Job summary
The Pathology Support Supervisor will supervise the day to day activities of the team working in Pathology Support. There are over 20 mainly part-time staff covering 24 hours a day.
The post largely requires supervision of staff during routine A4C hours in Specimen Reception and the Laboratory Office area. There may also be a requirement to work at any Trust site where a Pathology service is provided.
Receiving blood test requests and ensuring their appropriate treatment prior to analysis ensuring high quality accurate information is entered into Pathology information systems in a timely manner.
The post holder will help to ensure that all staff are appropriately trained and training needs accurately recorded. The performance of the team is paramount to the overall quality of service provided by each of the four departments directly served by Pathology Support.
You will be required to work sessions at short notice to cover unplanned leave. This is an essential service covering every day of the year.
Interview Date - To Be Considered
Main duties of the job
Follow and assist in the authoring of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's).
To supervise the MLA's in specimen reception on a daily basis, dealing with queries and providing effective workflow. To provide training and up-to-date competency records for all specimen reception staff .
Report any errors through the incident reporting system, and to follow up actions in order to close with effective learning. Assist with TAT's in order to provide an effective service for the whole of Pathology.
To communicate with all departments within Pathology, and also Wards, GP's and community clinics in respect of pre-analytical work.
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
- Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- Follow and assist in the authoring of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Receive and barcode all samples and request forms as appropriate.
- Process samples through pre-analytical stages such as centrifugation.
- Prioritise urgent samples for fast tracking and process add on requests
- Correct errors of self and others to maintain database integrity.
- Data entry of all patient identifiable information, clinical details and request details for all disciplines (with the exception of Blood Transfusion) into the Pathology Telepath system (accuracy is vitally important).
- Interrogate the PAS system and Open Exeter systems to check patient details.
- Carry out Telepath housekeeping manual patient merges in Haematology, Biochemistry and Microbiology once patient information has been checked in the above systems and to notify Blood Transfusion of any mismatches.
- Use of fax, photocopier and scanner as required.
- Ensure that all reports are sorted and distributed to the relevant bodies through internal and external posting systems in a timely and efficient manner maintaining patient confidentiality.
- Accurate filing and retrieval of reports including the scanning of request forms.
- Work closely with all departments within the Pathology Directorate to ensure that a timely accurate service is delivered.
- Timely preparation of GP consumable orders
- Support first-line call-centre and maintenance for the pneumatic air tube and escalation to engineers
- Maintain good working relations with all members or staff and to promote effective teamwork.
- Actively participate in team meetings and deputise for lead supervisor as necessary.
- Regularly report to lead supervisor and manager, issues surrounding delivery of an efficient service and takes part in planning future service requirements/developments.
- Respond to telephone enquiries from service users, patients, relatives and departmental colleagues with correct use of telephone and logging system.
CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Maintain and promote the professional image of the Department of Pathology, Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospital
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
- Prepare rotas to ensure delivery of service in Data Entry, Pathology Reception and General Office Duties.
- Prepare rotas to cover 24/7. Organise voluntary rota for some weekends and Bank Holidays.
- Verify accuracy of staff time sheets and identify gaps in service
- Carry out risk assessments as necessary
- Conduct data quality checks to ensure the quality of the information inputted by all pathology staff meets the minimum data criteria.
- Ensure all archiving systems comply with departmental policies.
- Assist the Lead Supervisor / Manager in the verification of invoices.
- Responsible for the stock control of all consumables supplied / used in this area, reporting low levels to lead supervisor and / or manager.
TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSBILITIES
- Attend appropriate courses as agreed with lead supervisor at appraisal.
- Deliver training for all grades of staff in all appropriate areas including the Pathology
- Computer system, PAS and Open Exeter, OCS, Sunquest ICE etc.
- Ensure delivery of training for all grades of staff in all aspects of Pathology Support
- Ensure all training and training needs are accurately recorded.
- Provide update reports upon request from manager.
- Ensure mandatory training is in place for all Pathology Support staff.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
- You will be expected to work unsupervised, occasionally single-handed, managing your own workload and supervising the Pathology Support team, reporting on progress and any problems to your manager as necessary.
- Ensure that equipment is used in accordance with manufacturers instructions and is maintained correctly.
- Notify equipment/general building fitting failures to the appropriate senior person.
- Provide direct supervision of the team working during standard hours.
- Ensure maximum efficiency rotating staff to ensure service delivery is maintained within the area.
- Conduct appraisals for Pathology Support staff and assist in producing personal development plans.
- Perform back to work interviews for Pathology Support staff in accordance with the Trusts Sickness and Absence Policy.
- Represents Pathology Support staff at the Pathology Staff Committee Meeting.
- Participate in the Pathology Audit Team Meetings, Clinical Pathology Accreditation Audits and own departmental audits as appropriate.
- Investigate and reports adverse incidents via IR1 notification forms.
- Deputise for the Lead Supervisor where appropriate in their absence.
- Deal with problems and querys commensurate with grade
- Ensuring that any necessary fixtures and fittings requiring repair are planned.
- Responsible for ensuring that the Pathology store room is maintained in a tidy and orderly fashion.
- Reviewing stock levels with Pathology Porter to ensuring appropriate stock rotation.
RESEARCH & AUDIT
- Participate in departmental clinical trials, audit, research and development programmes.
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- Follow and assist in the authoring of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Receive and barcode all samples and request forms as appropriate.
- Process samples through pre-analytical stages such as centrifugation.
- Prioritise urgent samples for fast tracking and process add on requests
- Correct errors of self and others to maintain database integrity.
- Data entry of all patient identifiable information, clinical details and request details for all disciplines (with the exception of Blood Transfusion) into the Pathology Telepath system (accuracy is vitally important).
- Interrogate the PAS system and Open Exeter systems to check patient details.
- Carry out Telepath housekeeping manual patient merges in Haematology, Biochemistry and Microbiology once patient information has been checked in the above systems and to notify Blood Transfusion of any mismatches.
- Use of fax, photocopier and scanner as required.
- Ensure that all reports are sorted and distributed to the relevant bodies through internal and external posting systems in a timely and efficient manner maintaining patient confidentiality.
- Accurate filing and retrieval of reports including the scanning of request forms.
- Work closely with all departments within the Pathology Directorate to ensure that a timely accurate service is delivered.
- Timely preparation of GP consumable orders
- Support first-line call-centre and maintenance for the pneumatic air tube and escalation to engineers
- Maintain good working relations with all members or staff and to promote effective teamwork.
- Actively participate in team meetings and deputise for lead supervisor as necessary.
- Regularly report to lead supervisor and manager, issues surrounding delivery of an efficient service and takes part in planning future service requirements/developments.
- Respond to telephone enquiries from service users, patients, relatives and departmental colleagues with correct use of telephone and logging system.
CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Maintain and promote the professional image of the Department of Pathology, Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospital
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
- Prepare rotas to ensure delivery of service in Data Entry, Pathology Reception and General Office Duties.
- Prepare rotas to cover 24/7. Organise voluntary rota for some weekends and Bank Holidays.
- Verify accuracy of staff time sheets and identify gaps in service
- Carry out risk assessments as necessary
- Conduct data quality checks to ensure the quality of the information inputted by all pathology staff meets the minimum data criteria.
- Ensure all archiving systems comply with departmental policies.
- Assist the Lead Supervisor / Manager in the verification of invoices.
- Responsible for the stock control of all consumables supplied / used in this area, reporting low levels to lead supervisor and / or manager.
TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSBILITIES
- Attend appropriate courses as agreed with lead supervisor at appraisal.
- Deliver training for all grades of staff in all appropriate areas including the Pathology
- Computer system, PAS and Open Exeter, OCS, Sunquest ICE etc.
- Ensure delivery of training for all grades of staff in all aspects of Pathology Support
- Ensure all training and training needs are accurately recorded.
- Provide update reports upon request from manager.
- Ensure mandatory training is in place for all Pathology Support staff.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
- You will be expected to work unsupervised, occasionally single-handed, managing your own workload and supervising the Pathology Support team, reporting on progress and any problems to your manager as necessary.
- Ensure that equipment is used in accordance with manufacturers instructions and is maintained correctly.
- Notify equipment/general building fitting failures to the appropriate senior person.
- Provide direct supervision of the team working during standard hours.
- Ensure maximum efficiency rotating staff to ensure service delivery is maintained within the area.
- Conduct appraisals for Pathology Support staff and assist in producing personal development plans.
- Perform back to work interviews for Pathology Support staff in accordance with the Trusts Sickness and Absence Policy.
- Represents Pathology Support staff at the Pathology Staff Committee Meeting.
- Participate in the Pathology Audit Team Meetings, Clinical Pathology Accreditation Audits and own departmental audits as appropriate.
- Investigate and reports adverse incidents via IR1 notification forms.
- Deputise for the Lead Supervisor where appropriate in their absence.
- Deal with problems and querys commensurate with grade
- Ensuring that any necessary fixtures and fittings requiring repair are planned.
- Responsible for ensuring that the Pathology store room is maintained in a tidy and orderly fashion.
- Reviewing stock levels with Pathology Porter to ensuring appropriate stock rotation.
RESEARCH & AUDIT
- Participate in departmental clinical trials, audit, research and development programmes.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- ECDL qualification or equivalent experience
- Educated to GCSE level or equivalent Qualification / experience
- RSA/OCR level 3 typing or equivalent Qualification / experience
Desirable
- NVQ level 3/4 or certificate in supervisory management or equivalent experience
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Knowledge of medical terminology
- IT literate
Desirable
- NHS clinical laboratory experience
- Previous supervisory experience
Skills
Essential
- Clear understanding of Caldicott and Data Protection Act
- Lead the team encompassing new initiatives and skills
Other
Essential
- Flexibility/Availability for working hours
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- ECDL qualification or equivalent experience
- Educated to GCSE level or equivalent Qualification / experience
- RSA/OCR level 3 typing or equivalent Qualification / experience
Desirable
- NVQ level 3/4 or certificate in supervisory management or equivalent experience
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Knowledge of medical terminology
- IT literate
Desirable
- NHS clinical laboratory experience
- Previous supervisory experience
Skills
Essential
- Clear understanding of Caldicott and Data Protection Act
- Lead the team encompassing new initiatives and skills
Other
Essential
- Flexibility/Availability for working hours
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.
