Medical Laboratory Assistant

Berkshire & Surrey Pathology Services

(A joint venture with Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust , Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Ashford & St Peters Hospitals NHS Trust and Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust)

Are you looking for a full-time MLA position with a desire to work as part of the largest NHS led Pathology Services in the UK? You will be based at Frimley Park Hospital.

We are looking for an energetic, enthusiastic and well-motivated individual with good scientific background to complement our existing MLA team.

Essential qualities expected are efficiency, being well organised, having good communication skills and attention to detail. Good keyboard skills are desirable. In addition, you should be a reliable individual who is able to demonstrate good practical skills and work as part of a team.

You must be keen to embrace new ways of working and develop your knowledge and skills and able to participate in the shift system. Support and encouragement will be given for career development.

You will be expected to work according to our working time compliant shift system and on rare occasions may be required to work at the Wexham Park Hospital site to maintain quality, training and service requirements.

The laboratory is UKAS accredited to ISO 15189. The lab is well equipped with a Kiestra TLA system, Faecal PCR testing and Mast UriSystem. MALDI-TOF and GenExpert complete the picture for an efficient and highly-automated Bacteriology department.

The postholder will assist in the preparation of analytical work for the Bacteriology Department across a range of department work areas under the supervision of a Registered Biomedical Scientist. The postholder is required to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) at all times for any tasks carried out. There is a requirement to communicate with pathology staff, hospital staff, porters, drivers and couriers.

The postholder will provide support to the BMS staff through sorting, numbering and entering onto Laboratory Information Management System. The postholder will be required to operate the department waste disposal systems including use of autoclaves in a safe manner.

The diagnostic work of the department includes processing, for example, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, faeces, sputum, tissues and diverse secretions. Processed samples are then interpreted for the presence of pathogens, these could be bacterial, fungal or parasitic.

There’s never been a more exciting time to build your career at Frimley Health, one of the country’s largest and most respected hospital trusts - We have three main hospitals: Frimley Park in Frimley near Camberley, Heatherwood in Ascot and Wexham Park near Slough.

As well as delivering excellent general hospital services to local people, we provide specialist heart attack, vascular, stroke, spinal, cystic fibrosis and plastic surgery services across a much wider area. We also run outpatient clinics and diagnostic services from Aldershot, Farnham, Fleet, Windsor, Maidenhead, Bracknell and Chalfont St Peter.

Our three core values, and the behaviours that support them, guide everything we do and set out what we expect of our staff in the way they treat patients, visitors, service users and each other. So whether you use our services or are just visiting you can expect us to be Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future.

• To keep the laboratory manager informed of all matters regarding laboratory procedures and help with the smooth running of the department
• To assist in monitoring stock control of consumables held in storesTo ensure the cleaning and defrosting of equipment, such as fridges, freezers and incubators
• Works in cooperation with BMS staff to ensure workload is processed in a timely and efficient manner
• To answer telephone calls and deal with messages and enquiries
• To works as part of a team to ensure that departmental performance targets are met by continually assessing priority of work
• To perform such other reasonable duties as may be required by senior staff

Please refer to JD for details