CLINICAL SUPPORT IMAGING (CSI)

Services include Interventional Radiology, Vascular Access and our Outpatients Departments.

CSI accommodates various specialist services throughout the three main UHL sites. Which are located at the Glenfield Hospital, Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Leicester General Hospital. The Nursing services within CSI range from Health Care Support Workers (HCSW), Registered Nurses (RNs), Specialist Nurses Practitioners (SNPs) and Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs).

Interventional Radiology (IR) and the Vascular Access (VA) Service

If you are seeking a varied and interesting role then IR and VA would be a great place for you to work. As no two days are the same, with a large variety of procedures performed for many specialties using the latest imaging technology, ‘it’s like surgery but magic,’ as this involves insertion of wires or guidelines through the body.

We are lucky to have our brand new departments, that perform procedures on patients from the following specialties:

  • Hepatobiliary
  • Renal
  • Urology
  • Respiratory
  • Vascular
  • Oncology / Hematology
  • Rheumatology

The case mix includes ward inpatients, outpatients and day cases.

This is a dynamic and specialised area of nursing which facilitates additional training and development packages. There are also opportunities for role extension.

Working as part of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) you will provide a vital role, ensuring that our patients receive ‘caring at its best’. Acting as scrub assistants /nurses/practitioners, under the supervision of radiologists. Administering sedation and providing post procedure, patient recovery care. Ensuring a holistic patient journey from admission to discharge. Our nurse practitioners work autonomously across sites in Vascular Access and provide gold standard care, demonstrated by low complication and failure rates.

Within the different departments the procedures include:

  • Embolisations
  • Vertebroplasty
  • Radiologically Inserted Gastrostomy (RIG)
  • Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS)
  • Angiography / Angioplasty
  • EndoVascular Aneurysm Repairs (EVARs)
  • Line insertions
  • Change of nephrostomy tube
  • Drain insertions
  • Needle biopsies

The departments are split into specialist areas of rotation including:

Within the different departments the procedures include:

  • Vascular
  • IR
  • Vascular IR

The VA department consists of a specialist nurse team.

This area of nursing provides a wide variety within the working day in a friendly and supportive environment.

Working hours range from 08:00-18:00 plus on-call commitment on a flexible roster for weekdays 17:00-08:00 and 24 hours weekends.

Outpatients Departments

If you are seeking a varied and interesting role then Outpatients in UHL would be a great place for you to work.

We cover all three hospitals – Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital and Glenfield Hospital. Although you will have a base site there will be opportunities to work in the other Outpatient department.

We support a wide range of clinics and work with many specialities based in UHL such as: 

  • Hepatobiliary
  • Renal
  • Urology
  • Respiratory
  • Vascular
  • Rheumatology
  • Plastics
  • Immunology
  • Neurology
  • General Medicine
  • General Surgery
  • Sports Medicine
  • Orthopaedics
  • Breast Care… and much more.

This is a dynamic and specialised area of nursing which facilitates additional training and development packages. There are also opportunities for role extension. Working as part of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) you will provide a vital role, ensuring that our patients receive ‘caring at its best’. We support clinicians and patients during clinic by completing relevant observations: heights, weight, BMI, urine dip and completion of relevant assessment tools to the clinics such as the MUST score.

The Outpatients team will also support and complete dressing changes and biopsy whilst ensuring the patient is looked after physically and psychologically. As you can tell this area of nursing provides a wide variety within the working day in a friendly and supportive environment. We encourage a positive and supportive working environment and celebrate success within the Outpatients team.

Working hours generally range from 08:30-17:00/17:30 Monday to Friday.

If you would like to discuss joining the CSI team, contact:

Martha Tickell 
Matron
[email protected]

Medicines Management Team

We are a small friendly multi-disciplinary team consisting of nurses, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

Within the medicines management team the role of the medicines management nurse is to work with the medication safety lead pharmacist and pharmacy to support the medicines safety agenda across the Trust.

We focus on medicines management including medicine security and storage. The medication safety agenda is followed with the aim to reduce medication errors and omissions to improve the patient experience. 

With the ever evolving electronic systems being introduced we help to educate many different staff groups to ensure the safe and effective use of electronic prescribing systems.

This is a diverse role working across all 3 sites offering specialist advice, support and education to clinical areas within UHL.

Immunology and Allergy Clinical Nurse Specialist

The Immunology and Allergy clinical nurse specialist (CNS) works autonomously to deliver specialist care for patients with immune deficiencies and allergic conditions. The role enables the CNS to work in both elements of the service and to develop skills in the management, treatment and education of patients with both acute and long term conditions.

The service works cross site; At the Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) Jarvis clinic and The Leicester General Hospital (LGH) on the medical day case unit, Ward 19. The role involves working alongside the immunology/allergy consultants assessing patients’ needs who have a suspected immunodeficiency, hereditary and acquired angioedema and follow-up of adults with confirmed immunodeficiency. Our infusion centre at the Leicester General Hospital is nurse-led treating those patients requiring treatment such as immunoglobulin or C1 inhibitor.

In addition to this clinic, the CNS runs home therapy training sessions for those patients willing and eligible to learn to self-infuse at home. They provide education, resources and support for patients and family as needed. The CNS also cares for patients who have a variety of allergic conditions which includes allergies to pollen, house dust mite, bee or wasp venom, food or drugs. We also see oral allergy syndrome, chronic spontaneous urticaria, and mastocytosis. The CNS performs skin prick testing/prick-to prick testing and anaphylaxis self-management (including adrenaline auto-injector training).

In the near future the CNS will be responsible for safely managing allergy challenges, intradermal testing and desensitisation to venom, pollen, and drugs. The role of the CNS involves learning and reviewing written standard operating procedures (SOP) and protocols for all diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. To support this, the CNS is kept updated through knowledge of trends and developments in the field by reading relevant articles, journals, and related material and attending seminars and conferences. The immunology and allergy team is part of a network of other specialists in the wider community, TRIAC.

Colleague Stories

patients benefit from safer care

“I feel fortunate that over the 35 years of working within the NHS I have been able to progress from a Health Care Support Worker to an independent Specialist Nurse Practitioner. UHL have supported the advancement of my service and my team which has enabled patients to benefit from safer care within the hospital and home environment”

Sharon Hubbard, Lead Specialist Nurse Practitioner for Vascular Access, University Hospitals of Leicester