Job: Senior Orthoptist
Reference No: 08.010(2024)
Department / Directorate: Chief Operations Office
Reports to: Heath and Social Care Professionals Manager and Consultant Ophthalmologist

Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) is an exciting and dynamic place to work. The team at the Hospital are in the midst of implementing a new hospital strategy that has already delivered on the opening of a new renal unit, day surgery centre, step down facility in the community and the a new ICU extension. It is an exciting time to join the TUH team and one of Ireland’s main teaching hospitals with so many plans to enhance patient care. The Hospital believes in investing in their team and offers excellent education and research opportunities.

TUH is one of Ireland’s largest acute teaching hospitals, with adult, psychiatric and age-related healthcare being provided on one site. The Hospital has 456 inpatient adult beds, 74 onsite day beds for our Dialysis, Oncology, Infusion, Haematology, Cardiology, Bone & Joint and minor surgery services. The Hospital also has a Day Surgery Centre located near the Hospital which has four theatres and 25 bays for elective surgery. There are an additional 61 offsite beds under its governance. The Hospital has over 3,500 people on staff and more than 50 different nationalities represented. The Hospital is a provider of local, regional and national specialties. We have a large Respiratory department with a busy lung cancer service.

TUH is one of the two main academic teaching hospitals of Trinity College Dublin - specialising in the training and professional development of staff in areas such as medicine nursing, health and social care professionals, emergency medicine and surgery, amongst many others. TUH is part of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group which serves a population of over 1.2 million across seven counties.

TUH Vision and Values
The vision of the Hospital is “People Caring for People to Live Better Lives” through excellent health outcomes supported by evidenced based practice, positive patient and staff experience in an empowering and caring environment. A culture of innovation and quality improvement in everything we do.
Our TUH CARE values – for patients, their families, our community and staff are:

• Collaborate – together and with our academic and care partners
• Achieve – our goals, positive outcomes and wellbeing
• Respect – for patients, each other and our environment
• Equity – for patients and staff

At TUH we view our staff as our most valuable asset and every member of the Team is valued equally. We recognise that a skilled, satisfied and motivated workforce is a prerequisite to high quality care.
A full overview of TUH is available on www.tuh.ie/about us
purpose of the role
The Purpose of this role is to provide orthoptic services to the ophthalmology service within Tallaght University Hospital and Children’s Health Ireland .

Specific Accountability
Principle Duties and Responsibilities
1.1 Assess, diagnose and formulate a programme of treatment for new patients

• Be responsible for patients undergoing orthoptic treatment as an in or outpatient.
• Liase with Ophthalmic, medical staff and other specialists in consultation with ophthalmology/orthoptics.

1.4 Instruct patients (or parents/guardians) on a continuous course of home treatment.
1.5 Review patient’s progress regularly, record and maintain a record of information accurately and legibly.
1.6 Carryout Diabetic screening and Eye Movement Laboratory investigations.
1.7 Be responsible for the care and maintenance of equipment

• Participate in research and trials of new equipment when requested to do so.
• Ensure that confidentiality is maintained at all times.
• Maintain good communication with patients, parents and guardians regarding the patient needs and welfare.
• Be involved in audits that allow the effectiveness of orthoptic practice to be evaluated.
• Maintain up to date knowledge of techniques and technology and attend appropriate training events, lectures and courses.

Quality and Standards

• Contribute to the development of ophthalmology services within TUH and CHI.
• Develop and maintain site specific standard operating procedures (SOP’s) for the effective and efficient maintenance of data management systems using local and national templates.
• Working with the multidisciplinary team (MDT) to identify areas where key performance indicators (KPI’s) are not being achieved and undertake corrective action.
• Develop systems to ensure relevant stakeholders are informed in a timely fashion of potential risk to achieving KPI’s.
• Participate in accreditation and quality programmes as required
Participate in local and national quality and cancer awareness events representing the Cancer Services

Communication

• Establish effective communication networks with internal and external stakeholders and participate in development and change to communication processes.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate with all levels of staff.
• Work as a member of the cancer multidisciplinary team.
• Adhere to hospital policy on confidentiality and data protection.
• Maintain and facilitate effective communication with all colleagues in the Cancer Services.
• Work with clinical and data management teams to produce relevant data regarding MDM activity.
• Support the induction of new team members

Personal development.

• Facilitate and record participation in mandatory training
• In conjunction with line manager set and agree learning objectives to meet personal professional development goals and execution of the role.
• Participate in annual performance achievement meetings with line manager.

General Accountability

• Manage the Administration staff assigned to the team and delegate duties as appropriate

• Demonstrate the ability to maintain and develop effective working relationships within the department
• Maintain strong organisational skills and work to specific deadlines to ensure readily available information
• Demonstrate problem solving, decision making and planning skills
• Demonstrate ability to prioritize work while responding with flexibility to rapidly changing priorities
• Work unsupervised and use initiative to deal with conflicting priorities calmly and effectively
• Maintain Professional and courteous manner with patients including dealing with complaints
• Know the capacity utilisation targets of all clinics and know the reasons for any variation in clinic capacity utilisation
• Ensure the clinic(s) dashboard is up to date & review forecasted and actual clinic utilisation data weekly
• Access the appropriate training for Administration staff ensuring familiarity with and adherence to the required quality standards and attention to detail of the processes specific to the Cancer Services
• Carry out any other duties, which may be assigned from time to time

Qualifications & Experience required
Candidate must possess the following qualifications or equivalent:
1. Professional Qualifications, Experience, etc
(a) Eligible applicants will be those who on the closing date for the competition possess:
(i) B.Sc (Hons) Orthoptics from Glasgow Caledonian University.
or
(ii) B.Sc (Hons) Orthoptics from the University of Liverpool.
or
(iii) BMed Sci (Hons) Orthoptics from the University of Sheffield.
or
(iv) A validated qualification equivalent to (i) or (ii) or (iii) above.
or
(v) Be registered as an Orthoptist with the Health & Care Professionals Council UK
(HCPC).
and
(b) Candidates must have 3 years full-time post qualification clinical experience.
and
(c) Candidates must have the requisite knowledge and ability (including a high standard of
suitability and management ability) for the proper discharge of the duties of the office. and management ability) for the proper discharge of the duties of the
Office.
Remuneration is in accordance with the Department of Health Consolidated Salary Scales, grade code 3417.

• The appointment is part time, permanent and pensionable.

• The annual leave entitlement is 29 working days per year, pro rata. The leave year runs from 1st April to the 31st of March each year

• Normal working hours are 22.2 worked over 5 days. Your contracted hours of work are liable to change between the hours of 8 am to 8 pm over 7 days to meet the requirements for extended day services in accordance with the terms of the Framework Agreement

Application process
Applications can be submitted ‘on-line’ at www.tuh.ie/careers by completing the application form and attaching your CV. Candidates should be aware that, when applying for a post through the 'On-Line' Application System (Candidate Manager) they will receive an automated replying acknowledging receipt of their application. Should you for any reason, not receive this automated acknowledgement, you should notify the Human Resources Department, before the closing date, otherwise your application will not be considered.
All candidates should note that, in order to maintain a timely process, the closing date and time for receipt of applications will be strictly adhered to.

Informal Enquiries to: Eoin Power Operations Medical Directorate at ., Telephone (01) 4142521
Closing Date: Before close of business on: 18th September 2024

TUH Core Competencies:
Please go to www.tuh/careers for details of the core competencies