Job overview

We are looking for applicants to work as an Assistant Healthcare Scientist within the Pathology Sample Reception / Office at William Harvey Hospital. Full-time and part-time positions are available. We currently hold UKAS Accreditation, an HTA Licence and are an IBMS training laboratory.

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trust’s vision, mission and values, which can be found in our candidate information pack. The Supporting Information Section in your application should therefore reflect your understanding of the Trust’s Values and associated Behaviours. You will be expected to provide us with examples from work experience and/or personal life which demonstrate these values.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Pathology Blood Sciences team at the Trust and to help shape future strategy and services for our local population.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work within the Sample Reception / Office areas of Pathology and occasionally have to assist Biomedical Scientists in pre-analytical duties such as the centrifugation of samples. The post includes receiving and checking of samples, data entry, reagent preparation, general maintenance and stock control. The post holder regularly interacts with patients and other service users, also dealing with phone queries.

The post holder will possess good keyboard skills with a high level of accuracy and must be a good team player with a flexible approach to working. The ideal candidate would have some laboratory experience or an aptitude for science. They should be a highly motivated and an enthusiastic individual educated to at least GCSE level or equivalent. A keen eye for detail is required. Exceptional customer service is required in this role.

The successful applicant will be required to participate in the ‘7-day working’ pattern including weekends, nights and Bank Holidays.

Kent and Medway Pathology Network (KMPN) is a formal partnership of seven laboratories across three pathology services in four acute Trusts. Our 1000 colleagues provide services across the health and care sector to a population of nearly 2 million.

Working for our organisation

We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference’. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.

KMPN are at an exciting point of our network development with a recommendation to form a joint venture across the four Trusts leading transformation.  Our projects including single IT solutions, procurement and digital projects, to ensure our services are able to meet growing demand for our service users, patients and communities.

You will have a fantastic opportunity to grow your career in KMPN.  We are developing a network academy, a platform for all network education and training from apprenticeships to advanced clinical and scientific qualifications with a single faculty making best use of our talented educators and trainers.  You will not be expected to work at sites outside of EKHUFT. However, there will be opportunities for collaborative working within the network.