Section Leader BMS: Haematology and Blood Transfusion

Job overview

Section Leader BMS: Haematology and Blood Transfusion at RMH, Chelsea; Band 7

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist oncology centre split across two sites: one in Chelsea, London and the other at Sutton in Surrey. We now have a vacancy for an enthusiastic and highly-capable Section Leader BMS to work in Haematology and Blood Transfusion, taking responsibility for the Blood Transfusion section at the Chelsea site.

As a senior member of the departmental team, you will be involved in training, quality assurance, and participating in some of the management functions, in addition to the day to day running of a section of the laboratory.

The laboratories are open for routine work between the hours of 0800 and midnight on weekdays and are equipped with Sysmex XN3100s and a CS2500 interfaced to Epic Beaker DHR. The transfusion section has a BioRad IH-500 analysers and Haemonetics Safetrace LIMS.

Applicants must be experienced at handling day-to-day issues within a hospital blood transfusion department and hold an MSc or equivalent qualification in Blood Transfusion. The successful candidate will be expected to participate in the residential on call rota, for which a fixed sessional payment and recovery time are offered. The department carries full UKAS Accreditation.

To arrange an informal visit or for further details, contact Paul Wadham on 0207 808 2606.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be responsible for supervising staff during the day to day operation of the department and performing analytical work. The post holder will lead the development of the quality system ensuring the laboratory complies with ISO15189 accreditation standard and MHRA requirements.

The key working relationships will be with staff in Haematology, but the post holder will be expected to liaise with staff throughout Pathology and the Trust. There will be frequent occasions when the postholder takes sole responsibility for work, for example when no Lead is present.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information, please refer to the Job Description/Person Specification

To be able to work within all areas of the department as follows:

Supervisory • To ensure the department is centred around patient care and clinical needs.  • To support the strategic direction of the department and collaborate with the lead on new projects. • To deputise for other sections and the BT lead as required. • To participate in the documentation of contingency plans, and disseminate information to the team, giving direction and ensuring updates are shared regularly.  • To be able to demonstrate advance theoretical and scientific knowledge for instrumentation and methods

Blood Transfusion laboratory • Sample Reception: stringent and careful checking of all details on specimens, contacting ward  and medical staff for errors, discarding unsuitable specimens and requesting repeat. • Data entry: assignment of sequential numbers to samples and attaching bar code labels; logging  incoming specimen requests onto the Safetrace and Haemonetics, checking historical blood  group and antibody data, checking Special Requirements for blood transfusions  • Carrying out manual testing, reading results by eye, tabulating and interpreting results. • Selecting suitable blood for transfusion (Blood Group compatible, and compliant with any  special requirements such as CMV-negative, Irradiated or presence of any atypical antibodies),  carrying out manual compatibility checking procedure including subjective interpretation of  results

Haematology Laboratory • Working closely with the Haematology seniors, coordinating rotations and training depending  individual development, service requirements and user needs. • Sample reception: receipt and checking of samples, liaising with ward staff where there are  doubts or errors, assigning High Risk samples to an appropriate containment area and dealing  with leaking / damaged samples, centrifugation of specimens when necessary • FBC Analyser preparation: daily startup of analyser, check background counts within limits,  run controls, check within limits, liaise with supervisor for remedial action if necessary.  Monitor analyser continuously throughout the day, running control samples as necessary.