Vascular Testing at North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) is offering an exciting opportunity for an experienced Clinical Vascular Scientist, newly qualified (or nearing completion) Scientific Training Programme (STP) or Practitioner Training Programme (PTP) graduate to join our progressive enthusiastic and friendly team and work in one of the largest Vascular Networks (twelve consultants) in the UK. The Vascular Testing team is comprised of seven clinical vascular scientists, two renal specialist nurses, three support workers and an administrator. The department has four climate controlled clinical rooms (three with dedicated high end ultrasound machines and a physiological testing room) and three portable ultrasound machines for mobile assessments around the hospital.  

 North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) is the hub for the Major Arterial Centre for the Bristol, Bath and Weston Vascular Network. Vascular Testing is central to the Vascular Network based in the Brunel Building at the centre of the redeveloped Southmead Hospital. The hospital is in Bristol which is a busy vibrant and multi cultural city.  

This is a fixed term contact for 12 months (maternity cover) and offers the opportunity to experience working in a major arterial, trauma and stroke centre. 

Vascular Testing at Southmead Hospital is an autonomous diagnostic service within North Bristol NHS Trust, providing specialist ultrasound techniques to investigate circulation disorders.   

The services it provides are integral to clinical decision-making in a number of key areas including vascular surgery, renal medicine, and stroke medicine.  

The post holder is responsible for the accurate performing and reporting of specialised duplex ultrasound investigations with considerable expertise and a high degree of scientific skill. Staff are required to perform scans in the Vascular Testing outpatient department, the Emergency Department, on the inpatient wards and peripheral outpatient clinics in surrounding hospitals where required.  They are expected to undertake and be responsible for specific roles and duties in the day-to-day running of the department to include teaching and training activities within the service and participate in research, audit and quality improvement projects. 

Being located at the major arterial and trauma centre for Bristol we are fortunate to have access to a high volume of work and wide variety pathology. We are a busy department with an annual work activity of over 13,000 scans per year. The job provides variation with staff required to perform scans in the Vascular Testing outpatient department, the Emergency Department, pre-op medi rooms, on the inpatient wards and peripheral outpatient clinics in surrounding hospitals where required. All Vascular Scientists have protected Continued Professional Development time to carry out other tasks of their choice to include audits and research, leadership development and other professional responsibilities. We also have close links with the University of The West of England (UWE) and lecture regularly on the Medical Ultrasound Courses and run, in collaboration with UWE, accredited study days on a variety of specialist vascular topics. 

Work life balance and staff wellbeing is an important element of the department’s ethos. Work pattern requests are considered taking this important element into account alongside service delivery requirements