Senior Assistant Technical Officer

To assist Audiologists with patient care; advanced diagnostic tests and rehabilitation undertaking some audiological procedures on adults. To be responsible for the repair and maintenance of hearing aids and data input at Hereford County Hospital and occasionally Community Hospitals throughout Herefordshire., Clinical Responsibilities:

To assist the Audiologists with specialist and complex tests.

To provide clinical, technical and advice services following policies and procedures including:

o Otoscopy

o Patient questionnaires

o Impression taking and selection of ear moulds

o Ear mould modification

o Hearing aid repairs and direct exchanges, identifying subtle or non-reproducible equipment faults

o Stock control

o Follow up counselling

To control the safety of equipment loaned to patients and ensure that patients working in a volatile environment are fitted with hearing aids that have a certificate of intrinsic safety.

Identify and report facts or situations requiring action or decisions. Refer clinical decisions outside own experience to an Audiologist.

Assisting patients into position for test purposes.

Responsibility for the health and safety of patients and visitors to the department.

Managing personal safety, as often dealing with patients who may be challenging, aggressive or abusive, e.g. learning difficulties, mental health, or their relatives. Awareness of panic buttons in treatment rooms.

Awareness of health and safety with frequent exposure to body fluids, e.g. wax, aural discharge, and the safe handling of contaminated items, e.g. ear moulds from infected ears.

To assist patients with mobility problems, including moving wheelchairs on a regular basis.

Wye Valley NHS Trust is a member of an NHS Foundation Group with South Warwickshire NHS FT , the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Located on the border with Wales in the shadow of the Black Mountains, we provide acute and community services across Herefordshire and into parts of Powys and run Hereford County Hospital and the community hospitals in Bromyard, Leominster and Ross-on-Wye.

We are a progressive and forward looking trust with ambitious plans to improve quality and integrate patient pathways through close collaborative working with our partners to deliver the quality of care we'd want for our family and friends.

More than 3,500 people work for the Trust - they tell us it's a great place to work, blending the busyness of a DGH with the benefits of working in a beautiful rural and unspoilt county like Herefordshire.

We can offer a great work-life balance and have a fine tradition of working with staff to help them achieve their full potential.

Russell Hardy, Trust Chairman: "The strength of the Trust is its amazing staff; a great place to work, a great place to develop your career and a great place to reach your potential."

Our values -Care, Accountability, Respect and Excellence - are at the heart of all we do. We believe in providing the right care in the right place at the right time...all the time.