About this role
Job summary
Please note this vacancy is only open to staff currently working in Kent and Medway Pathology Network (KMPN)
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Medway NHS Foundation Trust
Applications from candidates in other NHS trusts will not be considered.
East Kent Hospitals requires a principal clinical scientist to join our dynamic team of three consultants, two principal (including this post), two senior, and two STP clinical scientists. We are looking for experienced, enthusiastic and motivated applicants for this permanent full-time post. You should possess part 1 FRCPath, an MSc in Clinical Biochemistry, and have registration as a clinical scientist with the HCPC.
The Trust has three acute hospital sites each with a laboratory (William Harvey Hospital at Ashford, Kent and Canterbury Hospital at Canterbury and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital at Margate). The post-holder will be based in Ashford, however, across site working will be required at the Canterbury site and occasionally Margate. The pathology service is an actively engaged member of the Kent and Medway Pathology Network which aims to modernise and harmonise the way pathology services are delivered across Kent and Medway.
Main duties of the job
The post-holder will lead the clinical and technical management of the specialist biochemistry section of the service and will be expected to undertake method development and develop clinical guidelines. The post-holder will provide clinical liaison, including working as duty biochemist, and participate in the on-call rota (following attainment of full FRCPath) with appropriate remuneration. They will contribute to quality management, and the training of both clinical scientists and biomedical scientists. There are regular Kent and Medway journal club and clinical meetings which all clinical scientists attend.
Our laboratories provide a wide range of diagnostic tests with some specialised services provided on one or more of our sites. The Trust serves a population of approximately 700,000, making it one of the largest trusts in the UK and the laboratory processes over 11 million biochemistry and immunology tests annually. The Department of Pathology employs 380 WTE staff and has an annual budget of approximately £42 million. All primary care work from East Kent is processed at the Ashford laboratory. The laboratory has UKAS ISO15189: 2022 accreditation, and is accredited for clinical scientist and biomedical scientist training.
About us
We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference'. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.
Kent and Medway Pathology Network
Kent and Medway Pathology Network (KMPN) is a formal partnership of seven laboratories across three pathology services in four acute Trusts. Our 1000 colleagues provide services across the health and care sector to a population of nearly 2 million.
We are at an exciting point of our network development with a recommendation to form a joint venture across the four Trusts leading transformation. Our projects including single IT solutions, procurement and digital projects, to ensure our services are able to meet growing demand for our service users, patients and communities.
A single LIMS solution will go live across the network in the next 12 months. The contract for a single Kent and Medway managed service has recently been awarded.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please scroll down to access the full Job Description and Person Specification located in Documents to download.
If you have any further queries please dont hesitate to contact the line manager using the contact details below.
Person Specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential
- Good honours degree (1st or 2nd class)
- Part 1 FRCPath
- MSc in Clinical Biochemistry
- Registration with the HCPC as a clinical scientist
Desirable
- PhD
- Teaching certificate
- Evidence of management training/qualification
- Part 2 FRCPath
Skills and Experience
Essential
- Extensive experience as a HCPC registered clinical scientist in a clinical biochemistry hospital laboratory.
- Experience of teaching staff
- Good oral and written communication skills
- Good interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team
- Good negotiation and influencing skills
- Good supervisory and management skills
- Research and innovation skills
- Teaching skills
- Ability to manage, and adapt to, change
- Able to identify and pursue own educational development
- Attention to detail and computer literate with excellent IT skills i.e. MS packages: Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Planning abilities, with good organisational and time-management skills.
- Ability to decipher documents and complex information including charts, statistical data and figures.
- Ability to work independently
Desirable
- Work experience in a variety of clinical and research environments
- Proven and extensive peer-reviewed publication record
Knowledge
Essential
- Wide knowledge of clinical biochemistry
- Clinical governance agenda
- Understanding of quality management systems, accreditation and knowledge of quality standards
- Health and safety awareness
- Risk management awareness
- Budgetary awareness
Desirable
- Document management control
Personal/professional attributes
Essential
- Ability to manage and adapt to change
- Able to identify and pursue own educational development
- Attention to detail and computer literate with excellent IT skills i.e. MS packages: Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Planning abilities, with good organisational and time-management skills
- Ability to decipher documents and complex information including charts, statistical data and figures
- Ability to work independently
Other requirements
Essential
- To be aware of and adhere to the Trust's Vision, Mission and Values
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.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details
Employer name
Address
William Harvey Hospital
Kennington Rd, Willesborough
Ashford
TN24 0LZ
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.ekhuft.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/ (Opens in a new tab)