Healthcare Science Associate Practitioner

The post involves the receipt and preparation of tissue and fluid samples for microscopic analysis, including microtomy, embedding, staining, equipment maintenance and preparation for genetic analysis. This role is based in the slide production area of the department. Candidates must be comfortable handling a wide range of pathology specimens as part of routine laboratory work.

Applicants should be enthusiastic, well motivated individuals with experience in histological techniques and a good understanding of the role of Cellular Pathology in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. They should enjoy working as part of a team and possess keyboard skills, excellent communication abilities and flexibility to support service needs.Shift patterns are 7.5 hours Monday to Friday between the laboratory opening hours of 7am-6pm, with participation in a Saturday rota. Flexibility is strongly encouraged to support staff and service demands.

We offer training opportunities to all grades of staff in a supportive and modern environment. The post is primarily to support Registered and Specialist Biomedical Scientists within the laboratory, with opportunities to rotate into different sections of the department.

• A Healthcare Science Associate Practitioner is part of a clinical support team whose purpose is to provide timely and accurate high quality scientific information that will assist service users from the hospital and community, in the establishment of a clinical diagnosis and monitoring of patient treatment.
• The Healthcare Science Associate will use practical skills to carry out a tasks associated with the pre-analytical preparation of specimens within the Histopathology Department. The tasks undertaken are more advanced than those of an HSA.
• Specimen reception: To deal with the reception, sorting and labelling of patient specimens, identifying inadequate and mis-labelled specimens and ensuring urgent samples are prioritised.
• Recording specimen dissection descriptions, data entry including macroscopic descriptions onto APEX, preparing specimens for analysis, including booking in patient and specimen details, storing, retrieving and disposing of specimens. Assessing x-rays to determine end part of decalcification.
• Carefully prepare samples for diagnostic testing or storage. This may involve delicate procedures to manually handle category A samples, describe samples and place into a labelled cassette matching necessary paperwork and documentation
• As directed, undertake basic testing under supervision of BMS staff, record and enter results onto laboratory computer systems e.g. macroscopic descriptions of category A specimens
• Assist in the training of new members of staff in the standard operational procedures required of them
• As directed by BMS in technical charge of section, assist in the induction, basic training and competency assessment (as appropriate) of new or less experienced staff by demonstrating duties and providing advice and guidance
• Loading/unloading tissue processors and initiating processing programmes.
• To carry out, under supervision, laboratory procedures:o Embedding. Morphological alignment of surgical biopsies within molten waxo Microtomy. Cutting 4 micron sections of tissueo Special stains; Undertake staining procedures to identify specific tissue structures or organismso Antigen retrieval procedures (heat mediated and enzyme digestion)o Processing of biopsies into epoxy resin for electron microscopyo Identifying and labelling electron micrographso Undertaking manual immunocytochemistry procedureso Pipette body fluids, which require manipulation of transfer pipettes and manual dexterity.
• Use laboratory equipment:o Faxitron X ray equipment,o Cassette labelling machineso Cytospins and centrifugeso Slide staining machines,o Immunocytochemistry autostainers (programming daily runs, loading/unloading of slides, preparation of reagents general maintenance)
• To work in compliance with local health and safety rules to ensure a safe working environment for you, colleagues and visitors.
• To adhere to department and Trust Health and Safety policies (including COSHH, Risk assessments and Standard Operating Procedures) and to report any non-compliances to a senior member of staff.
• Oversee HSAs working in the section
• Train new members of staff (HSAs)
• Answer telephone enquiries, retrieving results in accordance with SOPs

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

With around 2 million contacts with patients every year, we deliver care from:

• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Freeman Hospital
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Cramlington Manor Walks
• Urgent treatment centres
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under 'Documents to download' or 'Supporting documents'.

For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Essential: - NVQ 4 in Healthcare Science or equivalent; - GCSE in 4 subjects 2 of which must be Maths and English or equivalent

Essential: - Previous experience as an HSA in a Cellular Pathology Laboratory or an equivalent level of knowledge and skills acquired through laboratory based practice; - Knowledge and understanding of the role of Cellular Pathology in the diagnosis and treatment of disease; - Technical terminology. Basic medical, anatomical and disease terminology

Desirable: - Understanding of Health and Safety; - Basic understanding of human biology; - Use of laboratory equipment e.g. pH meter; - Manual handling

Essential: - Self-organisation and the ability to prioritise; - Proven communication and leadership skills; - Able to concentrate for long periods; - Keyboard skills (minimum 25 words per minute)