Cellular Pathology IT Officer

Job overview

To assist in the provision of the cellular pathology and mortuary service for the trusts hospitals and CCGs.  To rotate on a regular basis through the different sections of the department. To perform cellular pathology laboratory duties as described in standard operating procedures and health and safety procedures. To train new members of staff, be involved with service development through the laboratory and clinical audit. Continuous professional development will be encouraged. You will occasionally be required to cross sites.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will play an active role in the cellular pathology department as IT officer supporting consultants, laboratory staff and secretarial staff.

They will be responsible for the maintenance and development of all IT systems within the cellular pathology department and mortuary.

The post holder will be expected to train and supervise staff in IT tasks and must be willing and able to continually develop and learn new skills, implementing new developments as they are required. The post holder will be required to cover support worker duties when required in the laboratory.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To accurately book in patient demographics and sample details into the pathology computer system.
• Update records as required
• To retrieve details from the pathology computer system to answer enquiries
• Maintain the Pathology LIMS within Cellular Pathology and Mortuary
• Ensure location and clinician codes are maintained
• Assist with LIMS backup procedures
• Maintain the  electronic reporting systems including voice recognition and digital dictation software
• Maintain the scanning software.
• Maintain the videoconferencing system.
• Maintain the Pathology IT Assets Register within their discipline
• Provide discipline specific training for staff in the use of pathology IT systems
• Keep the Pathology IT Manager and their deputy informed of developments or problems affecting the delivery of Pathology IT
• Attend relevant IT meetings on behalf of the department
• Act as a point of contact with Health Informatics and commercial IT support staff to expedite recovery from systems failures
• Assist the Pathology IT Manager, deputy IT officer, laboratory manager, scientific staff, secretarial staff and consultant histopathologists with data extraction from the LIMS for workload and clinical audit purposes
• Develop their own understanding and knowledge of relevant IT issues
• Appropriate merging of patient records
• Active participation in trust initiatives such as Electronic Patient Record
• Active participation in the future development of IT solutions for the department  such as digital reporting
• To log non conformances and perform root cause analysis as a result of faults to system processes
• To implement business continuity plans if required.
• To assist with accurate costings of the service.
• To train staff in IT procedures where appropriate.
• To maintain the department’s sample tracking systems.
• To ensure maintenance of all hardware in the department including microscopes
• To ensure the department’s IT systems comply with ISO 15189 accreditation standards.
• To cover support worker duties such as scribing for dissection staff, printing cassettes, filing blocks and slides, and carrying out a spirit store run.