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Guy's and St Thomas' Echocardiography Department

Highly Specialist Cardiac Physiologist (Echocardiographer) Band 7

This role is in receipt of short-term Recruitment & Retention Premia (RRP). This supplementary payment will be reviewed on 31st May 2025

Be part of an extraordinary team.

We are seeking to recruit a qualified echocardiographer to join our renowned and expanding department. We have a strong record in research and developing new clinical services and patterns of working. We have been instrumental in developing national standards for echocardiography and for developing the new clinical scientist discipline. At an individual level we focus on role development with scientist-led valve, ACHD, cardio-oncology and ICC screening clinics and our own TOE and bubble lists. Opportunities for continuing professional development are excellent and studying for postgraduate qualifications is encouraged. Health Education England have commissioned five HSST (Higher Specialist Scientific Training) posts in Cardiac Science here at GSTT in recent years. We are actively encouraging our echocardiographers to seek equivalence via the Academy for Healthcare Science and become registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as Clinical Scientists.

Our working days run from 8am until 6pm and weekend work is routine. Flexible working (including annualised hours) is available for our staff. Currently work is carried out across three sites (St Thomas', Guys and Tessa Jowell Health Centre in East Dulwich). Successful candidates will be part of a rotation to give you widespread exposure across all three sites.

This position would suit an echocardiographer with a good grounding in transthoracic echocardiography and an interest in developing their skills within a specialist area. We have some flexibility in direction of role development so the field of expertise will depend on the individual's aptitude and interest in conjunction with service requirements. The successful candidate will be expected to motivate, develop and lead a small team within their area, be responsible for specialist training and service development and to work closely with the Head of Echocardiography to achieve this. BSE accreditation or an equivalent qualification is essential. Part-time positions will be considered.

This position is for a BSE accredited (or equivalent), independently reporting echocardiographer. The post holder will perform their own transthoracic echo lists and provide reports and expert opinions to other health professionals. The post holder will perform studies within a specialist area of echocardiography (e.g. stress echo, bubbles, or TOE) and will be expected to contribute to non-clinical projects as required (e.g. QA and audit, infection control, machine and IT maintenance or stock control).

The post holder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team consisting of physiologists, echocardiographers, consultant cardiologists, junior doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, clerical and administrative staff and our porter. The post will involve training physiologists and doctors and the post holder will be expected to act as a role model and mentor to the trainees.

Professional / Clinical responsibilities

• Perform transthoracic echocardiograms to a high standard in accordance with BSE guidelines and department minimum standards.
• Identify and advise when transthoracic echocardiography is insufficient to answer the clinical question and proactively suggest and arrange alternative/additional investigations.
• Produce an accurate and comprehensive report for each study.
• Ensure that personal knowledge base is current to reflect change in clinical echocardiography.
• Depending on previous experience or agreed internal training programme and sign off, perform specialist echo to a high standard as follows: Perform transoesophageal echocardiograms including record keeping (in particular probe infection control measures), interpretation and patient care.
• Perform stress echocardiograms (exercise and pharmacological) and assist with all aspects of the procedure including record keeping, interpretation and patient safety.
• Perform 3D echocardiograms with appropriate record keeping, interpretation and archiving.
• Perform contrast/bubble contrast echocardiography including keeping adequate stock levels of consumables, record keeping, interpretation and patient safety.
• Perform complex dyssynchrony studies pre and post device implant including appropriate analysis and archiving.
• Perform complex adult congenital studies including record keeping, interpretation and patient care.
• Perform research studies as required with appropriate record keeping, interpretation and archiving.
• Perform other highly specialist technical and specialist technical roles as required including ECG interpretation.
• Assist in protocol development and maintenance to agreed national, international or local standards in liaison with the Head of Echocardiography and the Clinical Lead for Echo and Non Invasive Cardiology.
• Assist with triaging echo requests for appropriateness and relevancy, prioritising caseload depending on clinical urgency on a rotational basis.

Teaching and professional development

• Train physiologists, cardiology registrars, intensivists, general practitioners to BSE individual accreditation standard, taking professional responsibility for the trainees studies.
• Teach other echocardiographers to a standard of excellence within post holders specialist area.
• Teach cardiac registrars to basic level including signing off their studies.
• Maintain own CPD as directed by Trust guidelines, including Performance Development Review (PDR) and mandatory training commensurate with the role.
• Update own CPD to meet BSE reaccreditation standard.
• Support other staff in acquiring CPD.

Management and leadership

• Manage own workload routinely and that of other staff members when necessary.
• Write and implement the echo department rota on a rotational basis.
• Monitor inpatient waiting lists and ensure any delays or shortfalls in service are promptly reported to the Head of Echocardiography and assist in taking remedial action.
• Manage stock within specialist area.
• Organise equipment maintenance within specialist area.
• Lead a small team within specialist area.
• Represent specialist area at departmental meetings.
• Assist in the recruitment of cardiac physiologists/clinical scientists and to identify and implement retention strategies in conjunction with the Head of Echocardiography and Principal Cardiac Physiologist.
• Support the Head of Echocardiography in implementing Trust initiatives and strategies within the Directorate.
• Manage own time to ensure balance between clinical and administrative duties.

Information Management

• Use Trust and department software to analyse, report and archive studies appropriately.
• Provide data for audit projects and contribute towards department QA process.
• Contribute to the development of research within cardiology, ensuring that requirements are adhered to and data is saved according to protocol.

General

The post holder will be expected to undertake any duties, commensurate with grade, that are necessary for the smooth running of the directorate.

The post holder is required to follow Trust policies and procedures which are regularly updated including:

To ensure that all clinical duties are carried out in such a manner as to ensure safety and compliance with any locally agreed protocols.

• Demonstrable practical experience of performing & reporting of echocardiograms.
• Knowledge and practical experience of at least one specialist area of echo e.g. 3D, bubbles, stress or TOE.
• Experience in leading a small project within your team e.g QA, audit or service review.
• Previous experience of clinical or academic teaching.

• Broad knowledge of echocardiography and multi vendor echo machines.
• Experience in applying theoretical knowledge into patient care.
• Able to deliver teaching and training on complex investigations to other professional groups.
• Cannulation.

• Relevant BSc degree or BHF training.
• BSE or European accreditation.
• ILS certification.
• Evidence of post graduate study in clinical or management area.
• HCPC registration as a clinical scientist.
• Accreditation in TOE, ACHD or stress echo.

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.

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Head of Echocardiography and Community Services

£54,320 to £60,981 a yearp.a inc. HCA plus £5275 RRP (subject to annual review) pro rata