Medical Laboratory Assistant - Microbiology (Band 2)
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: 1. Under supervision, and following Standard Operating Procedures, the following duties may be carried out:o Undertake in-service trainingo Deal with telephone enquirieso Liaise with and despatch consumables to service userso Solve day to day problems e.g. mislabelled specimenso Sort and prepare work for diagnostic testingo Prioritise and fast track urgent and emergency worko Input PID and other data into the laboratory computero Maintain stocks of reagents and consumableso Prepare test materials, such as making up solutions of chemicalso Disposal of waste, including waste from the Category 3 Roomo Disinfection and cleaning of equipment and working areaso The routine maintenance of equipmento When appropriate assist in the training of new staffo Prepare media and ensure quality control including pre-acceptance testingo Assist in the culture of faeces, urine, swabs, aspirates and mycology specimens to include, tissues, fluidso Label and load blood culture sets received in the laboratoryo Assist in the environmental bacteriology work, including weekly sampling of Physiotherapy Pool waters and the monthly testing of Renal Dialysis waterso Retrieve and grow organisms stored on beads in the deep freezeo Sending away of specialist tests to reference laboratories in line with SOPo Scanning of reference laboratory reports into the digital storage solutiono Assist in receipt, labelling and pre-analytical processing in Molecular laboratoryo Complete maintenance and troubleshooting of analysers, as appropriate and described by SOP, e.g. routine maintenance of Hologic Panther 2.
To participate in an annual Staff Development Review, Continual Professional Development and the educational activities of the Department. 3. To participate in monitoring Clinical Effectiveness and the audit activities of the Department and to contribute to the Trust procedures and activities in support of Clinical Governance.4. To participate in ensuring that the Department complies with the requirements of UKAS accreditation to ISO15189:2012. 5. To be able to identify, handle safely, use and store all substances hazardous to health and comply with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations.
6. To co-operate with supervisors, managers and other employees to achieve a healthy and safe working environment, to take reasonable care of your own health and safety and that of other persons who may be affected by your actions, to carry out your responsibilities in ways that help to ensure a safe and healthy place of work.
7. To ensure the security at all times, including the risk from fire, of the Department. 8. To lift and manoeuvre light goods and equipment in accordance with manual handling regulations and good practice. 9. To deal politely and efficiently with any enquiries from staff, patients and any members of the public.
10. To work within the Trust Equal Opportunities Policy and promote equality of opportunity at work and equality of access to healthcare at all times. 11. To ensure confidentiality at all times, to be aware of the Data Protection Act in relation to all information concerning patients and to only release information to those acting in an official capacity as authorised by Trust and/or Departmental policy.
12. To participate in the out of hours MLA shift system on a rostered basis as and when required, including evening and weekend working, as well as overnight working for 24/7 processes such as PCR work in the molecular laboratory where applicable.
13. Any other duties necessary for the successful performance of the role.