Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Contribute to the day to day running of the modality by planning, organising and prioritising the workload thus ensuring an efficient and effective throughput of patients
• Take the lead role in the Clinical Education Team during periods of absence of the area lead radiographer.
• Participate in 7 day working and rotation to peripheral sites, providing cover at peripheral sites during planned leave of the resident radiographer.
• Respond to the changing needs of the department daily by providing a flexible approach to the working day, thus maintaining the existing excellent standard of service and the continuing promotion of good working relationships. The work pattern will be unpredictable due to frequent interruptions and problem solving. Concentration will need to be maintained for long periods when operating equipment etc.
• Interpret and follow local and Trust Policies and Procedures, following accepted protocols and professional codes of conduct to manage own and departmental workload. Be able to manage the pressures of accommodating emergency work in addition to planned sessions.
• Support and enhance the continual quality initiative and ensure a “quality first” approach to all aspects of work despite the pressures of time and volume of workload.
• Be responsible for evaluating and maintaining the standard of work produced in your area ensuring it is of a high quality and taking corrective action where there may be problems.
• Be able to assess when guidance and support is required in a particular situation.
• Be responsible for the safe use of expensive, highly complex and specialist equipment.
• Ensure that equipment faults are reported, following this up where equipment is out of use to ensure it is repaired in a timely manner. Liaising with medical physics experts as appropriate thus ensuring that equipment is safe to use for both staff and patients.
• Be responsible for informing modality leads, clinical and non-clinical staff, and any patients affected by any equipment faults, and ensure that the equipment is safe to use for both staff and patients.
• Assess the Radiation risk to the patient and ensure it is kept as low as reasonably practicable (the ALARP principle).
• Assess information on X-ray requests to ensure it is relevant and can be justified under IR(ME)R 2017.
• Interpret clinical information to support the requested examination. Follow departmental clinical protocols whilst employing professional judgement to ensure the most appropriate examination for the patient is carried out.  You will be expected to query an examination if you believe clinical indications require it, giving advice to more junior members of staff where needed.
• Electronically authorise x-ray imaging requests in accordance with department protocol.
• Ensure electronic x-ray requests are authorised to protocol in a timely manner, referring any queries to the duty floor radiologist or appropriate practitioner.
• Ensure in-patient x-ray requests are prioritised according to clinical need and brought down to the department in a timely manner.
• Work with the trust management team to prioritise patients for efficiency throughout the hospital when needed.
• Be responsible for the patient whilst in your care and where appropriate to inform relatives and carers, when necessary, of the procedure to be under taken. Patient groups will include paediatrics, those with learning disabilities, cancer, dementia, patients in severe pain and patients who are sedated or under general anaesthesia.
• There is a constant requirement to exert moderate physical effort when moving equipment and patients with and without the use of mechanical aids for long periods of time.
• There will be frequent and sustained periods of concentration.
• There will be frequent exposure to distressing and emotional circumstances and occasional exposure to traumatic incidents when working in ED x-ray as part of the trauma team or carrying out mobile x-ray examinations on the wards and in theatre or within your specialist modality
• Assess likely danger of patient or relative becoming violent and aggressive and take appropriate precautions.