Orthoptist

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust; Camberley; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is looking for a qualified or newly qualified Orthoptist to join the Eye Treatment Centre. You will manage your own clinics and contribute to an expanding Orthoptic and Ophthalmology service with opportunities in glaucoma, medical retina, stroke, paediatric refraction, and low vision.

You will work within a large multidisciplinary team, with access to ongoing professional development and a culture of continuous learning and peer support to advance your career

Qualifications

• Degree or Diploma in Orthoptics (essential).
• Registration with HCPC (essential).
• Ability to assess, diagnose and treat a full range of Orthoptic cases (essential).
• Clinical teaching qualification (desirable).
• Experience in extended roles (desirable).

Responsibilities

• Carry out Orthoptic assessments, diagnoses and management for referrals.
• Formulate discharge plans and onward referrals.
• Autonomously evaluate visual acuity in referrals from specialist services.
• Plan and monitor individual Orthoptic treatment plans.
• Undertake extended roles such as glaucoma clinics and pre-op cataract assessment.

Skills

Communication

Clinical reasoning

Teamwork

Education

Degree or Diploma in Orthoptics

Tools

Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer

Goldmann perimeter

Job description

Job Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated and enthusiastic qualified or newly qualified Orthoptist to join the dynamic team at the Eye Treatment Centre at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. This is an ideal position for those starting out or looking to start their clinical career.

Role

As part of our expanding Orthoptic and Ophthalmology service, you will manage your own clinics and be encouraged to take on extended roles in areas such as:

• Glaucoma
• Medical Retina
• Stroke
• Paediatric Refraction
• Low Vision Aids
• ROP Screening
• Special School Orthoptic Clinics

Our philosophy centres around delivering care where it is most needed, and you will have the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to service development and patient care innovation.

You will work within a large, supportive multidisciplinary team that includes Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, Ophthalmic and Nursing staff, as well as professionals from other specialties such as Neurology, Endocrinology, and Elderly Care.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to professional development and is a proud supporter of Investors in People. You will benefit from a culture of continuous learning, peer support, and access to a range of educational opportunities to advance your career in a collaborative and inclusive environment.

Main duties of the job

• To be responsible for the Orthoptic assessment, diagnosis and management of patients referred to the Orthoptic Department from various departments, including paediatrics, accident and emergency, maxillo-facial department, endocrinology and neurology under supervision.
• To formulate relevant discharge plans and onward referral. This patient group comprises all cases of ocular motility defects and amblyopia. (reduced vision with no pathological cause), complex congenital and acquired cases, including neurological abnormalities, genetic disorders and associated ocular abnormalities.
• To be responsible as an autonomous practitioner for the evaluation of visual acuity in referrals from the specialist services. This includes infants with strabismus (squint) and amblyopia, congenital or developmental abnormalities, genetic referral, adult illiterates, children and adults with significant learning difficulties as well as acute ocular motility defects in both children and adults.
• To be responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring individual Orthoptic treatment plans / care pathways for patients of all ages using advanced clinical reasoning and evidence based practice under minimal supervision.
• To Undertake extended roles such as Stable glaucoma clinics, Glaucoma Assessment clinics, IOP and Compliance clinics and Pre-Op cataract assessment including biometry

Working for our organisation

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to being an inclusive and disability confident employer and has been awarded the Gold for the Armed Forces Employment Recognition Scheme. We provide first class development opportunities for all staff and have a wide range of professional, management and leadership, and clinical skills training available.

Here at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, we know how important it is to have a healthy work life balance; this benefits not only individuals but the patients we care for too.

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service and its users.

Frimley Health Trust benefits on Vimeo

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

For a full list of responsibilities and tasks associated with this role, please refer to the job description/person specification attached to this vacancy.

Person specification

Core Skills

Essential criteria

• Degree or Diploma in Orthoptics
• Registration with HCPC

Desirable criteria

• Clinical teaching qualification
• Experience in Extended Roles

Experience

Essential criteria

• Ability to assess, diagnose and treat a full range of Orthoptic cases.

Desirable criteria

• Ability to use Humphrey, Goldmann
• Ability to manage and take responsibility for own workload without direct clinical supervision

Professinal experience

Essential criteria

• Works as an active member of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Able to commute to satellite clinics

Other

Essential criteria

• Car Driver

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) is proud of its strong reputation, record of achievement and ambition for the future. We serve a population of over 900,000 people across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and South Buckinghamshire, and remain committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our communities.

Our new organisational strategy – FHFT 2030 – sets out our ambition to be the best place to receive care and the best place to work in the NHS. Underpinned by our Trust values – Committed to Excellence, Working Together, Facing the Future, and being a modern, compassionate, Healthcare Organisation – we are creating a culture where our people can thrive and patients always come first.

We continue to invest heavily in our services and facilities. This includes the development of a new hospital at Frimley Park, major expansion of diagnostics and inpatient capacity, and the continued transformation of services across our sites. We have already delivered a brand-new £100m state-of-the-art Heatherwood Hospital, a £49m Emergency Assessment Centre at Wexham Park, and a £10m upgrade to maternity services.

We are also committed to sustainability and the NHS Net Zero ambition. Our new hospital and estate developments are being designed to be environmentally responsible, energy efficient, and future-proofed, featuring on-site renewables energy and intelligent energy systems. Through our green plan, we are embedding sustainable practices across all areas of care and operations, ensuring we reduce our environmental impact while improving population health and wellbeing. Our staff are key to helps us deliver on our ambition and to ensure sustainability is a core component of care delivery and our operations.

Alongside estates’ investments, we are embedding a strong focus on digital innovation and quality improvement. Our electronic patient record (Epic), launched in 2024, is already enabling safer, more connected, and more effective care for patients, while giving staff the tools they need to do their best work. Our electronic patient record also supports safe and effective digitised care pathways, savings time and carbon, whilst delivering excellent quality of care.

Everything we do is guided by our values, shaping how we care for patients, support colleagues, and build a sustainable future for healthcare together.