Assistant Clinical Research Practitioner

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job description

Guy's and St Thomas' is among the UK's busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy's is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas' has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children's Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King's Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King's College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of 'good'. Our adult community services achieved a rating of 'outstanding'.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

The Department of Twins Research team is seeking a highly motivated person to join their group as an Assistant Clinical Research Practitioner with experience and knowledge of working in an NHS/University research environment, along with experience of working with participants involved in multiple, large, complex studies.

Post holder will be expected to describe the studies and obtain fully informed consent from participants ensuring that any research undertaken within the department safeguards the well-being of the participants and is conducted according to Good Clinical Practice (GCP). They will be expected to carry out a range of clinical assessments in line with accepted standards of practice and be competent in some clinical skills including venepuncture and cannulation.

Post holder will be required to interact & engage with participants throughout the study period, answer any questions and liaise with multidisciplinary teams, therefore must have a professional approach to work and will be expected show initiative and work well as part of a team. Excellent communication skills are essential and the role requires the ability to work both independently and with others to inspire trust & confidence.

Much of the role will be conducted via clinics within GSTT, however flexibility with time and adaptability to different environments will be necessary to meet study requirements.

Main duties of the job

Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information on the role and its requirements.

Working for our organisation

TwinsUK is the UK's largest adult twin registry and the most clinically detailed in the world. Professor Tim Spector from King's College London set up the cohort in 1992 to investigate the incidence of osteoporosis and other rheumatologic diseases in several hundred monozygotic (identical) twins. We now have over 15,000 identical and non-identical twins from across the UK, with ages between eighteen and one hundred and our research has expanded to include multiple diseases and conditions.

There are excellent opportunities for professional and personal development as part of this role, with access to some CPD funding. We provide a comprehensive induction programme and ensure that all staff have tailored, individual personal development plans with support for further training. Opportunities for developing new research and clinical skills are available and actively encouraged.

The usual working hours for the post are Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, although the post holder may need to be flexible to accommodate participants visits and assessments outside of these hours occasionally.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information on the role and its requirements.

Person specification

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• NVQ level 4 or equivalent qualification or qualified to NVQ3 or equivalent plus significant previous experience
• Knowledge of medical terminology

Desirable criteria

• Evidence of education related to clinical research
• Good Clinical Practice training
• Knowledge of mandatory standards for clinical research conduct (including GCP, UK Policy framework for Health and Social Care research, data protection)

Previous Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working in a healthcare or clinical research role with patient/public communication/coordination duties OR biomedical degree and experience working in a public facing role
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team
• Experiences using database systems

Desirable criteria

• Experience performing basic clinical tasks such as clinical observations (height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, temperature)
• Experience of caring for patients/participants in a professional setting
• Experience of working on clinical trials or drugs, therapies or interventions

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to communicate well (written and verbally) with clear and legible handwriting
• Able to work in a multidisciplinary team and on own initiative
• Ability to co-ordinate collection of data in line with SOPs and to agreed timescales
• Ability to understand and comply with research protocols and departmental procedures and report difficulties and exceptions to senior staff
• Ability to manage priorities under pressure; flexible and adaptable approach to work
• IT skills, specifically in database management, Microsoft and REDCap
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Able to perform venepuncture and cannulation

Guy's and St Thomas' celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitably according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or studies at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

Flexible working

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking into account the individual's personal circumstances as well as the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the onboarding process.

Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.

Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• Band 4 ACRP JD (PDF, 272.4KB)
• Band 4 Person Spec (PDF, 40.5KB)
• Band 4 Functional Requirements (PDF, 376.6KB)