Kingston Hospital - First Acute Trust in London to be rated Outstanding by CQC for Overall Quality and Leadership
Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is a district general hospital situated in a beautiful and remarkable part of the country – close to London yet surrounded by royal parks, historic buildings and the River Thames. We are located on a single site in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey and run several outpatient clinics in neighbouring areas including Raynes Park Health Centre and Teddington Memorial Hospital.
We employ just under 5000 staff who proudly and efficiently support over 350,000 people locally through a full range of diagnostic and treatment services and we have a national reputation for innovative developments in healthcare, particularly in 'patient-focused' care, day surgery and maternity services.
The South West London Collaborative Bank
Kingston Hospital is a part of the local South West London Collaborative and offer competitive bank rates to work across the three NHS trusts: St Georges, Kingston Hospital and Epsom & St Helier. Our Smart App booking system makes life easier for flexible working!
Health and Wellbeing & Staff Benefits
The Trust understands that benefits go beyond just financial rewards and invests heavily in the wellbeing of its staff. Alongside opportunities for career development, there is a dedicated team of Staff Pastoral Wellbeing Practitioners who work with the Clinical and Corporate divisions, to provide pastoral support to all staff. These Practitioners are part of the wider Health & Wellbeing provision which includes a specialist Staff Physiotherapist, Occupational Health and access to counselling and an Employee Assistance Programme. The team works together to enhance staff wellbeing and to promote a healthy work-life balance.
Recent awards:
- Our Health Heroes Awards 2018 – Staff Retention and Wellbeing Employer of the Year
- HPMA Vivup Award for Well Being 2019
- NHSE National Healthcare Support Worker Award for Innovation and Excellence in Pastoral Support – 2023
- NHSE London Healthcare Support Worker Award for Sustainable Retention Initiative – 2023
Trust Values
Kingston Hospital NHS Trust has five key values and we want to employ and work with people who share these values and demonstrate behaviours that support them. They are:
- Caring – Design and deliver care around each individual patient’s needs and wants.
- Safe – Make the safety of patients and staff our prime concern as safety comes first
- Responsible – All staff take responsibility for the hospital, its services and reputation
- Value Each Other – Value each other's contribution
- Inspiring - We always strive to empower each other to develop and deliver improvements to benefit our patients
Job overview
Due to the expansion of our service an exciting opportunity has arisen to join our friendly, supportive Orthoptic team on a permanent basis.
We support four paediatric consultants who also specialise in adult motility and neuro-ophthalmology and two paediatric Optometrists. The Royal Eye Unit is a large, modern Ophthalmology unit with 14 consultants and an Acute Referral Clinic. The case load of patients is varied and challenging.
Clinics are predominantly undertaken at Kingston Hospital, but we also provide a paediatric service at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton (accessible by public transport). We are also a placement site for undergraduate and master Orthoptic students.
Some work outside of core working hours may be required on prior agreement. We encourage and support continued professional development, funding and time to attend study days is available.
Main duties of the job
1. To assess, diagnose and plan the management and supervise treatment of Orthoptic patients who are referred to the department as inpatients and outpatients.
2. To work as an autonomous practitioner, guided by Orthoptic professional practice guidelines and rules of professional conduct.
3. To manage own workload as an autonomous practitioner, prioritising patients who are urgent or need to be seen in a timely manner.
4. To take a clear and concise medical and personal history from the patient which is often of a sensitive and confidential nature.
Working for our organisation
Trust Culture and Values
The Trust has defined its culture as one that is patient centred which puts safety first and where all staff take responsibility, are valued and value each other. To support this, our five values are that we are all:-
Caring – we design and deliver care around each individual patient’s needs and wants
Safe – we make the safety of patients and staff our prime concern (safety comes first)
Responsible – all staff take responsibility for the hospital, its services and reputation
Value each other – we all value each other’s contribution
Inspiring – we always strive to empower each other to develop and deliver improvements to benefit our patients
Our training, policies, procedures, and practices are all intended to support behaviours in line with our values and all staff are expected to uphold these by 'Living Our Values Everyday'
Department Philosophy
Our purpose is to provide high quality care to all patients referred to us. We aim treat every patient with the highest standard of dignity and respect and strive to provide a service that is friendly, efficient and timely. The Orthoptists and Optometrists work as a team alongside our doctors and support each other wherever possible. As part of the larger REU team, we aim to shine as an area that does exceptionally well with quality of care and positive patient feedback.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please ensure that you have read the job description and person specification and that your supporting statement reflects these, as your application will be assessed and scored against these criteria.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
5. Degree in Orthoptics
6. Registration with the HCPC
Desirable criteria
7. Clincial teaching qualification
8. Member of the British and Irish Orthoptic Society
Experience
Essential criteria
9. 1 year post graduated experience
10. Experience of working in single handed clinics
11. Experience of working in specialist ocular motility clinics, botulinum toxin procedures, paediatric clinics and neuro clinics
Desirable criteria
12. Clinical teaching experience
13. Previous experience of working with stroke patients
14. Experience of using Humphrey visual fields
15. Experience of prioritising/analysing referral letters
16. Experience in research and audit
Skills
Essential criteria
17. Excellent time keeping skills and ability to prioritise workload
18. Excellent communication skills verbally and written
19. Enthusiastic, friendly and flexible working practices
20. To have good IT skills
21. Work efficiently under pressure for long periods in a busy environment with interruptions
22. Active involvement in teaching and audits
23. Available to work on or off site as requested by the trust during designated clinic times
24. Ability to work as a team and show initiative
Desirable criteria
25. Full driving licence and access to a car to reach off site clinics
Your application : Please ensure that you have read the job description and person specification and that your supporting statement reflects these, as your application will be assessed and scored against these criteria.
References : You will be required to provide 3 years of employment/educational history. We do not accept references from personal email addresses such as Hotmail, Gmail etc. therefore please ensure you are providing professional working email addresses within your application form. If you are unable to provide professional email addresses and are invited to an interview, please ensure you advise the interviewers of this - otherwise, this may delay your pre-employment checks.
Closing date : In order to streamline recruitment within our Trust, we reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications.
Shortlisting : You will only be contacted via e-mail/SMS by the SWL Recruitment Hub if you are successfully shortlisted for this post. Please ensure that you check your Trac registered e-mail regularly.
DBS : Kingston Hospital NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding children and adults who are at risk of abuse. As such, if this post will have access to children or vulnerable adults, you will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. However, all employees have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in the course of their duties and for ensuring that they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
Salary :
For applicants without prior NHS experience at the same pay band or higher, the salary will start at the lower value within the advertised range.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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.