric Audiologist – Band 6 Full -Time Contract : Permanent 37.5 hours per week This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic, well-motivated and committed Audiologist with an interest in Paediatric Audiology to join our services at The Northern Health Centre, which is a Consultant-led Audio vestibular Medicine service for children in Camden and Islington. The successful post holder will be responsible for conducting independent assessments of children of all ages, as well as supporting consultant-led clinics. This is a great opportunity for you to expand your Paediatric knowledge. You will have the opportunity to be involved in assisting in hearing aid clinics and part of the tertiary new-born hearing diagnostic pathway. The service provides 2ndtier services to children from Islington and Camden. It is part of the organisation’s wider consultant-led service which provides audiology services from NHSP to adult services, at sites including St Ann’s Hospital. The Whittington Hospital, and at sites within Barnet and Enfield. The successful candidate will be based at the Northern health centre, but maybe required to work at any of the other sites within the trust. POST SUMMARY The post holder will be part of the multi disciplinary team responsible for the provision of a wide range of Paediatric Audiology services across Whittington Health ICO (covering Haringey, Islington, parts of Camden, and Barnet and Enfield). They will be responsible for the assessment and management of infants and older children referred to the community clinic at the Northern health centre. This will involve both independent clinics, as well as providing clinical support for doctor-led clinics. This post will be based at The Northern Health centre, but the postholder may be required to rotate to other sites within the ICO as required. This is a friendly, supportive team. We support staff to have a good work life balance. Initiatives and ideas to improve the service and patient experience are welcomed. The Service places a strong emphasis on personal and professional development and provides opportunities for clinicians to extend their clinical skills and participate in high quality training. Research initiatives are welcomed. Whittington Health serves a culturally diverse population with many multi-ethnic, bilingual and multi-lingual speaking communities. MAIN DUTIES Clinical and Scientific.

• To be responsible for performing routine Audiological test battery as part of doctor-led clinics on This will include Pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, play audiometry, Visual Reinforcement audiometry, Distraction testing acoustic reflexes, Oto-acoustic emissions and speech testing.
• To support medical clinics in assessing children with complex needs.
• To undertake and lead on the assessment of children referred from a variety of sources
• To make decisions about the most appropriate test technique to employ
• To make management decisions regarding children and initiate onwards referrals as necessary. To seek advice from senior colleagues when required.
• Interpretation of complex test results and communicating complex information about tests and results to parents, families, and patients. To request support from senior colleagues when required
• To be experienced and empathetic in sharing news of permanent hearing loss with families. To formulate individual management plans in conjunction with the family and Education services.
• To ensure that all appropriate verbal/written information is provided to families at every stage, and to ensure that reports/information is provided to other relevant health professionals involved in the child’s care.
• To be accountable for the day-to-day management of pertinent work areas, ensuring that equipment is maintained correctly and daily checks/calibration are carried out, reporting any faults as appropriate to the relevant member of the team
• Acts independently within professional guidelines
• To liaise with Medical, Technical and Scientific staff in the identification, development and implementation of new clinical tests and procedures.
• To analyse and interpret a broad spectrum of paediatric test results and recommend appropriate audiological intervention.
• Determining the reason for erroneous clinical test results within paediatrics.
• Continuous interaction with children and their parents.
• To alert relevant member of the team regarding low stock.
• To ensure that departmental/national recommended. procedures/protocols/guidelines are adhered to and a high level of competence is maintained.
• Perform evening and weekend clinics as required
• Rotate at other community/hospital sites as required, as directed by line manager/service leads and/or due to service requirements.

Research and Development.

• To participate in research projects as required.
• To maintain up to date knowledge of scientific, technical and clinical practices to keep abreast of professional change and development in the fields of Audiology.
• Participation in Family Friendly Paediatric Service Provision as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• To participate in departmental audit.
• To attend meetings as required regarding Audiology Service Issues.
• To present educational/research information received from formal. training to other members of staff.
• To attend service training and study courses as required for personal development and/ or the advancement of the service.
• To provide necessary information as required for equipment procurement, quality assurance, and clinical governance to Senior Clinical Scientist/Consultant to enable best practice and service development
• To be responsible for monitoring own CPD activity to ensure registration requirements are fulfilled.
• To contribute towards service development

Administrative tasks.

• To provide timely and accurate reports for Paediatric assessments.
• To ensure that patients records are comprehensive and kept up to date on the computerised management system following each consultation.
• To ensure that data is entered onto S4H (the national NHSP database) for relevant children.
• To occasionally book/cancel/change appointments for patients, after appropriate training, as directed by line manage/professional lead. To include arranging interpreters, and transport as required.
• To receive and follow up queries by telephone, and to pass on any queries to relevant staff members.
• Occasional database activity for research/audit purposes
• To ensure that full documentation is carried out for any research work undertaken.

Other

• To maintain confidentiality at all times
• To ensure that all relevant leaflets, proformas, results sheets etc, are available in all rooms for clinics
• To be responsible for the overall cleanliness and tidiness of the Department at The Northern health centre, and working with the rest of the clinical team to ensure that infection control procedures are followed
• To contribute to departmental and team meetings, and to provide data for meetings as requested by line manager service lead
• To assist in the overall smooth running of the department including health and safety
• To provide cover for temporary absence for Audiology staff
• To assist departmental colleagues in inducting/training new staff to the department (this will include locums)
• To supervise the work of other members of the team as appropriate, including junior audiologists, trainees and students
• Involved in providing clinical training to ATO/MSc/BSc students, and junior/new members of staff
• To perform any other ad-hoc duties that may be requested by the Consultant, line manager or Professional lead as appropriate to the grade
• To support the Northern health centre Paediatric Team Leader as required.
• To work calmly and methodically when under pressure from a busy caseload, demonstrating good prioritisation and organisational skills.

Note: this job description is a reflection of the current position and the post holder is expected to view it as a guide rather than an exact description of all duties and responsibilities. It may be varied from time to time in consultation with the post holder.