Senior Assistant Sleep Physiologist

Transformationunitgm; Canterbury; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

A major NHS Trust in Canterbury is seeking a dedicated professional for a Band 4 role in respiratory sleep medicine. The ideal candidate will be responsible for providing support to patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, demonstrating equipment use, and assisting in CPAP clinics. Applicants should possess GCSEs in English, Maths, and Biology, alongside strong interpersonal skills. This rewarding position offers a supportive learning environment and opportunities for professional development.

Benefits

Relocation policy for eligible candidates

Support for flexible working arrangements

Parking available at Trust sites

Qualifications

• Ability to work under pressure and prioritise work effectively.
• Strong desire to learn and develop within sleep physiology.
• Flexibility and adaptability to meet service demands.

Responsibilities

• Initiate and download respiratory polygraphy studies.
• Support CPAP patients via email or telephone.
• Supervise and assist in training of junior team members.

Skills

Ability to work under pressure

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Good IT skills

Experience in a patient/customer focused environment

Education

GCSE English, Maths, Biology (or other science) at A-C grade or equivalent

Foundation Degree or Degree in a relevant field

Job description

Employer East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Kent & Canterbury Hospital Town Canterbury Salary £27,485 - £30,162 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 22/12/2025 23:59

Band 4

Job overview

Are you passionate about respiratory sleep medicine and on making a difference to patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). You will be joining a team of committed enthusiastic practitioners (physiologists and nurses) involved in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with OSA. As a team we work hard to ensure we put patients, their families and carers at the heart of everything we do.

This role provides a secure opportunity to employ and develop a solid understanding of the sleep physiology service whilst learning the necessary skills required to becoming a key and valued member of the team. A willingness to learn and develop will prove critical to any successful applicant.

Progression within this role will be encouraged. The expectation is that successful applicants will commence the introductory ARTP Sleep Associate CPAP Certificate within the first 6 months of employment and complete it no later than 12 months after employment. There is a 6 month time frame for the completion of the certificate. If you do not complete this in a timely manner it will jeopardise any subsequent qualifications, such as the apprenticeship in Healthcare Science (Respiratory and Sleep), that you undertake. During the apprenticeship you will also gain experience in respiratory physiology (lung function testing), so a keen interest in developing your job role is required.

Main duties of the job

· Initiate and download respiratorypolygraphy studies, check their quality and demonstrate use of the equipment to patients, their families and carers

· Undertake one stop CPAP issue clinics

· Undertake CPAP review and adherence clinics

· Support CPAP patients by email or telephone

· Complete administration tasks associated with CPAP patients e.g. updating written documentation, scanning appropriate paperwork to Sunrise, updating IT systems

· Supervise and assist in training of junior members of theteam

· Problem solve in order to meet patient-centreddirectives

· Support the sleep physiology team with returned CPAP devices, e.g. cleaning, downloading and deleting data, phoning patients and completing documentation

· Support the sleep physiology team with CPAP consumables stock management

· Support the sleep physiology team with the mask Field Safety Notices

· Liaise with the respiratory and sleep administration team regards patient appointments

· Any other activities as deemed necessary by the lead sleep physiologist.

Working for our organisation

We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference’. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.

Please note that if you require a Certificate of Sponsorship to work in the UK you must declare this on your application form, even if you currently have a certificate of sponsorship or a work permit for another role and are already working in the country. Please note we are only able to sponsor candidates on a Skilled Worker Visa applying for roles Band 5 and above.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please scroll down to access the full Job Description and Person Specification located in ‘Documents to download’.

If you have further queries please don’t hesitate to contact the line manager using the contact details below.

Person specification

Qualifications and training

• GCSE English, Maths, Biology (or other science) at A-C grade or equivalent
• Evidence of scientific and/or academic ability to analyse and assess scientific, technical and medical literature – demonstrated by Science based A-levels, a Foundation Degree or Degree

Clinical skills and experience

• Ability to work under pressure (emotional resilience and ability to prioritise and plan work.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Good IT skills and knowledge of common computing packages for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation packages and databases
• Experience in a patient / customer focused environment

Governance

• Experience of resolving patient / customer / service user concerns effectively

Personal/professional attributes

• Strong desire to learn and develop within sleep physiology
• Ability to work autonomously in the planning and execution of own work, and under the guidance of others when needed
• Flexibility and adaptability (to meet the demands of the sleep physiology service)
• Flexibility to acquire the skills to organise, plan and monitor the workload of others

General

• Ability to travel to all sites as required by the sleep physiology service;
• Commitment to own learning and professional development

Filmed in William Harvey and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother hospitals, the ‘We are the NHS’ campaign highlights the extraordinary work that staff across EKHUFT do every single day. As one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a population of over one million people, EKHUFT was perfectly placed to demonstrate the care, cutting-edge treatments, research, innovations and life-saving operations that the campaign needed.

There are lots of great opportunities at East Kent Hospitals, where staff are caring and put patients first, innovation flourishes and you can develop your career. We’re on an exciting journey of transformation. With a new Medical School at the centre of our community, a focus on research, clinical leadership and making our trust a rewarding and friendly place to work,
there’s never been a better time to join us.To find out more about east Kent visit our website at. The Trust fully supports the SAS Doctors Charter and is committed to their development through its CPD Framework.

We’ll close this job advert once we’ve received sufficient applications which may be before the closing date so please apply as soon as possible. We only accept online applications. If you have any difficulty with this please contact our Resourcing Team on 01227 866450 who are happy to help.

We have a relocation policy for eligible candidates, parking available at Trust sites but we encourage other options, like car sharing or public transport.

The Trust is committed to supporting flexible working to fulfil our pledge as part of The Trust’s People Strategy to help staff to achieve a healthy work/life balance. Please speak with your Recruiting Manager for further information on how this can be managed alongside department expectations and requirements.

The ability to converse easily and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for all customer facing roles.

Most positions require a Disclosure and Barring check and will be exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Posts working regularly or unsupervised with children or vulnerable adults require an enhanced check.

Applicants for eligible roles requiring Tier 2 sponsorship must meet UK Visas and Immigration eligibility criteria.

We operate a no-smoking policy on all our sites and grounds.

You can search for and apply for roles directly on our website.

If you are applying via NHS Jobs your application will be sent to our recruitment system TRAC. All subsequent information will be generated from TRAC so you won’t be able to see the progress of your application or receive messages through NHS Jobs and we won’t be able to respond to e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to us transferring your application and details to our system. If you are offered a job information will also be transferred into the NHS Electronic Staff Records. Good luck with your application, we’ll contact you via email so please check your junk/spam folders.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.