Job summary
We are offering exciting opportunity for a highly experience Optometrist to join our team in an advanced clinical optometrist role.

You will join a multidisciplinary team to provide high quality ophthalmic care for the patients of Suffolk and surrounding areas.

As an advanced clinical optometrist you will have significant previous experience delivering sub speciality ophthalmology care and will be an independent prescriber on the General Optical Council Speciality register. You will be delivering independent Ophthalmology and Optometry clinics as well as supporting training and education within the department and the wider optometry community.

For candidates with less experience and post graduate qualifications, we would welcome an application to join the team in a developmental position, starting at either Band 6 or 7 depending on previous qualifications and experience. Progression through salary bands will depend on achievement of both clinical competency and post graduate qualifications.

We are fully committed to support the successful applicant to develop knowledge, skills and achieve competence.

Main duties of the job

• To act as an autonomous advanced clinical practitioner providing high quality, individualised clinical management forpatients using advanced clinical assessment and diagnostic reasoning skills to determine and initiate changes to treatment as necessary.
• To provide a range of extended specialist role services.
• Working as an autonomous registered practitioner with significant experience in an ophthalmology extended role providing high quality, individualised clinical management for patients using advanced clinical assessment and diagnostic reasoning skills to determine and initiate changes to treatment as necessary.
• Act as a specialist clinical expert in direct contact care, able to make high level skills decisions, informed by advanced history taking, diagnostic, assessment and treatment skills. To be responsible and accountable for own decisions, actions and omissions at this level of practice
• To appropriately assess, examine, investigate, diagnose and treat patients resulting in the safe management of patients, autonomously formulate appropriate management plans for patients
• Use highly developed technical skills to provide specialist ocular treatments such as YAG laser and SLT
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of own 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

About us
We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is thatTime Mattersto everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here - Apply through our website

Details
Date posted: 03 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time
Reference number: 432-HR488-26
Job locations: Ipswich Hospital, Heath Road, Ipswich, IP4 5PD, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• BSc Hons Optometry or equivalent
• GOC registration
• Professional post-graduate specialist qualification(s),at Masters level or above, relevant to sub-specialist practice (e.g. College of Optometrists Dip Glau; Dip CL)
• GOC Specialty Registration (Independent Prescribing). Non-medical prescribing, with evidence of updating knowledge appropriate to patient groups prescribing across a range of ophthalmology sub-specialty areas

Desirable

• Postgraduate masters (or higher) level clinical research experience relevant to sub-specialist practice
• Masters in Advanced Practice or Masters level award

Experience
Essential

• Extensive experience working with HES including significant extended role work in sub speciality
• Experience of all core optometry sub-specialities (Low vision aid assessments, complex contact lens fitting, complex and paediatric refraction)
• Experience in clinical supervision and teaching.

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.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.