Assistant Technical Officer

Employer information

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

We have a band 3 Agenda for Change 0.6 FTE Assistant Technical Officer post within the Hearing Implant Centre. This is a fixed term for 18 months position.

This role is an opportunity to join our busy and friendly multi-disciplinary team to assist in providing technical support to patients under the care of the Adult and Paediatric Hearing Implant Services.

We are seeking a highly motivated person with excellent communication, problem-solving and organisational skills, as well as the ability to work on their own initiative. Experience dealing with the public and experience in a care setting is desirable.

The successful applicant will work within a team of assistant technical officers and closely with audiologists in the department to support our patients in maintaining their hearing devices. There will also be engagement with the wider multi-disciplinary team including our advanced nurse practitioner, the medical and surgical team as well as the speech and language therapists and teachers of the deaf. Full training and support will be given to use hearing implant and hearing aid clinical device programming software and to be able to use department specific systems and processes for hearing implant delivery and ordering.

There is active and ongoing research and audit within the service and participation in the development of the service is encouraged.

Main duties of the job

Responsible to the senior assistant technical officer and within the team of assistant technical officers the post holder will monitor and maintain stock levels of hearing devices, hearing implant systems, accessories, and consumables. They will provide technical support to patients to address and remedy issues with the function of their hearing devices. This includes trouble-shooting device faults, replacing parts and processors, liaising with manufacturers and suppliers, keeping accurate records, gathering information for the surgical team to respond to medical queries and taking impressions of patients' ears to produce new ear moulds.

Working for our organisation

Located at St. Thomas' Hospital on the banks of the River Thames and opposite the Houses of Parliament, St. Thomas' Hearing Implant Centre is one of the largest hearing implant centres in the UK. Having been established in 1992 we care for thousands of adult and paediatric hearing implant users and provide all current hearing implants offered in the UK to new recipients, including Cochlear Implants, Bone Conduction Hearing Implants, Middle Ear Implants and Auditory Brainstem Implants.

We have a large multidisciplinary team consisting of Audiological Scientist, Rehabilitationists (Speech and Language Therapists and Teachers of the Deaf), ENT Consultant Surgeons, Assistant Technical Officers and Rehabilitationists an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and a team of Administrative staff.

As a Tertiary specialist centre we have a focus on clinical excellence and also on research and audit with currently one of the largest active research portfolios of any implant centre in the UK.

We are a busy but friendly department and always look forward to welcoming new team members to help us to support the patients under our care.

Person specification

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• A to C grade in English and Maths or equivalent
• Education to GCSE or equivalent

Desirable criteria

• A to C grade in Science or equivalent
• A-level, NVQ or BTEC in Health, Social, Care English or STEM Subject

Skills

Essential criteria

• Good communication skills (written and verbal)
• Good organisational, problem solving and prioritising skills
• Ability to confidently use digital and paper based systems
• Ability to work methodically with minimal supervision
• Ability to work well within a team

Desirable criteria

• Ability to communicate with colleagues or all disciplines and levels
• Knowledge of information governance and patient confidentiality

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience with Microsoft Office including Excel
• Experience in public facing role

Desirable criteria

• Administrative/ clerical experience
• Experience working within a team
• Experience working in a healthcare setting
• Experience working with the hearing impaired or those with communication difficulties
• Experience in repairing hearing devices

Additional employer information

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 equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study's 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 in to account the individual's personal circumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Due to recent changes in the UK immigration rules which affect Skilled Worker Visas, Global Business Mobility, Higher Skill Level and Increased Salary Thresholds, please ensure that you are able to meet the requirements to live and work in the UK before applying. Further information about eligibility is available on the UK Government website.

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."

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

• ATO_JD (PDF, 256.4KB)
• ATO PS (PDF, 32.5KB)
• ATO_FRF (PDF, 408.6KB)