Job summary
- Main area
- Reproductive Science Associate
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 5
- Contract
- Fixed term: 1 year (Contract extension may be considered, pending service requirement at the time.)
- Hours
- Full time
- Job share
- Job ref
- 196-LIS9524
- Employer
- Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Guy's Hospital
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £35,964 - £43,780 p.a inc. HCA (+RRP pro rata)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 02/06/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Reproductive Science Practitioner
NHS AfC: Band 5
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for highly motivated life science graduates with a particular interest in reproductive science and fertility services. Guy's Assisted Conception Unit (ACU) Embryology requires high calibre, focused individuals to join the team and support the clinical service it provides. You will undertake a range of administrative, support and hands on laboratory activities that are critical in delivering a high quality service and helping our patients achieve their dreams of a family.
The successful candidate will work closely with the embryologists and wider ACU team to undertake a range of activities that support Guy's ACU and enable us to provide assisted conception, diagnostic, PGT and fertility preservation services; including the ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) programme. We operate a seven day service caring for patients who are undergoing funded treatment and attract both national and international self referrals.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will liaise closely with senior Embryology staff to perform appropriate procedures, provide administrative and technical support to the embryology, andrology and OTC / HTA laboratories within the ACU; to enable the smooth and efficient provision of the clinical services. There is an expectation to participate in the research activities including data collection (via clinical activity), data input and maintenance of research databases. The post holder must prioritise clinical and diagnostic duties effectively and be capable of working with and under the supervision of the clinical embryologists.
Working for our organisation
Guy's ACU provides assisted conception, diagnostic, PGT and fertility preservation services.
We operate a seven day service caring for patients who are undergoing funded treatment and attract both national and international self-referrals. Each year we deliver over 1800IVF/ICSI cycles including 500 PGD cases and an additional 1700 FET cycles.
Our Assisted Conception Unit offers an attractive work environment for any motivated scientist. We recognise the value of our team and provide opportunities to complete further academic as well as practical training. In addition to enabling the team to deliver a high quality service this role would provide an invaluable addition to your portfolio of experience should you have long term goals to further your career in more senior role or by applying for STP Embryology or Andrology in the future. Guy’s ACU also supports internal development and promotion by funding conference attendance as well as ARCS training modules and competency portfolio completion.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description for full details of Duties and Responsibilities.
• Support senior staff by taking part in validation and the revalidation of critical equipment and processes that are integral to provision of a high quality service. This would include liaising with third party support engineers to undertake PPM visits under direction of senior staff.
• Undertake risk assessments as directed by senior scientific staff and generate reports for review by the Consultant Embryologist.
• Participate in data and clinical measurement collection and collation to enable Key performance indicator generation and performance monitoring. Report any areas of concern to a senior scientist to trigger investigation as appropriate.
• Participate in the audit of procedures and processes as an integral part of quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement.
• Adhere to ACU document control policy and undertake document and SOP review as directed by senior staff. Understand the importance of maintaining and adhering to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Understand the appropriate circumstances and undertake internal incident report when necessary. Understand the requirement and criteria dictating when external incident reporting to regulatory bodies (HFEA / HTA / CQC / MHRA) is appropriate and assist the HTA Person Designated, Consultant Embryologist, QM and HFEA Person Responsible in doing so when requested.
Person specification
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Life Science Degree
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience and proven competence of routine laboratory work across a range of techniques
- Experience using basic laboratory equipment
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in a research environment
- Experience working in a fertility clinic or donor bank
Skills
Essential criteria
- Familiarity of procedures undertaken in a typical fertility laboratory
- Aseptic technique
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in andrology/ seminology / assisted conception
- Experience working in NHS
- Knowledge of HFEA and Code of Practice
- Knowledge of HTA / working in GMP facility
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Alison Jones
- Job title
- Senior Embryologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
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