Band 7 Senior Clinical Scientist - Pathology

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 14 October 2024

Job summary

An opportunity has arisen for 3 HCPC registered, or working towards, Senior Clinical Scientists to join our Biochemistry team at University Hospitals Birmingham. This will encompass 2 permanent jobs and 1 temporary maternity leave cover. The team at UHB currently consists of 3 Consultant Clinical Scientists, 1 Consultant Chemical Pathologist, 4 Principal Clinical Scientists, 11 Senior Clinical Scientists (including these posts) and 4 STP trainees.

Birmingham is the UK's second largest city and has good transport links to a number of other major cities within the UK, including London. Transport around the City is simple with good train and bus networks; the QE site itself has a train station 5 minutes walk away. Birmingham is a vibrant and multi-cultural city boasting world-renowned restaurants, 3 major football teams, a wide range of live music and 571 parks (the highest number of green spaces within Europe!).

UHB Trust is one of the largest Trusts in the UK, treating over 2.2 million patients annually. The Trust comprises 4 hospital sites, including Heartlands Hospital and Queen Elizabeth which is a level 1 major trauma centre and boasts the most active transplant centre in Europe. UHB Biochemistry department is strong clinically and analytically providing a wide range of services across all hospital sites. The automation laboratories utilise Abbott Alinity platforms with the laboratories at Heartlands and QE including state of the art Abbott pre-analytics and tracks.

Main duties of the job

The 2 permanent post holders will be required to primarily work within our specialist testing section; with one post being based at the QE hospital site and the other at our Heartlands hospital site. The temporary post will be based in our automated lab section and be primarily based at the QE hospital site. Some degree of cross site working is to be expected. You will be required to liaise closely with the Operations Manager and Principal Clinical Scientist for that section to provide high quality analyses over an extensive repertoire. You will be expected to play a significant part in developing, growing and optimising the service.

The specialist testing department has a national reputation for specialist endocrinology and toxic drug monitoring investigations as well as clinical and postmortem toxicology work. The department employs the use of various techniques including chromatography, mass spectrometry and FT-IR spectroscopy. Experience these techniques is desirable for the permanent posts. You will also be expected to contribute to the clinical support activities of the department by participating in the duty biochemist rota.

About us

We are recognised as one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK. Our vision is to Build Healthier Lives, and we recognise that we need incredible staff to do this.

Our commitment to our staff is to create the best place for them to work, and we are dedicated to:

Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff, including a commitment of offering flexible working where we can;Offer our staff a wide variety of training and development opportunities, to support their personal and career development objectives.

UHB is committed to ensuring that our staff are treated fairly and feel that they belong, by creating a kind and inclusive environment. This is about equity of opportunity; removing all barriers, including discrimination and ensuring each individual member of staff reach their true potential, achieve their ambitions and thrive in their work. This is more than words. We are taking action. Our commitment to an inclusive culture is embedded at all levels of the organisation where every voice is heard, driven by our diverse and active staff networks, and at Board level by the Fairness Taskforce led by our CEO. We nurture a culture which empowers staff to challenge discriminatory behaviours and to enable people to bring their 'whole self' to a kinder, more connected and bold place to work.

University Hospitals Birmingham is a Smoke-Free premises hospital.

Date posted

30 September 2024

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£46,148 to £52,809 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

304-1080615DO

Job locations

Trustwide

Mindelsohn Way

Birmingham

West Midlands

B15 2TH

Job description

Job responsibilities

*Please Note : For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description*

Job description

Job responsibilities

*Please Note : For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description*

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

*1st class or 2:1 honours degree in biochemistry, chemistry or a closely related science
*MSc in Clinical Biochemistry or working towards

Desirable

*PhD in a relevant area of science
*State registration with Health Care Professions Council (HCPC)

Experience

Essential

*Specialist knowledge of clinical biochemistry and laboratory medicine
*Awareness of the political and cultural aspects of the NHS
*Awareness of clinical governance and risk
*management
*Awareness of laboratory health and safety
*Awareness and experience of laboratory accreditation standards

Desirable

*Experience in audit, research and development, method/equipment appraisal and evaluation, management of a specialist or routine service
*Evidence of continuous professional development and discipline specific proficiency for maintenance of HCPC registration

Additional Criteria

Essential

*Effective communication skills, both written and oral
*Numerate and able to undertake scientific calculations
*Ability to work in a team
*Manage workload effectively when the workload is unpredictable and there are competing demands (medical emergency)
*Good and accurate keyboard skills
*Effective logical thought processes and the ability to solve problems and plan remedial action
*Effective organisational, planning and time
*Management skills
*Punctual and reliable
*A good team player
*Respectful of all grades of staff
*Ability to work across all sites

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

*1st class or 2:1 honours degree in biochemistry, chemistry or a closely related science
*MSc in Clinical Biochemistry or working towards

Desirable

*PhD in a relevant area of science
*State registration with Health Care Professions Council (HCPC)

Experience

Essential

*Specialist knowledge of clinical biochemistry and laboratory medicine
*Awareness of the political and cultural aspects of the NHS
*Awareness of clinical governance and risk
*management
*Awareness of laboratory health and safety
*Awareness and experience of laboratory accreditation standards

Desirable

*Experience in audit, research and development, method/equipment appraisal and evaluation, management of a specialist or routine service
*Evidence of continuous professional development and discipline specific proficiency for maintenance of HCPC registration

Additional Criteria

Essential

*Effective communication skills, both written and oral
*Numerate and able to undertake scientific calculations
*Ability to work in a team
*Manage workload effectively when the workload is unpredictable and there are competing demands (medical emergency)
*Good and accurate keyboard skills
*Effective logical thought processes and the ability to solve problems and plan remedial action
*Effective organisational, planning and time
*Management skills
*Punctual and reliable
*A good team player
*Respectful of all grades of staff
*Ability to work across all sites

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Additional information