Newborn Hearing Screener

Job overview

The Avon hearing screening programme is one of the largest programmes in the UK.  There are about 12,000 babies born in the area per year who all need to have a hearing screen in a timely manner.

All work should be carried out in as flexible, sensitive, supportive and family friendly manner as possible.

The post holder will work as a member of the screening team, participating in the hearing screening of newborn babies born in the BNSSG area (Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire) under the supervision of the Local Manager. This post will involve direct handling of newborn babies and contact with parents. It will involve gathering and accurately recording clinical and test data relevant to the hearing screening process. The post holder will be part of a dedicated team of screeners ensuring that a quality and family friendly service is delivered.   The post holder will sometimes need to work with anxious, distressed or emotional parents.

Any screener new  to the post must be willing to study for and successfully achieve the Level 3 Diploma in Health Screening. This is a competency based qualification which is assessed in the workplace and includes on line learning.  New screeners must also undertake a period of face to face training and supervision and successfully pass the External competency assessment (ECA) before working unsupervised.

Main duties of the job

• Experience of using computer systems
• Experience of working within a hospital environment
• Experience of Handling Babies
• Experience of working with families and children
• Ability to communicate in a positive and calm manner with professionals and parents, especially with people who may be in stressful situations
• Ability to drive around Bristol and surrounding areas to attend community clinics and hospital settings as required
• High level of manual dexterity to operate computers and the hearing screening machines and also to prepare the babies for the tests
• Ability to work on own initiative, efficiently and flexibly and to recognise priorities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For a more detailed job description and main responsibilities, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.