Associate Practitioner

Berkshire Surrey Pathology Services, BSPS, provides a comprehensive laboratory service to Frimley Health, the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Ashford and St Peters and Surrey and Sussex hospitals.

The Point of Care Team sits within the Pathology remit and co-ordinates the appraisal, introduction, and use of analytical devices in wards, clinics and departments within the hospital trusts and in the community, allowing quality pathology results to be produced nearer to the patient.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and confident individual to work as part of the Point of Care Testing Team, providing a comprehensive supporting role to all our Community users of Point of Care equipment. This will include blood gas analysis and major POCT devices already established within the hospital environment.

The advert is for 1 post, one to cover the Ashford/Woking/Walton/St Peters area of the BSPS network POCT services. The ability to travel using own car from site to site is desirable, the main base will be at St Peters Hospital. Full training will be provided.

To maintain Point of Care equipment as directed ensuring all protocols and quality standards are met

Following protocols and based upon personal investigation to remove from use any equipment / analyte not deemed to meet the required quality standards

To ensure good stock control of consumables both within the department and at each Point of Care site on any Trust site or in the community

To order agreed consumables from manufacturers to agreed financial values

To directly liaise with the manufacturers of equipment where problems occur that require manufacturer’s intervention

To maintain good communication with the clinical staff using the Point of Care service in order to maximise the efficiency of delivery to the patient and ensure compliance with the BSPS POCT Policy

To support clinical staff where problems occur with the provision of service

In liaison with other senior staff to ensure the department’s quality standards are maintained and to troubleshoot any areas failing to meet these standards

To participate in the provision of External Quality Assessment services both in house and to external customers

To work with other members of the POCT Team to achieve and maintain accreditation against relevant ISO standards and comply with national POCT guidelines

Ashford and St. Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of more than 410,000 people living in North-West Surrey, parts of Hounslow and beyond.

Over 3,700 highly trained doctors, nurses, midwives, therapists, healthcare scientists and other support staff make up our workforce, providing a wide range of services across our two hospital sites, Ashford, Surrey and St Peter's, Chertsey, Surrey.

We also run many specialist clinics in the community and local community hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Our vision is to be one of the best healthcare Trusts in the country. There has never been a better time to join us in the NHS at ASPH. We are committed to providing continuous professional development, staff benefits and flexibility to shape our workforce around our patient care.

This is an exciting time to join our Trust, as we work on the expansion of our theatres at Ashford Hospital and move towards this becoming our dedicated elective centre. We want to create a state-of-the-art centre for excellence for planned surgical procedures; with care delivered by dedicated, specialist teams in a modern and well-equipped environment.

We hope to use this centre to create an environment of learning and to facilitate training of the next generation of our skilled NHS workforce. Our plans are ambitious - why not, come and be a part of our journey.

Quality Service Delivery

To maintain Point of Care equipment as directed ensuring all protocols and quality standards are met

Following protocols and based upon personal investigation to remove from use any equipment / analyte not deemed to meet the required quality standards

To ensure good stock control of consumables both within the department and at each Point of Care site on any Trust site or in the community

To order agreed consumables from manufacturers to agreed financial values

To directly liaise with the manufacturers of equipment where problems occur that require manufacturer’s intervention

To maintain good communication within the Point of Care team in order to maximise efficiency through agreed priorities and to achieve the aims of Point of Care analysis on a daily basis

To maintain good communication with the clinical staff using the Point of Care service in order to maximise the efficiency of delivery to the patient and ensure compliance with the BSPS POCT Policy

To support clinical staff where problems occur with the provision of service

In liaison with other senior staff to ensure the department’s quality standards are maintained and to troubleshoot any ar