Specialist Biomedical Scientist

Job overview

Are you fascinated by viruses, find mycology magical or love following the clues to identify an unusual organism? Then you are the right person to join our team of Specialist Biomedical Scientists, in Microbiology.

We have a fantastic opportunity for a  Band 6 Specialist HCPC Biomedical Scientist  to join our team based at Royal Preston Hospital. Previous experience of working in an NHS laboratory would be desirable.

We are a very busy, well-equipped laboratory where we process over 500,000 specimens a year. We receive a variety of patient samples, such as urine, faeces, blood and swabs from both hospital and community patients in the Preston & South Ribble area. We are accredited by UKAS (ISO15189) and are an IBMS approved training laboratory.

Main duties of the job

As a Specialist Biomedical Scientist, you are an integral part of the team; responsible for identifying pathogens which cause disease either by interpreting bacterial cultures or by analysing serological results in order to aid the diagnosis of infection.

We provide the information that medical staff use to determine appropriate treatment options to help our patients quickly and effectively. As well as this, you would be involved with the maintenance and troubleshooting of various automated systems including BacTAlert, Vitek2, MALDI-TOF, Vidas and Cobas 5800.

You will need to be enthusiastic about providing an excellent standard of work which contributes to patient care. You should be highly motivated, computer literate, demonstrate good interpersonal skills, and always remain respectful of the Trust values. You will be supported in your training by our dedicated team of experienced staff who will ensure all your training needs are met to become competent in all areas.

This position is full-time working 37.5 hours a week  between the hours of 8am and 8pm, weekends and Bank Holidays. Once established, you will partake in the out of hours on-call service for urgent samples.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To direct more junior staff regarding technical and work issue
• Dealing with telephone enquiries from nurses, clinicians, healthcare practitioners, giving technical advice on results and use of the service
• Appropriate recording of Inventory management within the section to ensure accurate stock management.
• Be able to work on a shift rota, covering 24 hours, seven days a week
• To assist in effective verbal and written communication by qualified and unqualified staff
• To communicate, as appropriate, using information technology
• Report any issues to an appropriate person
• Perform a range of laboratory tests autonomously and demonstrate an understanding of the scientific basis for tests and the disease processes under investigation.
• Use the main laboratory computer system in accordance with service requirements

We look forward to you joining our close-knit Microbiology family. The environment is busy – but you will embrace this and enjoy the challenge of working to tight turn-around-times and targets. You will go home after your working day knowing you have made a positive difference to the patients we serve.