Medical Laboratory Assistant

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust • Part-time • Carlisle, England, United Kingdom • £23.62k / year • 4w ago

Band 2 Medical Lab Assistant Microbiology

Hours of work:
The laboratory is open from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday, and 8.30am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday. The department operates a flexi time system .

The diagnostic workload is approx. 250,000 requests annually with all work centralised at the Cumberland Infirmary site.

We use a range of automated testing platforms including IRIS urine analyser, Dynex DS2, Cepheid and BacTec Blood Culture. We also perform traditional culture for the main laboratory areas and both Parasitology and Mycology are included in our repertoire.

As a medical laboratory assistant your role would include supporting the biomedical scientists in a range of laboratory duties including the processing of clinical specimens for testing, registration of patients onto the pathology computer system, specimen reception duties, telephone enquiries and general housekeeping duties.

Previous laboratory experience is not essential for the band 2 role as training will be provided. You should be able to demonstrate good planning, organisational and interpersonal skills as well as evidence of competence in problem solving and prioritising workloads. Excellent communication skills are essential for this post.

Is this role for you?

In order to help you decide if this role would suit you we have collated the most common “likes and dislikes” about the MLA job.

Likes :
Helping to save lives

The variety of tasks and the job is interesting

Feel supported especially in training

Dislikes :
Repetitive duties

Heavy lifting

Handling difficult phone calls

Smelly environment

Stuffy because we can’t open the windows as room air conditioned volume of knowledge needed can be overwhelming

Occasional staff pressures

At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding hospital and health services to half a million people. Established on 1st October 2019, the Trust is creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout north Cumbria and beyond. We’re responsible for delivering over 70 services across 15 main locations and we employ more than 6,500 members of staff.

Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of ‘safe, high quality care every time’.

Being a clinically led organisation

Quality and safety at the heart

A positive patient experience every time

A great place to work

Managing our money well

As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.

Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.

Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment. Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed.

If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligible vacancies .

Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.
If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.

Important Information

Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date.

For candidates applying using a Hotmail account or have strict firewall settings please ensure the following:

Junk Mail is checked regularly

Disclosure and Barring Service:
On 28 November 2020, the new Disclosure and Barring Service filtering rules will come into effect.

The changes mean that:
youth cautions, reprimands and final warnings will no longer be subject to automatic disclosure
the multiple conviction rule has been removed, meaning that if an individual has more than one conviction, regardless of offence type or time passed, each conviction will be considered against the remaining rules individually, rather than being automatically disclosed.

If you are unsure about whether you need to disclose certain criminal record information, free confidential advice may be sought from one of the charity bodies listed below. These bodies can advise you on what you are legally required to declare and may also be able to advise you on how you can disclose criminal record information to a prospective employer and your legal rights when doing so.

Nacro – Tel: 0300 123 1999, or email: helpline@nacro.org.uk

Unlock – Tel: 01634 247350, email advice@unlock.org.uk or complete the online form on the Unlock website

The Trust is committed to safeguarding adults and children therefore if the post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended) the successful candidate(s) will be subject to a criminal records check with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:

Standard Check: £18 + Administration cost of £3.85 = £21.85. Deducted at £6.85 from 1st month salary and £5 deducted from salary over following 3 months.

Enhanced Check: £38 + administration cost of £3.90 = £41.90. Deducted at £11.90 from 1st month salary and £10 deducted from salary over following 3 months.

As part of the one of the largest employers in the UK NCIC future employees will have also access to the following benefits.

A lease car may be available for this position; further details will be provided upon appointment if applicable.

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years

Flexible working Scheme

Excellent opportunities for development

Competitive NHS Pension scheme

Access to NHS discounts with retailers and leisure companies

EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems

These schemes are subject to availability