Principal Clinical Scientist for Biochemistry
Job overview
East Kent Hospitals requires a principal clinical scientist to join our dynamic team of three consultants, two principal (including this post), two senior (one HSST), and three STP clinical scientists. We are looking for experienced, enthusiastic and motivated applicants for this post, to cover a period of maternity leave.You should ideally possess part 1 FRCPath, an MSc and/or PhD in Clinical Biochemistry and have registration as a clinical scientist with the HCPC. This post will provide excellent training opportunities and support in preparing for part 2 FRCPath will be given.
We would consider appointing at band 7, dependent upon experience and qualifications.
Although this post is based at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, the Trust has three acute hospital sites each with a laboratory (William Harvey Hospital at Ashford, Kent and Canterbury Hospital at Canterbury and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital at Margate).All sites have laboratories and the post holder may be required to work on the other sites. The pathology service is actively engaged in a transformation process which aims to modernise and harmonise the way pathology services are delivered across Kent and Medway in the future.
A single LIMS solution will go live across the network in the next 12-18 months, and procurement for a Kent and Medway managed service contract will take place in 2025.
Main duties of the job
The post-holder will be expected to undertake method development, clinical guideline development and clinical liaison, including working as duty biochemist. They will contribute to quality management, and the training of both clinical scientists and biomedical scientists.There are regular Kent and Medway journal club and clinical meetings which all clinical scientists attend.
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.
We 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.
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.
Our laboratories provide a wide range of diagnostic tests with some specialised services provided on one or more of our sites. The laboratory processes approximately 9 million biochemistry and immunology tests annually. The Department of Pathology employs 330 WTE staff and has an annual budget of approximately £25 million.All primary care work from East Kent is processed at the Ashford laboratory. The laboratory has UKAS ISO15189 accreditation, and is accredited for clinical scientist and biomedical scientist training.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please scroll down to access the full Job Description and Person Specification located in 'supporting documents’. If you have further queries please don’t hesitate to contact the line manager using the contact details below.
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.
Person specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential criteria- Good honours degree in a subject relevant to clinical biochemistry (1st or 2nd class).
- Successful completion of STP or equivalent clinical scientist training programme.
- MSc in Clinical Biochemistry.
- Registration with the HCPC.
- Part 1 FRCPath.
- Part 2 FRCPath (or working towards).
- PhD
- Teaching certificate
- Evidence of management training/qualification.
Skills and Experience
Essential criteria- A minimum of four years recent experience in a clinical biochemistry hospital laboratory
- Experience of teaching staff.
- Good oral and written communication skills.
- Good interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team.
- Good negotiation and influencing skills.
- Good supervisory and management skills.
- Research and innovation skills.
- Work experience in a variety of clinical and research environments.
- Peer-reviewed publication record.
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Wide knowledge of clinical biochemistry.
- Clinical governance agenda.
- Understanding of quality management systems, accreditation and knowledge of quality standards.
- Health and safety awareness.
- Risk management awareness.
- Budgetary awareness.
- Document management control.
Personal / professional attributes
Essential criteria- Ability to manage, and adapt to, change.
- Able to identify and pursue own educational development.
- Attention to detail and computer literate with excellent IT skills i.e. MS packages: Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- Planning abilities, with good organisational and time-management skills.
- Ability to decipher documents and complex information including charts, statistical data and figures.
- Ability to work independently.
Other requirements
Essential criteria- To be aware of and adhere to the Trust’s Vision, Mission and Values.
Staff and patients from across East Kent Hospitals are the feature of the biggest NHS recruitment drive in its 70 year history. https://www.ekhuft.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/work-here/
Filmed in William Harvey and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother hospitals, the ‘We are the NHS’ campaign highlights the extraordinary work that staff across EKHUFT do every single day. As one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a population of over one million people, EKHUFT was perfectly placed to demonstrate the care, cutting-edge treatments, research, innovations and life-saving operations that the campaign needed.
There are lots of great opportunities at East Kent Hospitals, where staff are caring and put patients first, innovation flourishes and you can develop your career. We’re on an exciting journey of transformation. With a new Medical School at the centre of our community, a focus on research, clinical leadership and making our trust a rewarding and friendly place to work, there’s never been a better time to join us.To find out more about east Kent visit our website at. The Trust fully supports the SAS Doctors Charter and is committed to their development through its CPD Framework.
We’ll close this job advert once we’ve received sufficient applications which may be before the closing date so please apply as soon as possible. We only accept online applications. If you have any difficulty with this please contact our Resourcing Team on 01227 866450 who are happy to help.
We have a relocation policy for eligible candidates, parking available at Trust sites but we encourage other options, like car sharing or public transport.
The Trust is committed to supporting flexible working to fulfil our pledge as part of The Trust’s People Strategy to help staff to achieve a healthy work/life balance. Please speak with your Recruiting Manager for further information on how this can be managed alongside department expectations and requirements.
The ability to converse easily and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for all customer facing roles.
Most positions require a Disclosure and Barring check and will be exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Posts working regularly or unsupervised with children or vulnerable adults require an enhanced check.
Applicants for eligible roles requiring Tier 2 sponsorship must meet UK Visas and Immigration eligibility criteria.
We operate a no-smoking policy on all our sites and grounds.
You can search for and apply for roles directly on our website.
If you are applying via NHS Jobs your application will be sent to our recruitment system TRAC. All subsequent information will be generated from TRAC so you won’t be able to see the progress of your application or receive messages through NHS Jobs and we won’t be able to respond to e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website.By applying for this post you are agreeing to us transferring your application and details to our system. If you are offered a job information will also be transferred into the NHS Electronic Staff Records. Good luck with your application, we’ll contact you via email so please check your junk/spam folders.