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Job summary

Main area
Blood Sciences
Grade
Band 2
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
153-SP03470
Employer
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Royal Bournemouth Hospital
Town
Bournemouth
Salary
£22,383 pa
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
11/08/2024 23:59

Employer heading

University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust logo

Medical Laboratory Assistant - Central Reception

Band 2

As University Hospitals Dorset we are a three site acute trust with ‘university hospital’ status through our partnership with Bournemouth University, working with an annual budget of £730m.

We offer highly regarded health services, employing some 10,000 staff. Our ambitious £250m estates programme is well on the way to delivering state-of-the-art facilities over the next two years to meet the current and future healthcare needs of the populations we serve.

In an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with over seven miles of sandy beaches you’ll find inspirational opportunities to achieve your perfect work/life balance. With the New Forest and the Purbecks on our doorstep, we’re also less than three hours from London by road or train. The thriving towns of Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch give way to idyllic villages and unspoilt landscapes just minutes from our hospitals.

We believe that having a diverse workforce, and allowing people to be themselves, is essential in ensuring we offer an inclusive, welcoming and productive place to work.

We especially welcome applications from minority groups in the community who may be underrepresented in our workforce. 

At UHD our active staff network groups are the Women's Network, Black Asian Minority Ethnic Group (BAME), Pride Network, European (EU), Pro Ability Staff Network, and the Armed Forces Support Group.

As a Trust we are proudly signed up to the Disability Confident and Armed Forces Covenant guaranteed interview schemes.

Job overview

We are seeking well organised, highly motivated individuals to join our multidisciplinary team.

Applications are invited for the post of Medical Laboratory Assistant to work within the Central Reception  Department at University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust which will cover both sites at Poole Hospital and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. The departments include Biochemistry, Haematology and Transfusion and are all UKAS accredited.

Medical Laboratory Assistants work as part of a team supporting the Biomedical scientists. Medical Laboratory Assistants receive and process (data entry) samples prior to testing by Biomedical Scientists in the laboratories.

The successful candidate will be trained to deal with enquiries on the telephone, and to accurately provide authorised results to other healthcare professionals as required. There is the scope for personal development within the department. 

Please ensure you read the attached person specification as your application will be assessed against this.

Hours are full time (37.5 hours per week) on a shift basis.

The laboratory operates 24/7 with core hours between 7am and 8pm, to include weekend and bank holiday working.

You will be required to undertake a typing test as part of the interview.

Contact - Amanda Terry , Central Reception Team Leader
[email protected]    0300 019 4797

Base Location: Royal Bournemouth Hospital  

Interview Date: TBC

Main duties of the job

Medical Laboratory Assistants work as part of the team supporting the Biomedical Scientists. Biomedical Scientists analyse blood, body fluids, tissues and cells to determine the presence or absence of disease, to enable diagnosis and also to monitor the effectiveness of treatment. They also carry out tests and analyses, which enable population screening for inherited or malignant disorders.  

After training MLAs will be required to carry out a range of laboratory procedures including to collect and separate samples from wards and from the phlebotomy service throughout the day,  to receive, check, sort, uniquely identify, label and prepare for analysis including those specimens for clinical trials and to be responsible for the accurate and timely dispatch of samples to other laboratories for testing as required. These duties to be performed according to standard operating procedures and within daily deadlines.

Concentration, accuracy and attention to detail are essential to these processes and medical laboratory assistants will be expected to provide a helpful and professional service to patients and staff within the NHS.

The Central (Specimen) Reception services are based at both Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Bournemouth Hospital. The post will involve working at both sites.

Working for our organisation

Our values define who we are as #TeamUHD.  They underpin everything we do now and in the future. They define how we treat our patients, visitors, and each other, our valued team mates and colleagues.

UHD are investing in services across the Trust, with many being transformed and developed following merger and the New Hospital Programme.

In some cases this means that a services may move site this year or next, either temporarily or long term.  Recruiting Managers interviewing for this role will be happy to answer any specific questions that you have at interview. 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To understand the role in more detail please read the full job description and person specification documents which are attached to this advert.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Good general education and must be numerate and literate with a good command of spoken and written English.

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of working as part of a team. Able to work accurately.
Desirable criteria
  • Happy to work in a busy environment

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Good computer/keyboard skills
  • Able to receive and communicate routine information to work colleagues or external contacts
  • Competent and polite telephone manner
  • Ability to work systematically and under pressure in a busy environment
  • Accuracy and attention to detail
  • Ability to work effectively as part of the laboratory team
  • Ability to correctly follow appropriate procedures

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Knowledge of the importance and relevance of laboratory investigations to patient welfare
  • Able to understand a range of routine work procedures, which require job training and a period of induction
  • Able to seek advice and demonstrate work activities to new or less experienced staff
Desirable criteria
  • Willingness to learn in response to changing work patterns or personal development
  • Understand the role of Pathology within the NHS

Personal Attributes

Essential criteria
  • Ability to work as part of a team and as an individual
  • Ability to use initiative
  • Ability to concentrate for long periods at technically demanding procedures
  • Reliable
  • Able to deal with problems in a calm efficient manner
  • Ability to move around the department to collect laboratory samples/ post etc
  • Willing to work flexibly
  • Professional manner / demeanour
  • Ability to participate in an out of routine hours rota

Language requirement

Essential criteria
  • Able to speak English as necessary to undertake the role

Other requirements specific to the role

Essential criteria
  • Ability to lift light loads
  • Ability to handle blood, urine and faeces specimens

Employer certification / accreditation badges

UHD ValuesApprenticeships logoArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardDisability confident employerStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Step into health

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Amanda Terry
Job title
Lead Medical Laboratory Assistant
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0300 019 4797
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