Decontamination Technician - Sterile Services
Job overview
Our department is looking for keen motivated individuals to join our busy team of Floor Managers and Technicians in preparing medical devices and associated equipment for daily use.
Technicians will be trained to carefully wash, pack & inspect all ranges of medical devices before being sterilized and processed for surgery.
Full training in decontamination, sterilisation, and quality management will be given to successful applicants.
It is essential that applicants have good communication skills, excellent attention to detail and can work under their own initiative.
The hours of work would be 37.5 hours per week Monday to Friday between 8am & 9pm and you would be expected to work weekends and Bank Holidays on a rotational basis.
Main duties of the job
You will be introduced to the identification, classification and inspection of reusable medical devices.
Will also cover reprocessing of specialist equipment as well as repairs and maintenance.
Used returned medical devices must be regarded as a potential infectious hazard to handlers including decontamination service personnel.
You will also cover the receipt, sorting and preparation of returned reusable medical devices for cleaning and disinfection.
You will learn the activities that you either perform yourself, or the measures you need to take to protect the medical devices that you are handling and preparing for the wash cycle.
You will gain knowledge and information on function testing, inspection and assembly of reusable medical devices, covering packaging, selection and application of packing materials, requirements for sealing and labelling of packages.
You will familiarise yourself with records and documentation that is required.
Further into the training you will cover the sterilisation of reusable medical devices.
You will learn about different sterilisation methods, equipment used, test regimes and post sterilisation.
Working for our organisation
#BeKnown at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. By us. By our patients. By our community
We are a busy, friendly, rural NHS Trust providing high-quality care and compassion to more than a quarter of a million people across west Suffolk. We care for, treat and support people in hospital, at home and in various community settings.
The West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds provides acute and secondary care services (emergency department, maternity and neonatal services, day surgery unit, eye treatment centre, Macmillan unit and children's ward). It has 500+ beds and is a partner teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge.
Adult and paediatric community services, provided in collaboration with West Suffolk Alliance partners, include a range of nursing, therapy, specialist, and ongoing temporary care and rehabilitation, some at our Newmarket Community Hospital.
We do our utmost to achieve outstanding clinical outcomes for patients and our values of fairness, inclusivity, respect, safety and team work guide how we work and behave as a team.
With nearly 5,000 staff, from all over the world, we strive to make our organisation a great place to work. Whatever your role or ambition, we want to help you be the best you can be.
We promote a diverse and inclusive community where everyones voice counts and you can #BeKnown for whoever you are.
Join us. What will you #BeKnown for?
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see full job description attached
Job summary
To undertake decontamination science duties and assist (under supervision) the workforce of
Decontamination Floor Managers, in providing a specialised decontamination of medical devices service contributing to the clinical care of the patient.
To carry out the receipt, disassembly, cleaning, reassembly, packing and sterilization of reusable medical devices. Record all tasks in the Healthcare Science Information Systems (tracking and tracing) database. Work in accordance with the Department’s Standard Operating Procedures and Quality Management Systems.ISO13458:2016 and HTM01 01 guidance
Person specification
Education & Qualification
Essential criteria- 3 GCSES grade C or above, including Maths & English
- NVQ (Decontamination) level 3 (TVQ Equivalent) IDSc Certificate
Experience & Knowledge
Essential criteria- Experience working in a customer service setting.
- Can demonstrate the ability to work to strict standards of quality and safety
- Detailed insight into duties and responsibilities of post
- Understand need to work within a team
- Understanding of the need to maintain confidentiality
- Knowledge of the Caldicott principles and the need to maintain confidentiality
- Knowledge of a range of procedures relating to decontamination processes, infection control and prevention acquired through training to NVQ level 3 or equivalent.
- Sterile Services Theatres/Endoscopy Acute Hospitals or similar
- Experience of production work
- Experience of tracking/stock systems
- Experience using decontamination equipment or other commercial machinery
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria- Ability to work as part of a team.
- Ability to work accurately under pressure.
- Ability to work while standing for long periods of time.
- Ability to carry out manual handling tasks in all parts of the process.
- Ability to take constructive criticism.
- Demonstrate good written & verbal communication skills.
- Ability to follow direction although be able to use own initiative as required & where appropriate.
- Ability to develop new skills
- Ability to undertake and report on non-conformances and investigations
- Ability to recognise and monitor parameters of quality accuracy according to departmental standard operational procedures.
- Able to identify several hundred different surgical Instruments with speed and accuracy
- Use of departmental tracking information systems.
- Use of departmental tracking information systems.
- Use of quality management system
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria- Ability to work to high standards under pressure.
- Ability to work to strict standards of quality and safety.
- Always demonstrates a professional manner. Ability to work on own initiative.
- Demonstrates logical thinking to help troubleshooting.
- Passionate
- Flexible approach to working hours/duties
- Able to cope with exposure to blood and body fluids
- Able to wear PPE
- Abilities to carry out duties including pushing /manoeuvring trolleys weighing up to 300Kg, manual handling of sets weighing up to 15Kg and standing for long periods of time