Job overview

The Phlebotomy service supports Pathology, general practitioners, community healthcare and private hospitals in east Kent, providing blood samples from the patients of EKUHFT, to the laboratories. Full-time and part-time Phlebotomist roles are available at our 3 acute sites: William Harvey Hospital (WHH) in Ashford, Kent & Canterbury Hospital (K&CH), and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate. Post holders will be on a rota and required to work across Monday to Friday 8-5, Saturday and Sunday mornings 7-11. You will be expected to participate in the team weekend and bank holiday rota according to the site service.

Please specify on your application which site(s) you are interested in and how many working hours per week.

Phlebotomists provide a service to the wards and clinics at the William Harvey Hospital (WHH) in Ashford, QEQM in Margate and the Kent and Canterbury Hospital (K&CH). Additional phlebotomy outpatient clinics are held at Buckland Hospital in Dover and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone.

Progression through the pay scale from band 2 to band 3 will occur after completion of 1 year in post. It will be subject to the post holder demonstrating the required standards of performance, conduct and completion of statutory and role specific training.

Main duties of the job

• To be compassionate and caring as a member of our front-line Phlebotomy Team.
• To work both on the Wards and within the Phlebotomy Suites as required.
• To be flexible and be a team player.
• Label all specimens, paying meticulous attention to accuracy and clarity of writing.
• Collect samples for Oral Glucose Tolerance Tests as appropriate.
• Ensure work areas are adequately stocked with consumables from Laboratory stores and inform senior staff to make them aware of deficiencies.
• Maintain utmost confidentiality at all times when handling patient details – implications of specific tests must not be discussed with patients.
• Give assistance to patients experiencing difficulties, e.g. those becoming unwell during blood taking.
• Report accidents / incidents to patients arising in the course of blood taking immediately to a Senior Phlebotomist and Transfusion Practitioner and complete appropriate documentation promptly.
• Ensure that all work areas and equipment are cleaned daily, and all spillages are cleared in the correct manner immediately.
• To be mindful of our appointment times and try to work within these to prevent delays.

Working for our organisation

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 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.