Associate Practitioner

We are seeking an Associate Practitioner to work in our Department of Blood Sciences. The AP role involves working alongside the Biomedical Scientists and working closely with colleagues in Pathology Reception as part of the Blood Sciences team. Blood Sciences is a very busy department receiving a large number of samples from AE, acute hospital wards, community hospitals and outpatient clinics and GP surgeries. Many tests are performed in the laboratory at UHND or DMH, and some tests are referred to other testing centres elsewhere in the region and the country., Main tasks include:

Maintaining and running automated analysers in accordance with laboratory protocols, loading QC material as required.

Performing some manual tests and recording the results

Booking patient samples on to the Laboratory Computer System and ensuring the correct test requests are inputted. There are thousands of different test codes and you must have excellent attention to detail to select the correct codes.

Centrifuging samples and correctly loading the samples on to the relevant laboratory analysers.

Assisting the BMS staff by managing pending test lists

Organising referral, packaging and sending of samples to other Trust sites and to other Trusts nationwide.

Answering reception and telephone queries and liaising with other Trust staff and the general public.

Stock control including ordering, receiving and receipting deliveries, documenting and organising batches of reagents and performing verification tasks

You should be able to demonstrate good keyboard skills and be computer literate and have experience of working in an NHS pathology laboratory. Experience in a different laboratory environment will be considered alongside experience and skills. If you are a good communicator, team player, are conscientious and flexible this job may suit you. Participation in the 24/7 shift rota will be required as part of this role.

If you are being interviewed you must accept an interview slot in the system to continue, even if you have arranged with the manager.

You must be able to produce ALL certificates stated essential in the person specification or you will not be able to complete pre-employment checks.

We provide hospital services from two acute sites - Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham. We have a centre for planned care in Bishop Auckland and provide care from community hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Shotley Bridge, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield and Weardale as well as over 80 other community based settings and providing care in patients' homes.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented.

Full Job Descriptions can be found in the adverts supporting documents.

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