Diabetic Eye Screener - Maternity Leave Cover | Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust
| Posting date: | 23 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £24,937 - £26,598 per annum, pro rata |
| Hours: | Part time |
| Closing date: | 22 February 2026 |
| Location: | St Albans, AL4 9XR |
| Company: | Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust |
| Job type: | Contract |
| Job reference: | 7754826/812-26-SO-DESMC |
Summary
Join Our Team & Help Protect People’s Sight!
The Diabetic Eye Screening Programme is growing, and we’re looking for an enthusiastic, caring person to cover maternity leave & help deliver eye‑screening across Herts & West Essex. Diabetes can affect eyesight, so spotting changes early directly helps people protect their vision.
What You’ll Be Doing
You’ll travel to different clinics taking photos and scans of patients’ eyes using state of the art retinal cameras. The images you obtain will help us identify early signs of problems so people can get the support they need.
Where You’ll Work
Our main hub is in St Albans, but we need to deliver screening at all our locations, including Harlow, Bishop’s Stortford, Stansted, Saffron Walden, Watford, Elstree & Loughton.
No Experience? No Problem.
You don’t need a background in healthcare or screening as we provide full training.
If you already hold the qualification you would join us at Band 4 (AfC)
About the Role
This is an active, hands‑on job where you’ll:
• Be on your feet for most of the day
• Work face‑to‑face with patients
• Move and set up equipment to get high‑quality images
You’ll need a full UK driving licence and access to a car for work travel (unless exempt under the Equality Act 2010).
The Diabetic Eye Screening Programme supports people across Hertfordshire and West Essex who are living with diabetes. Because diabetes can affect eyesight, regular eye checks are vital —spotting changes early can literally help prevent sight loss. That’s where our screener/ grader team comes in: you’re the friendly faces who make a real difference every single day.
If you join us, you’ll be right at the heart of the action. You’ll be checking patients’ vision, instilling dilating eye drops, and using high‑tech retinal cameras to capture detailed photos and scans. It’s hands‑on, fast‑moving, and genuinely meaningful work. You’ll learn specialist skills, work with state‑of‑the‑art equipment, and play a key role in helping people protect their sight for the future.
Fun fact: The retina is the only place in the body where you can see blood vessels directly without surgery—so your work gives a real‑time window into someone’s health
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF WORKING FOR HCT:
We offer our staff a number of great benefits, wellbeing initiatives and lifestyle savings which can be easily accessed via our benefits and wellbeing portal.
For more detail, please read our ‘HCT Benefits’ document which is attached to our vacancy adverts.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The Trust is committed to gold standard recruitment. In support of this, please read our ‘Supplementary Information’ document which is attached to our vacancy adverts
Word versions of documents are available if needed to allow for any adaptations to be made i.e. font, colour, background, convert to Read Aloud.
• To undertake assigned screening clinics as directed by the Programme Management to ensure the effective running of the Hertfordshire and West Essex Diabetic Eye Screening Programme.
• To liaise with administrative and medical staff to identify and discuss any patients with specific needs (e.g., hearing difficulties, limited mobility) to ensure all resources are available.
• To competently prepare the patient (including instillation of mydriatic eye drops) and take Retinal photographs of sufficient quality to meet the National Quality Assurance Standard.
• To be able to stand for long periods during clinics, and carefully manoeuvre expensive screening equipment. Some patient handling will be necessary (training provided).
• To manage consumable supplies to deliver clinic activity, including mydriatic eye drops.
• To operate autonomously at an assigned clinic, liaising with venue staff to manage patient appointments.
• To make decisions and judgements based on the information provided by the patient, recorded actions and contemporaneous notes on the clinical system OptoMize and referring to the Team Leader for advice where necessary.
• To be aware that patients’ emotions can fluctuate due to their condition, managing this in a sensitive and caring manner.
• To attend and contribute to regular Team meetings and supervision sessions with the team and clinical leads and complete the necessary mandatory training.
• To uphold the Trust values, Innovation, Caring, Agile.
This advert closes on Tuesday 3 Feb 2026
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Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.