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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties of the Role

• The post holder will work independently to perform ultrasound examinations and provide diagnostic reports of patients accessing the obstetric ultrasound department.
• The post holder will perform a wide range of obstetric scans to include dating and first trimester combined screening scans, anomaly scans, growth scans and umbilical artery Doppler in accordance with guidelines set out by the Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme.
• The post holder will be responsible for counselling women undertaking diagnostic testing. They will also participate in the training and education of nursing/midwifery students working in the division and supervise staff undertaking Sonography training, ensuring continuity of service delivery.
• To be an autonomous practitioner, promoting best practice and high standards whilst working closely with obstetric and midwifery colleagues
• The post holder will be expected to provide a service review when required and be actively involved in audit; implementing agreed areas for improvement and ensuring that relevant guidelines are kept up to date.

Communication

• To recognise the importance of personal contribution to the team and the wider professional network.
• To inform and liaise with the Principle Sonographer on all aspects of screening related to your role.
• To inform and liases with the Lead Midwife on all aspects of midwifery related to your role
• To establish a working rapport with other team members and contribute to team meetings.
• To communicate complex, sometimes distressing and emotional information to patients clearly, with tact and sensitivity.

Health and Safety

• To comply at all times with any policies / procedures issued by the Trust governing Health and Safety at Work and to ensure that any issues which may affect your safety at work or the safety of others are brought to the attention of the appropriate manager.
• To report all untoward incidents to the Screening lead Midwife and midwife in charge.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To maintain personal knowledge relevant to antenatal screening.
• To participate in training as required to maintain competency in your role.
• To attend Trust Mandatory Training
• Supervising and teaching trainee sonographers on a day to day basis
• Training and advising consultants, registrars and house officers who require clinical assistance with scanning.
• Participate in continuous development as required to maintain skills and competency through active learning, attending appropriate meetings and any external training with the agreement of the Screening lead Midwife.

PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• The Trust requires all staff to maintain a high standard of confidentiality, and any disclosure of information outside the proper and recognised course of duty will be treated as a serious disciplinary offence.
• Short bouts of moderate physical effort. 
• May involve long periods of work in the clinical environment that may require demanding physical exertions and awkward body  day to day operational element of the role means the post holder must be able to prioritise their own workload, deal with the needs of others and an ability to be assertive with own and others time.
• The role will require exposure to complex, distressing and emotional circumstances.
• Workload will be unpredictable at which may lead to levels of stress at times.
• All staff must not wilfully endanger themselves or others whilst at work. 
• Safe practices and precautions must be adhered to.
• Unpredictable workload
• Working conditions may be difficult at times due to lack of temperature control.
• Unpleasant working conditions dealing with body fluids.

Your responsibilities to the Trust, our patients and staff

It is the Trust’s aim to provide high standards of patient care and to ensure that our staff are supported in their roles that help us achieve this.  As part of your role you are expected to adhere to Trust policies and procedures which are designed to guide you in your work and ensure that the Trust, and you as an individual, comply with legal requirements. Non-adherence to Trust policies and procedures may be addressed through the Trust’s disciplinary process.

Key policies are outlined below; you are also required to act in accordance with policies specific to your job role, which are covered at induction.

Equality and Diversity Policy

No patient or member of staff should receive less favourable treatment on grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, and should not be placed at a disadvantage which cannot be shown to be justifiable.  You have a responsibility to patients and staff to ensure that this is achieved.

Health & Safety

You have a responsibility to consider yourself and anyone else that could be affected by the things you do, or don’t do, that you should have while at work.  You are responsible for informing your manager of any health and safety concerns you identify by using the trust incident reporting system for any accidents, incidents or near-misses that happen to you or that you are aware of to reduce injuries or loss.

Additionally if you have management responsibilities you must ensure the implementation of the Trust’s health and safety and risk management policies, procedures and codes of practice through your directorate or business unit management structure ensuring that communication pathways are clear and explicit at all levels of employment, in order to maintain the health, safety and welfare of employees or others who may be affected.

Data Protection

You are to maintain the highest standards of data protection and confidentiality at all times, ensuring that person identifiable data is held securely (including password protection and encryption) and that data held and entered onto Trust systems is correct.  You are to observe confidentiality for commercially sensitive data and to promote the highest standards of information governance in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Trust policies and procedures.

Data Quality

It is your responsibility to ensure that any data collection required is accurate, timely, complete and stored securely in the appropriate place or system, whether as a paper or an electronic record.  This includes data input onto the Trust’s information systems, patient records, staff records and finance records.  You are expected to submit data for quality assurance checks as required.  You will be expected to undertake training required to assure the quality of data collected and to participate in any relevant audits required as part of the Trust’s and external quality improvement programmes.