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Donor Care Physiologist
The closing date is 06 August 2025
An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Transplant service at Royal Papworth Hospital to become a Donor Care Physiologist (DCP) and be at the forefront of future projects. Royal Papworth is the biggest adult cardiothoracic transplant centre in the UK and leads the world in the pioneering field of DCD heart transplantation. Our team also retrieves cardiothoracic organs for other UK centres and implant ventricular assist devices, acting as a bridge for some patients on the heart transplant waiting list.
Moving forward alongside our current work with novel techniques our drive is to further establish our scouting service, evidencing the benefits with the aim of increasing the amount of donor organs through optimisation. Improving transplantation technology and techniques you will be a part of our newest programme using ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) to recondition donated lungs making them suitable for transplantation.
The role will see you contribute to the transplant team by providing effective healthcare, improving quality and health outcomes, participating in evaluation and research, leading and developing practice, being innovative and changing practice.
Main duties of the job
Your training will see you shadow scout and donor retrievals, work alongside our transplant nurses in all aspects of patient care within Transplant and spend time in Theatres and Critical Care to facilitate clinical learning.
You will be provided with educational and practical training sessions with the expectation that you will be trained in all aspects of the Transplant Service, including Transplant Outpatients looking after both pre and post heart and lung transplant patients. You will be required to give support to patients at home via the telephone and email helpline and respond to any medical and/or psychosocial issues.
Training will include a series of competencies with successful completion of training typically taking around 12 months depending on on-call commitment and exposure. Once completed you will take part in the on-call rota as an independent Donor Care Physiologist within the Royal Papworth Retrieval Team.
In addition to your existing healthcare professional skills, this post requires the ability to work independently on your own initiative with excellent communication and organisation skills. If you do not already hold the ability to, you will develop familiarity with artificial ventilation, invasive monitoring, knowledge of inotropic frugs and knowledge of optimisation and management of multiorgan donors.
About us
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the UK's leading heart and lung hospital, delivering care to more than 50,000 patients a year in its new state-of-the-art hospital in Cambridge. We perform the most heart and/or lung transplants in the UK and carried out the UK's first successful heart transplant in 1979. It also offers emergency heart attack treatment, sleep centre care and is one of just five centres nationally for those in severe respiratory failure.
Based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe the Trust is at the heart of treatments of the future. Royal Papworth became the first hospital trust in the country to be rated outstanding in all five areas assessed by the Care Quality Commission - a rating it still holds today. The Trust holds its values of compassion, excellence & collaboration at its core, and all colleagues joining the team are expected to uphold these in their day-to-day roles & interactions. Royal Papworth is proud of its diverse workforce and encourages people to embrace their individuality.
The Trust values difference and welcomes all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. Providing they meet the minimum post criteria, applicants with disabilities will be offered an interview.
For a street view tour: https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/virtual-tour
Job responsibilities
On this page you will find a Role Profile which provides information about the hospital and full details about the role. We recommend that you review this and refer to it as you complete your application. Please include how you will meet the Trust Values Compassion, Excellence and Collaboration. If you would like more information about the role or working at Royal Papworth Hospital, please get in touch with the contact for this role.
Person SpecificationQualifications
- Degree level or above level of qualification in Adult Nursing plus post graduate diploma specialist training, experience, short courses to master's equivalent level.
- OR equivalent highly developed specialist knowledge across the range of work procedures and practices, underpinned by theoretical knowledge or relevant practical experience.
- Registered with Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Experience
- Use advanced clinical judgement and assessment skills to plan, implement, deliver, and evaluate highly complex, specialist care plans, including managing donors and transplant patients. This includes undertaking specialist procedures (e.g., bronchoscopies, echocardiography, catheter insertions), complex nursing interventions, medication administration, wound care, and coordinating investigations and treatments.
- Communicate highly complex, sensitive information effectively to patients, families, and professionals. Act as an advocate for patients and as a professional ambassador for the Organ Retrieval and Transplant Team, including supporting patients via helplines and coordinating care with internal and external agencies.
- Lead on the planning and delivery of specialist education for patients, families, internal/external learners, and colleagues. Mentor and supervise staff, contribute to competency development, and evaluate educational programmes to meet identified needs.
- Manage your own workload effectively, prioritising patient and service needs. Provide clinical supervision and professional leadership, supporting junior colleagues with escalation processes, and modelling high professional standards.
- Participate in and lead quality improvement initiatives, audits, and research projects. Drive innovation, support continuous improvement, and contribute to the development and implementation of service-wide policy and practice changes.
- Work collaboratively within the multidisciplinary team and across agencies to support safe and timely discharges, complex care coordination, and planning transplant recipient operations. Ensure safeguarding and escalation processes are followed.
- Ensure accurate, timely record-keeping in line with Trust, national and legal standards. Contribute to investigations, identify learning themes, and implement lessons learned to promote safety and quality.
- Act autonomously and remain accountable for your practice in line with the NMC Code and Trust policies. Uphold high standards in all aspects of care, education, and leadership, acting as a role model and maintaining professional conduct at all times.
Additional Criteria
- As well as being able to demonstrate examples of how they work in a way that is consistent with our values of compassion, excellence and collaboration the post holder will be able to clearly demonstrate a commitment to driving culture change through equality, diversity and inclusion.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
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