Decontamination Technician

Job overview

The Sterile Services Department (based at Scarborough Hospital) provides a vital service, decontaminating and reprocessing surgical instruments for use on the wards and departments within the York Teaching and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

You will be involved in the cleaning, inspecting, assembling, packing, sterilizing and distributing surgical equipment to wards, departments and theatres. This will include high level disinfection of valuable complex flexible endoscopes for use across the Trust.

Successful candidates will require attention to detail and an eagerness and ability to learn. We have a comprehensive in-house training package which successful candidates will be expected to complete. The role is physically demanding, lifting and handling heavy instrument sets and long periods of standing.

As a clinical support, the department is operational 7 days a week to meet the demands of the hospital. The technician role is permanent, 37.5 hours per week, working shifts between 08:00 to 22:00 each week. This includes rostered weekend and Bank holiday work.

The department is compliant to ISO 13485 Quality management System. Previous experience working with a quality system or in the decontamination is desirable but not essential.

There will be a short test at interview to measure Mathematics and English skills.

Main duties of the job

• To undertake decontamination science duties and assist in providing a specialised decontamination of medical devices service, contributing to the clinical care of the patient.
• To carry out the receipt, disassembly, cleaning, disinfection, reassembly, packing, sterilisation or high level disinfection of reusable medical devices. Record all tasks in the Healthcare Science Information Systems (tracking and tracing) database.
• To deal with all levels of customer queries via; telephone and direct personal contact, including clinicians, nurses and other practitioners.
• To provide supervision to Apprentice Decontamination Technicians and other junior staff within the team.
• Work in accordance with the Department’s Standard Operating Procedures and Quality Management System ISO13485:2016.
• The role involves exposure to infectious material and bodily fluids.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A full description of the role is available in the attachment: job description.

Please note that if a high number of applications are received this advert may close early. You are advised to submit your application at the earliest opportunity.

Working for the Trust

Across our organisation, people are guided by values that were co-developed with staff: we are kind; we are open; and we pursue excellence.

Our values play into our ambition to develop a more diverse workforce, truly representative of our communities.  We welcome applications from everyone, while working with our Staff Networks - including our Race Equality, LGBTQ+, Disability and Carers Networks - to increase the number of applications we receive from different backgrounds.  If there is anything we can do to make our application process more accessible to you, please contact: [email protected].

As part of seeking to become more inclusive, we will consider requests for flexible working from the start of your employment.  It may not be suitable for every role, but we will try and be supportive where we can.  We would encourage you to speak to the recruiting manager named within this advert to discuss any requirements you may have.

Armed Forces Friendly Employer

We are holders of the Gold Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which is helping actively promote SaBRE - Supporting Britain’s Reservists and Employers.  This means that we have made a statement of intent to support all Defence personnel, including with applications for employment.