Biomedical Scientist/Specialist Biomedical Scientist – Main Lab/Cut-up
At NNUH it is our privilege to provide healthcare to over one million people across Norfolk and surrounding areas. Our vision is to ‘provide the best care for every patient’, and if this inspires you and you share our values, we really want you to join our team.
NNUH is currently the busiest Trauma Unit in the East of England caring for almost 850 trauma patients annually many with complex care needs. We are enhancing our urgent and emergency care specialist services for patients with significant injuries as a result of trauma and have an ambition to become a Major Trauma Centre.
Our values support our vision and guide the behaviour of everything we do, these are:
People-focused
We look after the needs of our patients, carers and colleagues, to provide a safe and caring experience for all.
Respect
We act with care, compassion and kindness and value others’ diverse needs.
Integrity
We take an honest, open and ethical approach to everything we do.
Dedication
We work as one team and support each other to maintain the highest professional standards.
Excellence
We continuously learn and improve to achieve the best outcomes for our patients and our hospital.
Wish you were here? So do we.
We want all our staff to achieve a balance between work and personal life and understand how important flexible working can be. We welcome applications on a full or part time basis, various shift patterns and hybrid working, where roles allow.
At the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH), we know the benefits diversity can bring to our organisation such as creativity, innovation and compassion. All of which have a direct impact towards our staff and patient experience.We are committed to being a Hospital for All – being equitable and inclusive, and a place where all feel a sense of belonging. We therefore particularly encourage and welcome applications from candidates who are underrepresented in NNUH’s workforce.
These include people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, people with diverse abilities and people within the LGBT+ community.
Job overview
A post is available in the Histopathology Department. This post presents an exciting opportunity to be part of an excellent team working in a busy modern teaching hospital laboratory. The department has a workload of around 70 000 surgical requests per year and covers a wide range of routine and specialised services.
This is an excellent opportunity to work within a committed team of office, laboratory and Consultant Pathologist staff. The department encourages active professional development and further educational activities. The service is expanding Biomedical Scientist advanced dissection and Biomedical Scientist reporting roles.The service is also carrying out digital pathology reporting, and is progressing towards full digital reporting. We also use CEREBRO specimen tracking system. The service is also replacing most of its specialist laboratory equipment this year.
Applications will be considered from HCPC registered BMS staff with an IBMS accredited Biomedical Scientist degree for a progression band 5 to band 6 post, whilst they gain the IBMS specialist Diploma in Cellular Pathology
Main duties of the job
The Post holder will play a key role in the following areas:
- Work as a specialist BMS in the dissection/reception and section cutting services.
- Carry out specimen dissection mainly for specimens within the RcPath Categories A – C.
- Carry our frozen sections and Mohs frozen sections.
- Support band 7 staff, including staff/workload supervision, staff training and quality control.
- Carry out audits and appraisals.
- Support staff CPD.
The Post holder will have the following opportunities:
- Develop your skills and experience in specialist areas of the lab, including specimen dissection and Mohs technique.
- Assist/deputise for senior BMS staff in the supervision of BMS staff and workload.
- Be involved with training and mentoring Registered and trainee BMS staff and Biomedical Support Worker staff
- Participate in service development and implementation of Lean methodology
Working for our organisation
Join us at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and be part of a workforce of over 10,000 staff!
The NNUH is one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK, providing first-class acute care for around one million people, living in Norfolk and surrounding areas. We are a teaching and research hospital, at the forefront of innovation, home to state-of-the-art facilities, such as the Quadram Institute.We are pleased to work closely with the University of East Anglia, providing teaching opportunities for our staff and placement opportunities for their students. We attract some of the best and leading professionals from across the country and are proud that our workforce represents 94 countries from across the world.
We are a friendly, collaborative hospital, working with local services and home to N&N Hospitals Charity
We can offer you the full range of NHS benefits/discounts and in addition:
- Flexible working hours
- Fast Track Staff Physiotherapy Service
- Multi Faith prayer room
- Discounted gym memberships
- Excellent pension scheme and annual leave entitlement
- Wagestream - access up to 40% of your pay as you earn it
- Free Park & Ride service direct to NNUH site
- Free 24-hours confidential counselling support
- On-site Nursery
- On-site cafes offering staff discounts
- Support in career development
- Flexible staff bank
- Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars, Cycle to Work scheme and home electronics
- Communicates complex clinical technical service-related information, to colleagues, Managers, Consultants, Nurses, other health care colleagues and patient carers.
- Participates in departmental meetings and contributes to effective communication within the department.
- Answers telephone enquiries from Pathology users and patient carers and provides information that is highly complex about methodologies and service requirements.
- Explains/discusses results of technical procedures with medical and BMS staff. Suggest alternative techniques as appropriate.
- Manages and prioritises own work and day-to-day work in specialised services.
- Responsible for processing immediate, urgent and non-urgent work to maintain turnaround times in line with Trust and Service policies.
- To organise the dissecting room and categorise specimens following the assessment of clinical details/need and assign a specimen code as appropriate. Participate in the reception, sorting and processing of samples through the dissection room.
- To ensure correct patient ID on both matching request forms and specimens and follow appropriate quality and error logging procedures in the event of incidents.
- To carry out histological techniques including the fixation and processing of body tissues. This includes recognisable body parts, products of conception containing fetal parts, fetal and post mortem tissue. To also perform precision orientation and embedding of tissue, cutting of paraffin wax sections and staining methods.
- To assist Pathologists during specimen dissection and clean working areas of tissue, faeces, mucus and blood.
Please refer to the Job Description for the full specification of responsibilities and requirements for this post.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences or equivalent.
- Specialist Diploma from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) or equivalent in histopathology service as a new entrant BMS 1.
- State registration with Health Professions Council (HPC).
Skills
Essential criteria- Able to lead small groups of staff
- In depth knowledge of the methodologies used within the histopathology service.
Experience
Essential criteria- Significant postgraduate State Registration experience in a clinical setting.
Attitude, aptitude
Essential criteria- Effective role model, demonstrating NNUH’s PRIDE values of People focussed Respect, Integrity, Dedication and Excellence.
- Demonstrates understanding and commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
The Job Description, which includes a Person Specification, provides a full outline of responsibilities and requirements for this role. Please use your supporting statement to demonstrate how you meet the person specification.
Visa and Immigration
If you are wishing to apply for this role and would require sponsorship (this includes if you are already in a sponsored post and looking to change employer), you can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for this post by assessing your circumstances against criteria specified on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/your-job.
Travelling to work
Staff parking is available onsite; however, this is limited during core working hours. We have more capacity in the evening and at weekends and can usually provide spaces during those hours.
We look to allocate these spaces fairly. Our Travel Office have a set of criteria that staff must meet in order to qualify. If you qualify for a space, you may be placed on a waiting list if we are at full capacity.
The NNUH is served by a number of public buses, and we offer generously discounted monthly passes with First Bus & Konect.
The Costessey Park and Ride runs regularly each day from 06:30 (from P&R) to 20:45 (from NNUH) and this service is free for NHS staff. There is a regular Thickthorn P&R service as well which is free. Applications to the Travel Office are required for this service.We also have a discounted service from the airport P&R if you purchase a bundle. Please see Konect website for further details.
The NNUH host multiple bicycle racks and a salary sacrifice scheme. We also benefit from a Beryl station onsite.
If you work at another Trust site, please discuss travel and parking arrangements at interview.
DBS
If this post involves working with children or adults the application form will ask for information regarding previous convictions as you will be required to undertake a Criminal Record and Barring Check known as a DBS check.
If you are a new employee or registering with the Staff Bank you will need to meet the cost of this unless your salary is less than point 9 of Afc
NHS Service
Should you be appointed to the post we will need to establish any previous NHS service via the ESR IAT and we will accept the submission of your application as your agreement to this.
UK Registration
You will need to have current UK professional registration where this is a requirement of the role.
Application
Following candidate feedback and to reduce our dependency on paper, all our communication with you regarding your application will be by email so could you please check your e-mails (and Spam) regularly.
We value equality in our team and recruit from all sections of the community. We recognise there is a wealth of talent among people who have a disability and if you meet the minimum criteria detailed in the person specification and have a disability, you may wish to be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme by indicating this in the relevant section on your application.
We look forward to receiving your application and if you do not hear within the next four weeks this will usually mean that you have not been short-listed. However, if you wish to confirm this please contact the person indicated on the advert.
Flexibility
Whilst every effort will be made to recruit to the post as it is advertised, there may be occasions where we consider alternative working patterns, such as part time working, or contract types, such as secondments, depending on circumstances.Should you wish to work in a different working pattern to that stated in our advertisement, please indicate this in the supporting statement to your application.
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