Rehabilitation Engineer

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT) is an integrated provider of acute hospital and community services for people living in Buckinghamshire and the surrounding area. We care for over half a million patients every year.

We provide specialist spinal services at our world renowned National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the birthplace of the Paralympics. We are nationally recognised for urology and skin cancer services and are a regional specialist centre for burns, plastic surgery, dermatology, stroke and cardiac services. We deliver community services in health centres, schools, patients’ own homes, community hospitals and community hubs.

More than 6,500 people from different nations, cultures and backgrounds work for us. We would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options. We strive to be a family friendly, inclusive employer.

If you require any assistance in making this application, please contact bht.recruitment@nhs.net or phone 01494 734868. We pride ourselves in being a great place to work and invite you to join our BHT family.

We are seeking to recruit a qualified, registered Rehabilitation Engineer to join the Buckinghamshire Wheelchair service. You will be conducting assessments with wheelchair users in the Wheelchair Service clinic and various settings within the surrounding areas. You will demonstrate an empathic and resilient approach when faced with challenging situations with the ability to work collaboratively with the clinical team, and other professionals and agencies. You will be responsible for managing your own caseload of patients with a range of permanent wheelchair mobility, postural, and pressure relief needs.

Main duties of the job:

• Provide and develop rehabilitation engineering services in the provision of wheelchairs, seating and equipment management. This will include the assessment, review, analysis, costing, prescription, delivery (handover) and follow-up of standard and bespoke solutions.
• Provide clinical and technical capacity for patients with a range of permanent wheelchair mobility, postural and pressure relief needs.
• Provide clinical-technical advice and support to wheelchair therapy staff, technicians, and administrative colleagues in wheelchair services and monitor work from contracted suppliers.
• Mentor and support Rehabilitation Engineer Apprentice.

What does Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust offer you?

As part of our BHT family, you’ll benefit from learning and development opportunities to support your career progression. We offer flexible and agile working opportunities, alongside your NHS benefits of generous annual leave entitlement, pension and access to NHS discount schemes. We provide a range of health and wellbeing services to promote a healthy, happy workforce.

Why work for us?

We’re committed to promoting inclusion and making sure all colleagues feel they belong. We encourage new colleagues from a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. As an employer, we aim to create a workplace where differences are valued, and colleagues treat one another with dignity and respect. Greater diversity within our BHT family improves positive outcomes for the people and communities we serve.

What do we stand for?

Our vision is to provide outstanding care, support healthy communities and be a great place to work. Our mission is to provide personal and compassionate care every time. Our CARE values are collaborate, aspire, respect and enable.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

For a comprehensive list of responsibilities and duties, please kindly refer to the Job Description and Person Specification by downloading the JD and PS attachment in the advert.

If you are an internal applicant there is the option for secondment; all applicants must have the endorsement/support of their line manager prior to application.

Person specification:

Education, Qualifications & Training:

• A Degree or equivalent in an appropriate engineering discipline (e.g. mechanical or electronic engineering, applied science).
• IPEM Diploma in Clinical Technology or Certificate in Rehabilitation Engineering or equivalent logged experience.
• Registered as a Clinical Technologist with Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)/Health Professions Council.
• Evidence of Fieldwork Education Training.
• Incorporated Membership of IPEM.
• Moving and Handling Training.

Experience:

• Evidence of working independently in Medical Engineering or Rehabilitation Engineering.
• Management of own caseload and prioritisation of workload.
• Significant wheelchair and seating product knowledge.
• To have worked autonomously.
• To have participated in student training.

Skills, Abilities & Knowledge:

• Casting techniques for the use in the development of orthotic profiles to correct and manage patient posture.
• Detailed knowledge of control and switch systems for use with electrically powered wheelchairs, seating and environmental control systems. This includes the ability to reprogram devices to better suit the needs of the patient.
• Experience of a wide range of modern manufacturing techniques.
• Good understanding of proprietary seating systems and wheelchair construction.
• Requirement of good personal organisational skills, and ability to demonstrate judgement in clinical reasoning, and problem solving. This includes an investigating, analysing, assessing and resolving ability.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Good communication skills both written, verbal, informal and formal. Positive interpersonal skills with an ability to communicate appropriately with colleagues, other professionals, carers, and clients.
• Ability to form professional relationships with clients who may need motivating and encouraging, in a way that respects their views, autonomy and culture.
• Hardworking and tenacious, willing to extend own professional knowledge and to share own knowledge with others.
• Ability to supervise students and other staff in the team.
• Needs appropriate computer skills for the role.
• Access to a car. Able to drive with current clean driving licence. (This may not apply to disabled applicants) – please advise special needs on application form.
• Capable of applying Risk Management techniques to medical device modification, adaptation and manufacture.
• Ability to use basic engineering hand tools and equipment, complimenting hands-on skills with rehabilitation equipment. Requires high level of accuracy and precision with good hand/eye and sensory coordination.
• Ability to withstand pressure within a busy and demanding work situation.
• Knowledge of legal issues (data protection, confidentiality, child protection and health and safety).
• Knowledge and experience of manual handling techniques and equipment.

Special Circumstances:

• A current, “viable” driving licence.
• Ability to work independently and away from base.
• PPE requirements: Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust requires all colleagues to wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) in accordance with our infection prevention and control procedures.
• COVID-19 and Flu vaccinations remain the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course our patients from the viruses when working in our healthcare settings. We encourage our staff to be vaccinated when recommended.

If you are successful at interview, we will require you to complete a Covid-19 risk assessment document.

Application deadline: This post will close on the closing date stated at midnight. If we receive a large number of applications or there is a change in circumstance, we may be required to close a job before the closing date.

Contacting you: We will contact candidates through the email address supplied on their application form. Please make sure you check this regularly.

Application information: If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Shortlisting: The monitoring and safeguarding sections are not made visible to the shortlisting panel. The safeguarding section may be made visible to the interview panel, dependent on the role being recruited into.

Travel expenses: It is Trust policy that travel expenses for interview will not be reimbursed.

Smoking: All Trust sites are NO SMOKING. Smoking in all areas of the buildings and premises is prohibited.

Employer certification / accreditation badges: You must have appropriate UK professional registration. This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.