Administration Officer and Postmortem Room

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 339121**Salary**:

- £23,811- Pro-rata salary for job share- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Administrative Officer**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- APHA - Science - Surveillance and Laboratory Services Department, Science Directorate**Type of role**:

- Administration / Corporate Support
- Science**Working pattern**:

- Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Bury St EdmundsAbout the job

**Job summary**:
APHA is a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, not only because we believe it is the right thing to do, but because it will help us be more innovative and make better decisions.

Do you have excellent communication skills?

Do you thrive in a fast-paced, changing environment?

If so, we would love to hear from you

We currently have an exciting and dynamic vacancy for the dual role of Administration Officer & Postmortem Room Assistant within the Veterinary Investigation Centre at Bury St. Edmunds.

This role will provide the opportunity to develop your own skills and future career. Your responsibilities will include providing general administrative support within the various APHA Teams and across the wider Surveillance and Laboratory Services Department for approximately 50% of your time. The other 50% will be acting as a post-mortem room assistant to our veterinary investigation officers along with associated laboratory duties.

**Job description**:
You will be working in a friendly and supportive team in a fast paced, reactive and varied role. You will need to have excellent IT and organisation skills and the flexibility to turn your hand to different tasks as the situation demands. You will be engaging with a broad range of partners and forming relationships with colleagues across the wider APHA team.

Your main duties will include:
**Post-mortem Room & Laboratory Duties**
- To assist veterinary colleagues in taking samples at post-mortem for testing.
- Preparation and reading of smears.
- Storage and archiving and retention of samples.
- Dispatching of samples for processing to other locations.
- Disposal and manual handling of carcass waste.
- Preparation of reagents, sterile/clean equipment.
- Staining smears for specific organisms such as Coxiella, Brucella and Chlamydophila
- Worm egg counting from faecal samples.

**Administration procedures**
- To take responsibility for a set of defined administrative procedures; ensuring actions are carried out in accordance with the procedures and within the necessary timescales.
- Providing various office administrative duties to the immediate and, when required, wider team including booking in submissions, preparing reports, mailbox monitoring and accurately inputting data onto APHA data systems.
- Answering telephone queries, following up enquiries which cannot be immediately resolved. There is some processing and procedural work associated with the calls generated, including accurately noting the details of the call, updating databases, producing paperwork, and following general administration processes and procedures.
- Providing support and guidance to others (internally and externally) on procedures.
- Continually reviewing procedures in your work area and identifying any efficiencies that could be utilised in your work area.

**Customer Service**
- To liaise with, and provide excellent customer service to Stakeholders, Delivery Partners and Customers, both internal and external, to understand and appreciate their needs and requirements, for example, liaising with farmers and local veterinary practices to arrange tests. Some roles will involve arranging collection of dead or diseased animals for post mortem, liaising with farmers, haulage companies and vet practices.
- Liaising with laboratories over test results and reports.

**Person specification**:

- Experience of using Microsoft packages Outlook, Excel, Word and be able to demonstrate a good level of IT literacy.
- Well-organised.
- Positively respond to change.
- Customer service focused.
- Accuracy inputting data and collating/filing paperwork.
- Ability to communicate clearly and effectively both verbally and in writing.
- Proactive in their approach to work.
- Be physically fit.

**Behaviours**:
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

- Working Together
- Making Effective Decisions

**Benefits**:

- Alongside your salary of £23,811, Animal and Plant Health Agency contributes £6,428 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.In return for your dedication, we will support your ongoing personal development through appropriate training. Inclusion, suppor