Family History Assessor

• Based at Wellington Hospital (Newtown), Permanent, full-time role - Monday to Friday
• Collaborative setting, fostering professional growth and knowledge exchange
• Contribute to the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is firmly grounded in the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is committed to building a health system that serves all New Zealanders.

About the Role

The primary purpose of the role is to provide specialist assessment, clinical management advice, surveillance recommendations and coordination of care to a specific patient and family population at, or potentially at, increased risk of cancer due to inherited gastrointestinal cancer syndromes. This is an advanced practice role and includes ongoing follow up and clinical oversight of high-risk individuals and families.

For further information please see the position description here.

About the Team/Service

The NZFGCS is a national service and is part of the Te Whatu Ora National Bowel Screening Programme (NBSP) strategy, providing assessment, diagnosis, management advice and care for those individuals and families who have a familial predisposition to gastrointestinal cancers. The national office is based in Auckland hosted by Te Toka Tumai with other offices in Wellington and Christchurch. In this role, providing specialist assessment, clinical management advice and surveillance recommendations contributes to the overall successful management of patients referred to the service.

About you

This role requires a clinically based health degree with significant clinical experience working with patients and a genuine interest in supporting families with inherited cancer syndromes.

You will need to be comfortable working with scientific data. 

We also welcome more experienced applicants who may hold a clinical master’s degree in a relevant area.

In this role, you will:

• Use clinical knowledge of gastroenterology disorders and pathology, relevant investigations, oncology, and surgical pathways to assess the medical histories of referred patients and families to determine their risk of hereditary syndromes associated with gastrointestinal cancer
• Conduct clinic appointments with patients and their families, face to face or by telephone to discuss family history of cancer/polyposis, risk, ongoing management and surveillance advice. Further investigations required (as appropriate) and interim and final surveillance and medical management advice in accordance with guidelines or in consultation with the service’s senior staff and medical advisors

• If you have led your own clinics, this will be an advantage, but full clinical training and support is provided

• Coordinate the endoscopy surveillance for those individuals participating in our colonoscopy reminder programme
• Demonstrate an awareness of the ethical issues related to the medical management of genetic disorders and the psycho-social impact on people who have a diagnosis of cancer or who are at risk of developing cancer

For more information on the role, you are welcome to contact the service via nzfgcs@adhb.govt.nz

About the location

For more information on living and working in Wellington click here.

Working at Health New Zealand

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is dedicated to ensuring excellent healthcare for the people of New Zealand. We embrace a workforce that is diverse and inclusive so that we are better positioned to understand and service our community. We welcome applications from our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled, and rainbow communities.

How to Apply

Please submit your application online, outlining your experience and motivation to express your interest for this opportunity.

If you have any queries about accessibility, or technical issues with the online process, please contact Belinda Peddie, Recruitment Consultant at Belinda.Peddie@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz and quote to discuss how we can best support you. 

We will review applications as received and may proceed with the recruitment process, before the closing date of this advert. We also have the right to close the advert, based on the volume of applications, received at any given time.