Job summary
Best Care for Everyone

We are seeking to recruit enthusiastic, motivated, full time band 7 Sonographers to join our busy and friendly Ultrasound team at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We provide a comprehensive Ultrasound service for a wide range of specialties and GP referrals at Gloucester Royal Hospital, Cheltenham General Hospital and three community hospital sites within the county and a newly opened Diagnostic Imaging Centre In Gloucester.

Main duties of the job
You will work as an independent reporting practitioner, working autonomously but supported by fellow Sonographers, Radiologists and the Ultrasound Manager. You will work as part of a high quality Ultrasound imaging service, caring for patients and working with trainees, specialty grade clinicians and the wider multidisciplinary teams.

We provide a wide variety of examinations including; General abdominal, Gynecological, small parts including Head & Neck, DVT's, Obstetrics and early pregnancy. We are looking to further develop our MSK, Head and Neck . Sonographers are required to rotate between sites and help us to maintain our high quality 7-day service between the hours of 08:00 to 20:00. Candidates must hold a recognized UK qualification such as PG (cert), PG (Dip) or DMU or equivalent and be state registered

Join us and you'll be part of a community that recognizes your contribution and inspires you to achieve great things.

About us
All departments are excellent to work in, where further training and development is supported. Regular meetings are held to discuss interesting cases. Our clinical team have built a strong reputation for excellent healthcare standards for all our patients.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust covers a large population and provides a wide range of specialist hospital services. We have ambitious plans for the future to help us achieve our vision of delivering the Best Care for Everyone.

Job responsibilities
JOB PURPOSE

The post holder

• Is responsible for actively contributing to the delivery of an efficient and effective service, taking a lead in a clinical or supportive role in the ultrasound department.
• Provides clinical reports for own patient workload.
• Provides clinical training and appraisal for trainees and supervision for newly-qualified sonographers.

DIMENSIONS

Impact upon pay and non- pay budgets:

The post holder will

• Use specialist ultrasound equipment and be responsible for the safe and efficient use of expensive and complex equipment (to the value of up to £100k ).
• Involvement in QA and equipment maintenance scheduling.
• Make best use of resources by careful and efficient management of time and out of hours service demands.

Staff numbers and grades who report through post-holder:

The post holder will

• Provide continuous clinical leadership for a multidisciplinary team.
• Provide day-to-day supervision of radiographic care assistants/clerical support workers and trainee and newly qualified sonographers.
• Participate in the training of specialist registrars in radiology and obstetrics/gynaecology.

Workload commitment

The post holder will be able to work at a pace comparable with that of peer group, undertaking similar numbers of examinations per hour as a specialist consultant undertaking the same examination type mix in the same working conditions.

The post holder will work shift patterns and out of hours as requested.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Professional registration.
• Minimum of postgraduate diploma at Masters level in Medical Ultrasound (CASE accredited training course) plus recent post-qualification experience
• Excellent multidisciplinary team working and leadership skills
• Ability to work under own initiative to a high level with responsibility and commitment
• Consistently excellent communication skills
• Presentation and report writing skills (clinical/non clinical)
• Detailed evidence of appropriate ongoing professional development (professional portfolio)
• A broad understanding of the role of different imaging modalities in relationship to effective and efficient delivery of patient clinical management
• Ability and enthusiasm to contribute to the departmental education programme and deliver presentations to multidisciplinary groups
• Mature judgement and decision making skills - highly reflective in thinking and outlook
• Basic IT skills as appropriate to post
• Evidence of awareness of application of research/audit techniques
• Attendance at appropriate communication/counselling training schemes (desirable)
• Annual attendance at the directorates mandatory training programme
• Physical skills - Highly developed hand-eye co-ordination and a high degree of dexterity and sensory skills are required for Ultrasound scanning. Specialised keyboard skills are used for manipulation of images.

Person Specification
Qualifications, Skills and Experience
Essential

• Independently perform and report on ultrasound examinations in a manner that meets professional, technical, medical and legal requirements
• Presentation and report writing skills (both clinical/ non clinical)
• Demonstrate excellent communication abilities
• Possess mature judgement and decision-making skills and be highly reflective in thinking and outlook.
• Excellent multidisciplinary team working and leadership skills, able to work under own initiative to a high level with responsibility and commitment and demonstrate
• Ability and enthusiasm to contribute to the departmental education programme and deliver presentations to multidisciplinary groups.
• Awareness of application of research and audit techniques
• Basic Knowledge of IT skills
• Nuchal Translucency - trained & accredited
• Candidates must hold a recognised UK qualification such as PG (cert), PG (Dip) or DMU or equivalent and be state registered

Desirable

• Experience of using PACS

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.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

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.