EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues Agenda For Change Job Descriptions

Generic or general job descriptions are ok if you want a general banding and if all team members do exactly the same thing. However if your team is made up of individual jobs with special responsibilities that contribute to the whole team performance, it is important to identify those individual jobs by individual job descriptions. Generic decriptions are no good to address cover for when the dedicated member is away since AfC is all about what you do most of the time, not once in a while. You should be scored and banded according to what YOU do most of the time.

I have talked to a union rep who has been on the training course to be on the job matching panel and am a little concerned at some of his comments. The Band 6 profile asks for a degree or equivalent. If you read the guidance notes and other literature it says that the actual degree qualification is not necessary as long as you have experience and training to degree level standard.
The union rep concerned is saying this is not correct and you must have an actual degree qualification. It concerns me that if a union rep is saying this, after being on the training course, then where is this information coming from. Is the union rep wrong in his assumption or is this what the training panel is saying.

So how do you write a job description which specifies the holder must have a degree ? The job descriptions must accurately reflect what we DO, not who we are or which "A" levels we've got !

If we put a degree in the Person Specification under "essential" we're effectively consigning the excellent technicians we have (who might have learnt the trade mending TVs and studying City & Guilds) to the scrap heap. They'll never get promotion and never get a job anywhere else in the NHS.

Madness

Does anyone know any Company Field Service Engineers with a degree, by the way ? ? ? ?

The other problem with asking for a degree is that it should be one that actually makes you better at doing the job. A degree in basic electronics in my opinion may make you better at design and development but not any better at repairing servicing and calibrationg a vast range of electro-medical equipment and anaesthetic machines. This knowledge can only be gained through experience and manufacturers training courses.
I have now been assured that if you have relevant experience and training that is to degree standard then that is a suitable alternative but how do the matching panel know what experience is to degree level when they don't know anything about your job.
With regard to job matching, the most important factors are Knowledge & Skills and the Freedom to Act. These 2 factors basically fix the level or band of your job. If you can match these factors to the national profile then you can have a varience of one level (up or down) in up to 4 of the remaining 14 factors and still match the job profile.
The national job profile factor descriptions are basically a one sentance statement and it is essential when reviewing job descriptions that the panel can match this simple statement to what you have written so be careful in your choice of words.
I would advise everyone to read the JES factor definitions and factor levels (available from the unions and the DOH websites) before filling in their job description.

Ken,

If you don't mind me asking - is your qualification in electronics by any chance? Whether it be CGLI, ONC, OND, HNC, HND, Degree, electronics has been the requirement for medical equipment maintenance (electronics) up to now and there are good and bad technicians, qualified at all levels, out there. Will a degree in Clinical Technology (possibly taken with no electronics option) for an entrant with an HNC in life sciences, for example, make them any better at reparing medical electronic systems?

My qualification is in electronics. My real knowledge of medical equipment and equipment maintenance has been gained through experience and manufacturers training courses. A degree in Clinical Technology in my opinion will mean you understand better the interaction between the equipment and the patient but what is the point of this knowledge if you are not able to repair the equipment in the first place.

I was initially trained on a Medical Physics Supernumerary training scheme - no degree involved - I picked up the knowledge and experience you have mentioned, plus an ONC in electronics P/T - no degree involved. Is a degree actually required at all?

The truth of the matter about whether a degree is necessary or not is, in my opinion, no! However, if we are to be regarded as equals in the professionals rat race, in future we will need one.

The best option will be to have a clinical technology degree which is based around the electronics/engineering covered by ONC/HNC/HND. The rest of the curriculum can, as Ken suggests, give a greater understanding of the interactions and clinical uses of the equipment. The problem is that at the moment there isn't one.

The fact there is not an obvious degree course available for us will hopefully help in our arguement that a degree is not required for a band 6 job under the AfC. The latest advice I have been given is that the AfC will not discriminate against post holders with many years experience but with no or little formal certificates. It remains to be seen if that is the case.
In the future, when relevant courses are available I believe that a degree will be required.