Job summary
As the Pathology IT Microbiology Specialist, the post-holder will lead on all aspects of IT relating to Microbiology. This includes technical support, trouble shooting, and liaising with departmental heads, Clinical heads, Laboratory scientists and support staff. A primary role is the configuration and maintenance of the Laboratory Information Management System and Order Communications System, and the clinical work practices they support, to implement safe, efficient and optimised Laboratory IT processes.
This post has the responsibility to support and develop, with others, IT processes that communicate with the LIMS as a pivotal system in a wider collection of interconnected clinical IT systems that support the Laboratory and it's service users, including, Trust Clinical Systems, Primary Care IT, Community care IT systems, billing systems, and regional/national Health agencies.
Main duties of the job
Critically review, prepare, implement, maintain & ensure compliance with Standard Operating procedures.Troubleshooting the IT element of problems, & maintenance of expensive & complex analytical equipment.
To regularly audit management & operational performance data e.g. accuracy, precision, turnaround times, workload, material consumption. Plan and take corrective action where necessary.
Lead the development of IT services to meet future clinical and public health needs. Proactively introduce new services & innovative technologies where significant clinical improvements are identified and resources permit.
This includes advancements related to IT systems, analysers, the Laboratory Information Management System, and Microbiology-specific programmes such as Infection Prevention and Control.
Responsible for the design, development, implementation and maintenance of Microbiology module / rules, interfaces and data transfer systems to support the service and the clinical outcomes.
Designated Micro IT Subject matter expert understanding the department requirements / processes, to leading on both in-house developed and externally procured applications; and liaising with the Pathology Transformation Team and Project Managers accordingly.
Initiates audits tomonitor clinical effectiveness.Responsible for the initial management and investigation of any incidents in the service and for reporting these to the Microbiology Quality Lead.
About us
At UHSussex, diversity is our strength, and we want you to feel included to help us always put the Patient First. Your uniqueness and experiences will be part of our creative and innovative community where everyone is encouraged to succeed. We have a range of Staff Networks to help break down barriers, and can offer a buddy to help new members settle in. We're proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 2) and a Veteran Aware Trust.
We treat our patients and staff with the same compassion and empathy we expect for ourselves. We're here for them when they need us, and we go above and beyond to meet their needs. This can be seen in ourWellbeing Programme for staff which is extensive and designed to support you when you need it, including where possible, flexible working to support work life balance - because we know that to look after others we must first look after ourselves.
As a university trust and a leader in healthcare research, we value learning, teaching and training so that we can be the best that we can be. From the moment you start with us and throughout your career we will help you to grow and develop. We hope that in choosing UHSussex you are choosing a long and happy career where you will be able to see the difference you make and feel valued for all that you do.
We look forward to receiving your application and the start of your journey with UHSussex.
Candidate information pack - University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please read the detailed job description and person specification included within this advertisement
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please read the detailed job description and person specification included within this advertisement
Person Specification
Experience/Qualifications
Essential
- Biomedical Science degree (BSc) or equivalent Scientific knowledge Up to date, comprehensive knowledge of all areas within all pathology disciplines. This includes an excellent understanding of work processes, the technical/scientific foundation for that work. A specialist scientific knowledge of Microbiology. Technical A highly developed specialist knowledge of Information technology used to support lab work processes, analytical equipment and clinical needs of the service, operatives and users. This is supported by experience in a computer support role in a clinical laboratory environment. Practical Experience of Clinical Databases and their management. Experience of Commercial analytical equipment including their human and data interfaces. Professional knowledge Code of Conduct and Professional Standards of the Health Professions Council. Actively involved in Continuing Professional Development. Understanding of the impact of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and legislation- Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 50 relating to blood safety and quality. IT interoperability and electronic messaging standards in Healthcare. Caldicott Guidelines and Data Protection Act.
Desirable
- Relevant post graduate qualification (e.g. Masters degree -MSc) or equivalent experience Membership or Fellowship of the Institute of Biomedical Science or equivalent professional body. An overview of the long term strategic direction of the Pathology service. Practical laboratory Experience Significant experience, preferably post-registration, in a pathology discipline. Technical Working understanding of NHS IT networks, security models and NHS data communication pathways.
Skills
Essential
- Able to work on own Initiative and as part of a team. Advanced keyboard use for the majority of each working day. Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues Fine dexterity, hand-eye co-ordination, fine motor skills required for repair, building and upgrade of analytical equipment, PCs and other IT Hardware. Safe use of equipment.
People Management & Development
Essential
- No direct responsibility for staff. Note that the post holder is broadly responsible for monitoring and supervising pathology staff for specific IT related issues as they arise. This is primarily to ensure that individuals are using the IT in a fashion that is both safe for the patient and supportive of an efficient pathology service. Some limited advice and informal retraining to be provided by the post holder, where appropriate and reasonable. Where significant skills gaps are identified with individual staff or staff groups, these should be referred to line managers to arrange formal training.
Specific Requirements
Essential
- Regular use of good negotiation, co-operation & persuasion skills to coordinate and inform the activities of different agencies within the department. Ability to convey information, orally, electronically, by consultation or PowerPoint presentation as appropriate to the nature and scope of the discussion. Careful handling of clinically sensitive information and Patient Identifiable Data is a key practice. The development of systems that support the safe handling of such information is a key role of the post holder. Analytical and judgemental Capable of daily analysis of highly complex scientific, clinical, procedural and technical information for many hours at a time. This is subject to regular interruptions from pathology users and staff that raise issues. There is often a need to reprioritise when troubleshooting these unpredictable events that can require immediate resolution. Daily need to evaluate the demands and requirements of users and issues, often where the desired outcomes are unique, unprecedented, ambiguous or contradictory. Frequently, the information required to make informed judgements is unavailable. Appropriate lines of enquiry or data collection must be devised by the post holder where appropriate. Ability to evaluate and develop complex, business-critical clinical IT applications and data communication flows with particular focus on how well they support the clinical requirements of the department and its users. Advanced problem-solving skills put to daily use. Strong requirement to weigh up the impact and scope of issues, to identify reasonable compromise and act or escalate accordingly. Able to support the production of performance data and/or reporting by devising, operating and evaluating programmes to monitor service quality, efficiency, workload, turnaround times and emerging clinical trends. A strong responsibility of this role is to highlight and convey the accuracy, reliability and relevance of the data (and its conclusions) to others that may also act on this information. Planning and Organisational Ability to prioritise workload and meet deadlines Excellent time management skills. Collaborate closely with the Pathology Head of IT to develop and implement short-, medium-, and long-term IT plans that directly support and enhance the pathology service, with provisions in place for ongoing support and maintenance. Ability to maintain IT resources and support services balanced to demand. Requirement to adapt to unforeseen immediate demands which are often conflicting and necessitate a degree of compromise. Strong ability to identify and anticipate deficiencies and bottlenecks in the department's IT and act or escalate accordingly. Financial Ability to identify, with oversight from the Pathology Head of IT, the most cost-effective commissioning, decommissioning and maintenance of software and IT equipment, such as PCs, Printers, barcode printers/scanners, document scanners, keyboards, keypads, VDU equipment, network hubs/cabling, battery backup units and software. Ability to evaluate, source and advise on purchase of some IT hardware and software, with oversight from the Pathology Head of IT as the budget-holder. Information and communication technology Advanced IT skills and knowledge to fulfil a primary responsibility for planning, evaluation, and daily administration of the Laboratory Information System and a wide range of pathology IT systems Strong ability to use and manipulate a variety of data analysis tools to interrogate clinical databases for business activity, clinical queries and trending. Daily use of standard office software to produce reports, spreadsheets, proprietary databases, presentations, collating highly complex information from a variety of sources. Advanced skills with Keyboard, ftp services, remote access software. Responsibilities for patient care Responsible, with others, for the delivery and maintenance of IT frameworks that supports the provision of safe clinical & technical pathology service. Provide first-line support and practical IT advice to all clinical users of pathology IT to enable their role as direct providers of patient care. Policy and service development Responsibility, with others, to support the Pathology Head of IT: oDeveloping the pathology service's IT to the Trust. oProviding specialist IT advice to pathology discipline managers and department managers on IT issues. Particularly how the IT impacts upon / supports the service requirements and policies. oTo devise and advise policy relating specifically to the use of pathology IT.
Desirable
- Information and communication technology Familiarity with the concepts of software design is extremely beneficial. Some practical knowledge of SQL/Oracle/Microsoft Access is highly desirable. Knowledge of other commercial programming languages, such as DOS, Visual Basic, C++, Business Objects, is useful. An understanding of security permissions policies, firewalls, electronic document management, and server management utilities is useful.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
Essential
- Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues
Equality, Divreity & Inclusion
Essential
- Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles.
Freedom to Act
Essential
- Autonomy to act according to the target objectives identified in discussion with Line Manager. Autonomy to adapt work schedules to immediate demands of emerging issues in accordance with support responsibilities of the post. The post holder generally works under their own initiative without the immediate supervision of the Line Manager. Line Manager is available by telephone or email at other times. The post holder is considered a specialist in their field. Guidance or advice from the Line Manager is likely to be given/sought a few times a week. Outcome / performance-based review as required.
Person Specification
Experience/Qualifications
Essential
- Biomedical Science degree (BSc) or equivalent Scientific knowledge Up to date, comprehensive knowledge of all areas within all pathology disciplines. This includes an excellent understanding of work processes, the technical/scientific foundation for that work. A specialist scientific knowledge of Microbiology. Technical A highly developed specialist knowledge of Information technology used to support lab work processes, analytical equipment and clinical needs of the service, operatives and users. This is supported by experience in a computer support role in a clinical laboratory environment. Practical Experience of Clinical Databases and their management. Experience of Commercial analytical equipment including their human and data interfaces. Professional knowledge Code of Conduct and Professional Standards of the Health Professions Council. Actively involved in Continuing Professional Development. Understanding of the impact of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and legislation- Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 50 relating to blood safety and quality. IT interoperability and electronic messaging standards in Healthcare. Caldicott Guidelines and Data Protection Act.
Desirable
- Relevant post graduate qualification (e.g. Masters degree -MSc) or equivalent experience Membership or Fellowship of the Institute of Biomedical Science or equivalent professional body. An overview of the long term strategic direction of the Pathology service. Practical laboratory Experience Significant experience, preferably post-registration, in a pathology discipline. Technical Working understanding of NHS IT networks, security models and NHS data communication pathways.
Skills
Essential
- Able to work on own Initiative and as part of a team. Advanced keyboard use for the majority of each working day. Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues Fine dexterity, hand-eye co-ordination, fine motor skills required for repair, building and upgrade of analytical equipment, PCs and other IT Hardware. Safe use of equipment.
People Management & Development
Essential
- No direct responsibility for staff. Note that the post holder is broadly responsible for monitoring and supervising pathology staff for specific IT related issues as they arise. This is primarily to ensure that individuals are using the IT in a fashion that is both safe for the patient and supportive of an efficient pathology service. Some limited advice and informal retraining to be provided by the post holder, where appropriate and reasonable. Where significant skills gaps are identified with individual staff or staff groups, these should be referred to line managers to arrange formal training.
Specific Requirements
Essential
- Regular use of good negotiation, co-operation & persuasion skills to coordinate and inform the activities of different agencies within the department. Ability to convey information, orally, electronically, by consultation or PowerPoint presentation as appropriate to the nature and scope of the discussion. Careful handling of clinically sensitive information and Patient Identifiable Data is a key practice. The development of systems that support the safe handling of such information is a key role of the post holder. Analytical and judgemental Capable of daily analysis of highly complex scientific, clinical, procedural and technical information for many hours at a time. This is subject to regular interruptions from pathology users and staff that raise issues. There is often a need to reprioritise when troubleshooting these unpredictable events that can require immediate resolution. Daily need to evaluate the demands and requirements of users and issues, often where the desired outcomes are unique, unprecedented, ambiguous or contradictory. Frequently, the information required to make informed judgements is unavailable. Appropriate lines of enquiry or data collection must be devised by the post holder where appropriate. Ability to evaluate and develop complex, business-critical clinical IT applications and data communication flows with particular focus on how well they support the clinical requirements of the department and its users. Advanced problem-solving skills put to daily use. Strong requirement to weigh up the impact and scope of issues, to identify reasonable compromise and act or escalate accordingly. Able to support the production of performance data and/or reporting by devising, operating and evaluating programmes to monitor service quality, efficiency, workload, turnaround times and emerging clinical trends. A strong responsibility of this role is to highlight and convey the accuracy, reliability and relevance of the data (and its conclusions) to others that may also act on this information. Planning and Organisational Ability to prioritise workload and meet deadlines Excellent time management skills. Collaborate closely with the Pathology Head of IT to develop and implement short-, medium-, and long-term IT plans that directly support and enhance the pathology service, with provisions in place for ongoing support and maintenance. Ability to maintain IT resources and support services balanced to demand. Requirement to adapt to unforeseen immediate demands which are often conflicting and necessitate a degree of compromise. Strong ability to identify and anticipate deficiencies and bottlenecks in the department's IT and act or escalate accordingly. Financial Ability to identify, with oversight from the Pathology Head of IT, the most cost-effective commissioning, decommissioning and maintenance of software and IT equipment, such as PCs, Printers, barcode printers/scanners, document scanners, keyboards, keypads, VDU equipment, network hubs/cabling, battery backup units and software. Ability to evaluate, source and advise on purchase of some IT hardware and software, with oversight from the Pathology Head of IT as the budget-holder. Information and communication technology Advanced IT skills and knowledge to fulfil a primary responsibility for planning, evaluation, and daily administration of the Laboratory Information System and a wide range of pathology IT systems Strong ability to use and manipulate a variety of data analysis tools to interrogate clinical databases for business activity, clinical queries and trending. Daily use of standard office software to produce reports, spreadsheets, proprietary databases, presentations, collating highly complex information from a variety of sources. Advanced skills with Keyboard, ftp services, remote access software. Responsibilities for patient care Responsible, with others, for the delivery and maintenance of IT frameworks that supports the provision of safe clinical & technical pathology service. Provide first-line support and practical IT advice to all clinical users of pathology IT to enable their role as direct providers of patient care. Policy and service development Responsibility, with others, to support the Pathology Head of IT: oDeveloping the pathology service's IT to the Trust. oProviding specialist IT advice to pathology discipline managers and department managers on IT issues. Particularly how the IT impacts upon / supports the service requirements and policies. oTo devise and advise policy relating specifically to the use of pathology IT.
Desirable
- Information and communication technology Familiarity with the concepts of software design is extremely beneficial. Some practical knowledge of SQL/Oracle/Microsoft Access is highly desirable. Knowledge of other commercial programming languages, such as DOS, Visual Basic, C++, Business Objects, is useful. An understanding of security permissions policies, firewalls, electronic document management, and server management utilities is useful.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
Essential
- Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues
Equality, Divreity & Inclusion
Essential
- Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles.
Freedom to Act
Essential
- Autonomy to act according to the target objectives identified in discussion with Line Manager. Autonomy to adapt work schedules to immediate demands of emerging issues in accordance with support responsibilities of the post. The post holder generally works under their own initiative without the immediate supervision of the Line Manager. Line Manager is available by telephone or email at other times. The post holder is considered a specialist in their field. Guidance or advice from the Line Manager is likely to be given/sought a few times a week. Outcome / performance-based review as required.
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.
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
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.
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).
