Medical Laboratory Assistant - Cellular Pathology

Job summary

The post holder will work effectively as part of a team providing histopathology, cytopathology and autopsy clinical technical services to Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and local Primary Care Trusts.

They will perform a variety of technical, clerical and administrative duties that will facilitate the processing of patient samples for analysis to primarily assist in the differential diagnosis of cancer related disease.

The work involves handling biological samples and paperwork associated with this process therefore the departmental health and safety policies must be adhered to at all times.

They will support biomedical scientists and pathologists in the provision of an efficient diagnostic service and, apart from the assistant technical duties, much of this function involves in-depth use of IT software. The applicant should therefore be very familiar and comfortable with the use of computers.

Annex 20

This post falls within the provisions of Agenda for Change Annex 20 - Development of Professional Roles, whereby upon completion of an agreed set of competencies you may move onto the next pay band without the need for an application for a post at a higher level.

For further information on Annex 20, please see:

http://www.nhsemployers.org/tchandbook/annex-16-to-20/annex-20-development-of-professional-roles

Please note that this vacancy will close once we have received a suitable number of applications

Main duties of the job

The main duties of the job role are split amongst two main areas of work; Within Specimen Reception the post-holder will receive and book-in human tissue samples (biopsies, organs, fluids), and assist the laboratory scientists in preparing the samples for automated processing. Within the Main Lab, the post-holder will (subject to experience and qualification) accurately embed tissues into wax blocks, sort blocks and paperwork, maintain laboratory equipment, collate microscope slides for quality control and operate the digital pathology slide scanners. In addition to these varied roles, there are also general filing duties and stock receipt to perform.

The Cellular Pathology laboratory is based at North Tyneside General Hospital, serving Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital and the General Hospitals at Hexham, Wansbeck and North Tyneside. The department serves a population of approximately 550,000 encompassing both hospital and community.

The Dept comprises a small team of well-supported, busy, friendly staff, and uses a modern laboratory workflow to achieve excellent results for our Patients. The applicant should therefore be highly-motivated with great attention to detail, and should be an excellent team-player.

About us

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres. We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.

Employer details

Employer name

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Address

North Tyneside General Hospital

Rake Lane

North Tyneside

NE29 8NH

Employer's website

https://www.northumbria.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

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Employer details

Employer name

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Address

North Tyneside General Hospital

Rake Lane

North Tyneside

NE29 8NH

Employer's website

https://www.northumbria.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

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