Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Areas of Work
Clinical Practice:
The post holder will promote and provide patient centred care through:
Working autonomously and utilising specialist knowledge and skills to assess the physical health status of patients who are receiving intra vitreal drug therapy, making referrals to other agencies/disciplines as appropriate.

Managing a defined caseload of patients, independently carry out ophthalmic assessments, optimising treatments within agreed protocols and patient group directives, seeking advice, if necessary, from senior colleagues.

Leading and co-ordinating an intra-vitreal injection clinic. This will involve working as an autonomous practitioner with the responsibility for pre-assessment, intra- vitreal injections, practitioner led discharge and post procedure follow-up.

Giving guidance on the management of patients through protocol/ practice guidelines to support decision making in clinical practice.

Make changes, in collaboration with the retinal team, to clinical management plans exercising a high level of clinical decision-making supported by evidence based research and protocols.

Developing efficient and effective care pathways for patients, delegating responsibilities to other health professionals to achieve seamless care.

Ensuring, through NICE guidance, that clinical practice is patient centred, evidence based and delivered within the code of professional conduct, Trust policies and guidelines.

Promoting best practice, collaborating with local and regional benchmarking groups to generate common standards and nursing and clinical guidelines.

Performing/requesting ophthalmology diagnostics and therapeutic interventions as they deem necessary following clinical assessment of the patient. 

Meet the standards set for gaining informed consent.

Contributing to professional led discharge by initiating the transfer of care process and follow up plans in collaboration with the health care team.

Provide and develop psychological support pathways for patients and relatives who use the service. Establishing complex, sensitive and empathetic relations with patients and carers. In doing this the post holder may be exposed to occasional distressing or emotional circumstances.

Promoting infection prevention practices in line with the saving lives high impact interventions (HII).

Producing patient information leaflets as per Trust Policy.

Offering and delivering relevant health promotion and disease prevention education to clients

Education and Development
The post holder will provide learning opportunities for nursing staff; and contribute to the learning opportunities of other professional groups by:
Supporting the provision and organisation of in-service training for clinical staff including.

Participating in study days/seminars organised within and outside of the Trust.

Contributing to the clinical learning environment, acting as a teacher, facilitator, role model, mentor or preceptor according to the planned learning needs of individuals.

Maintaining own knowledge and skills and developing own clinical evidence based practice.

Teaching and supporting students within the University and clinical environment.

Acting as an educational resource for clinical staff, patients and carers and relevant external agencies by providing formal and informal education.

Clinical Leadership 
The post holder will demonstrate effective leadership through:
Managing the day to day running of the intra vitreal injection service, planning the working week to ensure that the service is deliverable, but also ensuring that there is sufficient flexibility to meet the needs of the patient.

Developing strong and effective multidisciplinary and interdepartmental communication pathways.

Working with the multidisciplinary team in service redesign, development of policies and  procedures within the Trust.

Working with the Matron and other clinicians to set clinical standards and systematically monitor the delivery of service so as to ensure, develop and share best practice. 

Contributing to clinical governance within the specialty/directorate by providing expert knowledge, securing quality improvements, and influencing other disciplines across organisational boundaries to help deliver quality services.

Applying principles of financial planning and control to plans for service development or redesign in conjunction with line manager and lead clinician.

Supporting the management of a delegated budget, in conjunction with the line manager.

Influencing the cost effective procurement of specialist products/equipment.

Keeping up to date with new treatment and technological developments regarding specific patient management. Attend appropriate local/UK/national/international meetings.

Maintaining clinic data bases, periodically querying data to produce reports.

Maintain accurate up to date documentation.

Acting as a mentor/coach/supervisor to other staff.

Publishing and presenting service developments and evaluation locally, nationally and internationally, as appropriate.

Investigating critical incidents and complaints using root cause analysis (RCA) methodology as requested by the line manager.

Evaluating personal performance through active participation in the KSF personal development review (PDR) with line manager.

Research/Development
The post holder will contribute to a research & development culture by:
Using evidence based research to develop practice.

Identifying priorities for research and development within the specialty.

Initiating and participating in clinical research. 

Taking the lead in assisting staff in translating research findings into policy and practice.

Developing & undertaking audit to evaluate own work including the service and its outcomes in collaboration with the Multidisciplinary team. 

Auditing the services provided and producing service reports to demonstrate efficacy as directed by the line manager.

Contributing to local, regional or national audit/research and presenting findings as appropriate.

Identifying need for changes in practice, making recommendations for service improvement and facilitating new ways of working, in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team.