Associate Practitioner

Job summary

We are seeking an Associate Practitioner to work in our Department of Blood Sciences. The AP role involves working alongside the Biomedical Scientists and working closely with colleagues in Pathology Reception as part of the Blood Sciences team. Blood Sciences is a very busy department receiving a large number of samples from AE, acute hospital wards, community hospitals and outpatient clinics and GP surgeries. Many tests are performed in the laboratory at UHND or DMH, and some tests are referred to other testing centres elsewhere in the region and the country.

The role involves technical and clerical tasks. Please refer to the Job Description and Personal Specification for full details.

You should be able to demonstrate good keyboard skills and be computer literate and have experience of working in an NHS pathology laboratory. Experience in a different laboratory environment will be considered alongside experience and skills. If you are a good communicator, team player, are conscientious and flexible this job may suit you. Participation in the 24/7 shift rota will be required as part of this role.

Main duties of the job

Main tasks include:

Maintaining and running automated analysers in accordance with laboratory protocols, loading QC material as required.

Performing some manual tests and recording the results

Booking patient samples on to the Laboratory Computer System and ensuring the correct test requests are inputted. There are thousands of different test codes and you must have excellent attention to detail to select the correct codes.

Centrifuging samples and correctly loading the samples on to the relevant laboratory analysers.

Assisting the BMS staff by managing pending test lists

Organising referral, packaging and sending of samples to other Trust sites and to other Trusts nationwide.

Answering reception and telephone queries and liaising with other Trust staff and the general public.

Stock control including ordering, receiving and receipting deliveries, documenting and organising batches of reagents and performing verification tasks

Please refer to the Job Description and Personal Specification for full details.

About us

If you are being interviewed you must accept an interview slot in the system to continue, even if you have arranged with the manager.

You must be able to produce ALL certificates stated essential in the person specification or you will not be able to complete pre-employment checks.

We provide hospital services from two acute sites - Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham. We have a centre for planned care in Bishop Auckland and provide care from community hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Shotley Bridge, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield and Weardale as well as over 80 other community based settings and providing care in patients' homes.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented.

Full Job Descriptions can be found in the adverts supporting documents.

Over reliance on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant's chances of success.

For the most up-to-date information on visa requirements and eligibility, please check online to determine whether you can apply.

Details

• Date posted: 01 June 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 4
• Salary: £28,392 to £31,157 a year per annum, pro rata
• Contract: Fixed term
• Duration: 12 months
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Reference number: C9439-2627-755
• Job locations: Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust, Hollyhurst Road, Darlington, County Durham, DL3 6HX, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

This Associate Practitioner role involves working closely alongside Biomedical Scientists and also the Pathology reception Team Leader and reception team. They follow the laboratory Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and complete the relevant quality documentation as required.

Samples are received into Pathology reception from wards and clinics within the hospital and from community hospitals and GP surgeries. They are registered in Pathology Reception and placed on analysers in the laboratories. The AP will monitor the analysers in the department, dealing with errors on samples, maintenance on the analysers, replenishing reagents and consumables and basic troubleshooting/fault finding. The AP will complete all the required documentation for the maintenance and error logging.

Stock is managed by the AP and BMS staff, stock takes are performed, ordering of reagents and consumables via the Cardea ordering system, signing for deliveries, receipting goods delivered, unpacking, verifying if appropriate and ensuring paperwork is complete before placing in appropriate storage area in an orderly organised manner.

Temperature monitoring is a daily task, all grades Band 3 upwards may be involved and the AP may be required to assist, troubleshoot and train other staff in the process.

The AP will deal with reports from referral laboratories, entering results to the lab computer system, identified overdue reports and chasing up with other labs.

Generally, the AP staff assist the Biomedical Scientists with tasks in the laboratory in which they have been trained and are within their scope of practice. They will also be required to assist in clerical tasks in specimen reception.

This role requires someone who is conscientious, can work independently within their scope of practice, is an excellent confident communicator to liaise with staff from many wards, departments and other laboratories as well as Trust drivers, porters, Blood Bikers as well as their own Blood Sciences Team. Attention to detail is a key skill required so that errors can be picked up and appropriately recorded and so that patient samples can be accurately identified and tested and results recorded or transcribed. The AP may need to focus for long periods and also be flexible to organise tasks in priority order.

Please note that this is a temporary role, and IBMS certificate of competence training cannot be offered to the successful candidate.