Consultant Clinical Scientist in H&I, Deputy Head of H&I

Job Summary

This is a Deputy Consultant Clinical Scientist, Deputy Head of Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics (H&I) position requiring expert specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of all aspects of transplant immunology, H&I and management, and competence in performing all practical, administrative tasks and educational matters relevant to the H&I service offered by the laboratory.

Applicants with significant experience at band 8A or above in H&I who are in the process of completing their FRCPath will also be considered. However, applicants working towards FRCPath will be paid at Annex 21 until fully qualified. This is in line with NHS Agenda for Change terms and conditions.

Main Duties of the Job

The post holder will ensure the timely processing of patient samples, typically 7500 a day, serving all those patients attending UHP, CCGs representing 100 General Practices and specialist assays referred from other Trusts within the Peninsula. The H&I service is part of Derriford Combined Laboratory and this speciality receives 4,000 patient requests annually, performing 6,400 tests. GP requests represent 20% of the workload.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Clinical Scientist to join our team as Deputy Head of Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics. The successful candidate will be responsible for providing a comprehensive, high-quality Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (H&I) service to the Trust and primary care, under the strategic direction of the Consultant Clinical Scientist, Clinical Lead in H&I and the Pathology Service Line Clinical Director.

Key Responsibilities

The post holder will work with the Clinical lead and key stakeholders in development of, or changes to local, trust-wide and departmental policies to achieve cost effectiveness and compliance with current external guidance (NICE, FCPath) and in the planning, initiation and performance of both routine clinical services and R&D that leads to service improvements.

The post holder will take a lead in developing and implementing clinical policies for transplantation in accordance with current guidelines and best practice, taking into account the requirements of service users.

The post holder will direct and supervise all grades of H&I laboratory and administrative staff, reporting to the Clinical Lead of H&I services.

Working alongside with the Clinical Lead, the post holder has overall responsibility as line manager to provide strategic day to day leadership to the heads of sections (molecular and serology).

The post holder will work with colleagues to maintain all appropriate national standards including maintenance of accreditation by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and participation in appropriate EQA schemes.

The post holder will validate laboratory reports where required, adding appropriate interpretative comments where appropriate. They will offer advice to clinical users of the service on selection, performance and interpretation of relevant tests for the diagnosis and monitoring of disease.

The post holder will initiate, and participate in, quality improvement activities such as audit and guideline creation and to act as a quality manager for H&I laboratory.

The post holder will perform and deputise in the following tasks (although responsibilities may be delegated):

• Authorisation of the results of H&I analysis
• Telephoning results to health care staff when these may affect immediate patient management
• Addition of comments to assist in the interpretation of the results
• Initiation of further tests where appropriate
• Responding to highly complex queries about H&I investigations and patient management
• Dealing with problems with samples, analyses, requests and reports as they arise.

The post holder is required to possess highly developed practical skills, experience and manual dexterity in order to carry out routine and on call laboratory tests with speed and accuracy.

The post holder will provide technical troubleshooting for all laboratory technologies used including flow cytometric crossmatching, HLA typing and HLA antibody detection and characterisation.

The post holder is required to be competent in all aspects of H&I laboratory service provision.

The post holder will manage patients on the solid organ transplant waiting list, including patient registration, update of unacceptable mismatches and patient status.

The post holder is expected to take responsibility and/or deputies for the Clinical Lead in ensuring staffing availability for routine analysis and specialised clinical advice on a 24h basis.

The post holder is expected to deputise for the Clinical Lead and provide advisory service about the appropriate use of H&I tests and the interpretation of test results, generally, and for specific patients. This includes advice on some highly specialist assays offered to sub regional SW laboratories and tests referred to UK specialist laboratories and advice in highly complex situations, when test results conflict with each other or with the clinical findings in the patient.

The post holder is expected to take an active role in the selection and introduction of analytical methods and services used under the control of the section.

The post holder will initiate service development and delivery at a specialty level and to take an active role in introduction of new services, service review as a result of audit or in response to published guidelines, workforce planning and departmental structure.

The post holder will participate in clinical audit relevant to H&I and present the findings at relevant meetings.

The post holder is expected to participate in research and development (R&D) on relevant scientific and clinical problems and present the findings through presentation at national or international meeting and publication in peer-reviewed journals.

The post holder will develop and implement R&D projects related to the provision of H&I services, developing and promoting collaborative studies with service users and other bodies such as hospital, academic and research institutes.

The post holder will supervise research projects within the laboratory (BSc, MSc, PhD).

The post holder will participate and support the Clinical Lead in securing funding from grant awarding bodies in order to support R&D.

The post holder is expected to participate in training and development as required for fellow members of staff, undergraduate medical students and others.

The post holder will utilise their specialist knowledge in a way that will influence the actions and decisions of others, within and outside the department, sometimes having to work against pre-conceived or long-held ideas.

The post holder will occasionally be required to communicate sensitive data.

The post holder will comply with local and national policies for the safe, secure and confidential processing and storage of patient and other laboratory information in line with the data protection legislation.

The post holder will use the Laboratory Information Systems according to the authorised protocols and maintain the integrity and accuracy of laboratory databases and ensure that all records are kept up to date.

The post holder will regularly use computer software to analyse highly complex data relating to patients and donors for kidney transplantation.

The post holder will review, enter and analyse highly complex data on specialist software applications including Fusion, Match IT and SureTyper for analysis of HLA antibodies and HLA type and to take a lead role in maintaining the specialist software applications.

The post holder will regularly use computer software to develop or create queries and statistical reports requiring complex data formulae for presentation to clinical colleagues, conferences and for trend analysis and process improvement.

The post holder is expected to develop IT skills appropriate to the laboratory database systems and technologies used.

The post holder will provide supervision and management of junior clinical scientist and other members of staff.

The post holder will convene and chair regular H&I management meetings involving senior CS/BMS staff.

The post holder will be clinically and managerially accountable to the H&I Clinical Lead, for the operation of an efficient, effective and safe service.

The post holder will co-operate with local management in the efficient running of services.

The post holder will work within the financial and other constraints decided upon by the Trust.

The post holder will comply with employment and personnel policies and procedures in the management of employees of the Trust.

The post holder will travel as necessary between hospitals / clinics will be required but a planned and cost-effective approach will be expected.

The post holder will be responsible and accountable for the reasonable and effective use of any Trust resources used.

The post holder will be involved with the negotiation and commissioning of service developments, including financial support and to support service managers in the management of the laboratory budget.

The post holder will be responsible for approving the purchase of standard reagents and consumables under the Management service contract and through the trust financial tool Oracle.

The post holder will be involved with the purchase of some physical assets or supplies and responsible for the installation, repair, and maintenance of physical assets.