Newborn Hearing Screener

Job overview

We are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and motivated individual to join our Newborn Hearing Screening Team at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire. The ideal candidate will hold the Health Screener Diploma (Newborn Hearing) and be willing to work flexibly.

Unless professionally registered or already held, the candidate will be required to work towards and complete the national screening qualification (Level 3 Diploma for Health Screeners (Newborn Hearing) and an External Competency Assessment (ECA). This involves a range of written, oral and practical assessments. This qualification requires some work in the employee’s own time for a period of approximately 12 - 18 months.

The service operates 7 days a week between 07:00-16:30. The post is for 22.5 hours per week worked over 3 days and will be based at University hospital Coventry.

**Please be advised that invites for this post are due to take place 25th November 2024*

Main duties of the job

The main duties of this role are performing hearing screens on newborn babies using automated equipment.

Screening takes place on the postnatal ward, labour suite, lucina birth centre, the special care baby unit, neonatal unit and occasionally the children's ward. We also run outpatient clinics  on and off site within Coventry and Rugby. The candidate must therefore be willing to drive to off site clinic locations as required by the service.

Good communication skills and the ability to accurately update patient records into the national IT database and hospital systems are also crucial to the role.

Applicants must be able to work in a flexible manner regarding shift patterns dependent on the needs of the service.

Applicants must be able to work effectively within a team, demonstrating an ability to adapt in accordance with the need of the organisation and professional innovation.

Be able to communicate effectively with other members of the multidisciplinary team, service users and their relatives.

Be able to recognise potential areas of conflict and report to the Newborn hearing screening local co-ordinator.

Be aware of and maintain the standards and quality agreed within the organisation.

Respect the confidentiality of information concerning the service user and their relatives at all times.

Please find an attached job description and person specification for further details.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To obtain clinical information on newborn babies.  To identify which babies, require screening and prioritise those for whom screening is more urgent.
• To liaise effectively with parents, screening team members, ward staff, medical staff and other health care professionals
• To provide information to parents to enable them to make an informed choice on behalf of their baby with regards to having their hearing screened.  To overcome communication difficulties with parents who may themselves have hearing impairment or learning difficulties, for whom English is not their first language and who may be emotionally distressed.  To obtain informed consent for the tests.
• To carry out standard screening hearing tests on babies.  To assess the baby’s state of arousal, ear probe placement and environmental conditions, and to ensure optimum testing conditions. To correctly position electrodes, and correctly attach earphones.
• To interpret the results of the tests.  To report any difficulties in carrying out the tests, anomalous results or difficulties of interpretation to the Hearing Screening Manager and to follow their advice.
• To discuss the results of the screening tests with the parents.
• To make appropriate onward referrals for further screening tests, in-depth Audiological tests, other diagnostic tests or follow-ups, based on the screening test results or following failure to obtain consent for testing.

For further details please see the attached job description.