Job overview
Band 5 Senior Medical Technical Officer
Clinical Transplantation Laboratory
Applications are invited from enthusiastic and motivated candidates for the post of Band 5 Senior Medical Technical Officer.
Following appropriate training, the appointee will participate in the out of hour’s on-call service for deceased donor organ transplantation
Main duties of the job
The laboratory is located in a purpose built Pathology building at the Royal London Hospital and is a part of NHS East London and South East London Pathology Partnership.
We provide a comprehensive service for local and national referral centres in support of kidney, thoracic and some of the largest stem cell transplant programmes in the UK, including for the paediatric programmes at GOSH. We perform the full range of H&I services, including HLA-typing, crossmatching and antibody screening services and other immunogenetic testing as an aid to disease diagnosis.
The post holder will be required to efficiently and methodically perform, analyse and interpret diagnostic tests related to clinical transplantation. The post holder will maintain paper and electronic records of all such diagnostics tests carried out. The post holder will assist in the day-to-day activities of the laboratory and provide training to staff as required. The post holder will assist in the development and validation of kits, reagents and equipment. The post holder will have some delegated supervisory role for band 4 laboratory MTOs.
Working for our organisation
The NHS East and South East London Pathology Partnership is an arms-length organisation providing pathology services to Barts Health NHS Trust, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. The Pathology Partnership is hosted by Barts Health.
The Pathology Partnership is based on well-established models for pathology networks, with the Royal London Hospital becoming the main hub laboratory for the network and Essential Service Laboratories (ESL) as a minimum at all other Hospital sites.
The 2020/21 total operating costs across the Partnership were c. £126m per annum with a workforce establishment of circa. 822 WTE. We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.
We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are underrepresented within Barts Health at this band
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Applicants must possess a relevant degree and knowledge of the field of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. Experience in all serological and molecular tests undertaken in the lab is desirable though training will be provided.
For enquiries or to arrange a visit please contact the Laboratory directly (Dr Katy Derbyshire on 0203 2346 0233 or )
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria
1. Good immunological and H&I serology and molecular genetics background gained over a 2 year period covering all routine and nonroutine tests
2. Experience in HLA routine and nonroutine serological techniques including Luminex antibody screening and identification, CDC screening, CDC crossmatching and flowcytometric crossmatching
3. Experience in HLA routine and nonroutine molecular techniques, including HLA typing by NGS, PCRSSP, Luminex and Sanger sequencing
4. Experience of validation of new processes, kits, reagents and equipment and carrying out laboratory audits that lead to changes in practice in the department
Qualifications
Essential criteria
5. Must have a BSc in a biological science
Skills
Essential criteria
6. Highly developed practical laboratory skills and manual dexterity in order to carry out on call and routine laboratory tests with speed and accuracy
7. Proven organizational skills and be methodical and adaptable
8. Must be able to work unsupervised from day to day and prioritise own workload
9. Must be able to implement agreed policies in own area of work
10. Will be required to take overall responsibility for a specific laboratory activity, such as regular maintenance of equipment, departmental H&S or control of laboratory reagent and consumables stock
11. Must be able to apply own judgement to the interpretation of a range of results, including Luminex antibody, HLA type, CDC crossmatch and Flow crossmatch, correctly analysing the complex data and make suggestions about potential further investigations
12. Must also be able to propose quality improvement changes to own work area and the rest of the department
13. Computing skills (Microsoft Office), experience using Laboratory Information Systems and H&I analysis software
Knowledge
Essential criteria
14. Must have a good intermediate knowledge of H&I
Other
Essential criteria
15. Ability to work as part of a team
16. Participation in appropriate CPD scheme
17. Good communication skills with staff at all levels including other members of the interdisciplinary transplant teams
18. Will need to provide and receive complex data (e.g. crossmatch results that influence whether or not a transplant goes ahead) orally (in person and over the phone), in writing and in electronic form
19. Must be able to plan and organise several complex activities in and out of hours e.g. in a lone working environment to obtain a crossmatch result, forming plans and adjusting those plans to the unique situation for each unique crossmatch
20. Able to perform the duties of the post with any aids and adaptations
Desirable criteria
21. Desire to learn and develop own skills and career in H&I