Bristol Eye Hospital is inviting applications from enthusiastic and motivated optometrists to join the Optometry team in the Uveitis Service.

About the role:

Based in the Uveitis Service delivering care to people with acute and chronic anterior uveitis, as the service develops you will be involved in a more complex case mix including routine posterior uveitis and those receiving immunosuppression. Working closely with the Uveitis Service's forward thinking multidisciplinary team you will also liaise with other services within the Bristol and Weston Hospital Eye service.

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. As well as being an independent prescriber you have a high level of clinical experience in medical retina which will enable you to manage an increasingly complex caseload in the uveitis service. Your highly developed specialist knowledge has been evidenced by Higher Qualifications in Medical Retina, which you are actively working towards gaining if you've not already completed.

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 provide high quality supervision and teaching as well as actively input into audit and clinical governance.

Main duties of the job

The Optometry Department at Bristol Eye Hospital is well established and integrated into the multidisciplinary environment of Bristol Eye Hospital, providing clinical management of eye health to people in Bristol, Weston and across the South West of England.

About the Uveitis Service:

The Uveitis Service at Bristol Eye Hospital is a highly specialised service providing secondary, tertiary and quaternary levels of service to the Bristol area, the South West and further afield. Commissioned by NHS England to provide care to adults and children with uveitis including anti-TNF therapy, those in the service are actively engaged with highly regarded clinical, pre-clinical and lab based research into uveitis via a close link with the University of Bristol.

The consultant team, led by Prof Andrew Dick (Consultant Ophthalmologist and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Bristol, the UCL-Institute of Ophthalmology and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Moorfield-UCL), includes Dr Catherine Guly and Dr Simon Epps. The consultants lead a team of Fellows, specialist trainees, immunosuppression support nurses, ophthalmic nurses, ophthalmic technicians and an ophthalmic imaging team.

The service is supported by a well-equipped retinal unit, and those working in the service have routine access to Topcon Triton and Heidelberg Spectralis OCTs, Optos Ultra-Widefield imaging, and high quality multimodal ophthalmic imaging including FFA and ICGA.

About us

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 which 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. Anonymous information will be used from your application in order to ensure we're meeting our pledge.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For a more detailed job description, main responsibilities, and Person Specification, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• 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 eye service experience
• Significant specialist clinical experience in assessment & management of patients with active and sight-threatening disease across multiple of areas of-specialist clinical practice
• Significant specialist clinical experience in management of patients with ocular/visual manifestations of systemic disease that may threaten general health
• Advanced understanding of all relevant national clinical guidance (e.g. NICE guidelines College of Optometrists Clinical Management Guidelines Royal College of Ophthalmologists guidelines

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Specialist clinical practice beyond conventional hospital or community optometry
• Specialist clinical assessment skills for patients with active and sight-threatening disease across multiple of areas of sub-specialist clinical practice
• Specialist ancillary test interpretation skills (e.g. visual function and ocular imaging tests) as used by specialist medical staff
• 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)
• Ability to quickly interpret complex and potentially conflicting clinical information
• Normal binocular vision

Qualifications and Training

Essential

• Registration with the General Optical Council
• BSc Hons Optometry or equivalent
• Professional post-graduate specialist qualification(s) at masters level or higher, relevant to job plan (eg College of Optometrists DipGlauc, Higher Prof Cert Med Ret)
• GOC Speciality Registration in Independent Prescribing
• Postgraduate masters (or higher) level clinical audit or research experience relevant to sub-specialist practice

Aptitudes

Essential

• 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
• Capable of performing sustained high intensity work in a pressurised clinical environment

Employer details

Employer name

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW)

Address

Bristol Eye Hospital

Lower Maudlin Street

Bristol

BS1 2LX

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

387-S-5938-LH