Biomedical Support Worker

Overview

Working Full time: 37.5 hours per week

The Blood Sciences Department have an exciting permanent vacancy for a Biomedical Support Worker. The role is part of a team providing a 24/7 diagnostic laboratory testing service for the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Trust, working within Specimen Reception. The laboratory is UKAS ISO 15189:2022 accredited. This is a full time post, working an average of 37.5 hours per week.

Following training, the post holder will be expected to participate in the out of hours shift pattern. This includes working evenings and weekends, and may include working nights. You should be methodical, have excellent attention to detail and be able to accurately follow defined written standard operating procedures. You should be flexible, highly motivated, able to work under pressure, have good communication skills, have the ability to adapt to using a variety of IT systems, and be a strong, enthusiastic team player who is fully committed to ongoing patient care.

This role offers initial laboratory experience to candidates who wish to pursue a career in Biomedical Sciences. Full training will be provided.

• Assisting and supporting Biomedical Scientists in providing a quality laboratory diagnostic testing service.
• Receiving patient sample requests into the hospital IT system.
• Preparing a variety of samples for diagnostic testing, including blood, urine and faeces.
• Loading and unloading of samples onto laboratory automation and analysers.
• Answering phone enquiries from clinicians and other service users, including giving out validated patient test results where appropriate.
• Monitoring the departmental email inbox and responding to queries.
• Storeroom and stock control duties including receipt and storage of consumables (manual handling is required as part of these duties).
• Actively contributing towards a quality culture within the department.
• Providing outside of routine hours support in Specimen Reception by participating in early, evening, and weekend shifts. Night shifts may also be required according to service demands.

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides services to West Cheshire and to Welsh patients covered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. Its services are provided from three locations:

• The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 438 general and acute beds
• Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 56 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility
• Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.

The Trust employs over 5916 staff (headcount) which includes temporary bank staff and provides acute emergency and elective services, primary care direct access services and obstetric services to a population of approximately 411,000. This includes 361,000 residents in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire which has a population of approximately 50,000.

• Receiving instructions and working within defined SOPs; ability to follow written procedures.
• Flexible, motivated, and able to work under pressure; good communication skills; team player.
• Ability to adapt to using a variety of IT systems.
• Commitment to ongoing patient care and quality in the laboratory environment.
• Full training provided for the role.

The Trust provides DBS information as part of the recruitment process. Applicants may be required to pay for their DBS check, with costs deducted from salary over the first three months of employment. You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service; a small annual fee of £16 per year applies. New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above.

Applicants are advised to apply early as the vacancy may close before the advertised date if a large number of applications are received.