Assistant Healthcare Scientist Microbiology

Job summary

We are looking for applicants to work as an Assistant Healthcare Scientist within the Microbiology discipline at William Harvey Hospital. There are 3 fulltime posts on a fixed term contract for 12 months.

We currently hold UKAS Accreditation, and are an IBMS training laboratory.

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trust's vision, mission and values, which can be found in our candidate information pack. The Supporting Information Section in your application should therefore reflect your understanding of the Trust's Values and associated Behaviours. You will be expected to provide us with examples from work experience and/or personal life which demonstrate these values through your behaviour.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Pathology team at the Trust and to help shape future strategy and services for our local population.

The laboratory is open 7 days per week, with core hours covering 8.30am to 5pm. We are looking for applicants to cover a range of shifts including 1:4 weekends, bank holidays, and Late shifts working until 7pm, but are open to flexible working options within the core hours (no night working).

Main duties of the job

The role is based within Microbiology to support Biomedical Scientists in the specimen reception, and preparation and examination of biological samples.

The post holder will possess good keyboard skills, a high level of accuracy, and must be a good team player with a flexible approach to working. The ideal candidate would have some laboratory experience or an aptitude for science. They should be highly motivated and an enthusiastic individual educated to at least GCSE level or equivalent. A keen eye for detail is required.

Duties include data entry, specimen reception, reagent preparation, general maintenance and stock control.

About us

We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference'. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.

KMPN: Kent and Medway Pathology Network is a formal partnership of seven laboratories across three pathology services in four acute Trusts. Our 1000 colleagues provide services across the health and care sector to a population of nearly 2 million.

We are at an exciting point of our network development with a recommendation to form a joint venture across the four Trusts leading transformation. Our projects including single IT solutions, procurement and digital projects, to ensure our services are able to meet growing demand for our service users, patients and communities.