Job vacancy: Expert Practitioner - Histological Dissection, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool

Job summary

Main area: Histopathology
Grade: Band 7
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (This department operates extended day over 7 days.)
Job ref: 287-DTC-177-26-A

Employer: Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Liverpool Clinical Laboratories
Town: Liverpool
Salary: £49,387 - £56,515 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 26/10/2026 23:59

Expert Practitioner - Histological Dissection

Band 7

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Undertake complex scientific procedures involving the examination, interpretation, and dissection of biological specimens to support the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of disease and other pathological conditions.
Independently dissect the full range of Category A-C specimens and selected Category D-E specimens within approved competency and scope of practice.
Manage the day-to-day operation of the Cellular Pathology specimen reception and/or dissection laboratories, ensuring compliance with accreditation, regulatory, quality, and health and safety requirements.
Work collaboratively with Senior Management to provide specialist expertise, support service development, and maintain high-quality laboratory services.
Communicate complex scientific and medical information effectively with pathologists, surgeons, radiologists, and other healthcare professionals to support patient care.
Lead the education, training, assessment, and professional development of Biomedical Scientists, laboratory staff, and junior medical colleagues in specimen examination, dissection, and sampling techniques.
Contribute to departmental training programmes and workforce development initiatives.
Coordinate and manage the collection of tissue samples for research and other approved projects in accordance with governance requirements.

Scope of Clinical Practice

Independently assess, describe, sample, and dissect benign and malignant biopsies and surgical resections within the agreed scope of practice (Categories A-C and selected D-E specimens).
Provide expert scientific advice to clinical and medical colleagues to support diagnosis, treatment planning, and patient management.
Maintain expert-level dissection knowledge and practice in accordance with current Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) guidance and professional standards.
Exercise professional judgement when selecting and adapting dissection procedures to ensure optimal specimen examination and sampling.
Support quality assurance, service improvement, and innovation within the department.

Personal Attributes

Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues at all levels of the organisation.
Demonstrates resilience and professionalism when dealing with complex, stressful, or distressing situations.
Ability to maintain concentration and produce accurate, clinically focused work over extended periods.
Commitment to quality improvement, patient safety, and continuous professional development.
Ability to produce complex documentation, reports, and training materials with clarity and precision.

For a full list of duties, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Other

Essential criteria

Excellent communication skills
Demonstrates a high level of resilience and ability to deal with distressing and stressful circumstances
Able to maintain concentration for long periods of time in order to produce timely, accurate clinically focussed work
Demonstrates excellent communication skills at all levels of organisation
Able to write complex documents with clarity and precision

Qualifications

Essential criteria

BMS Diploma of Expert practice in Histological Dissection
HCPC registration as a Biomedical Scientist or Clinical Scientist
MSc (or equivalent) in relevant specialty
Member of the Institute of Biomedical Science

Desirable criteria

Post-graduate management qualification or equivalent experience

Experience

Essential criteria

Minimum 24 months dissection experience including benign and malignant resections
Competency assessments for RCPath specimen types Cat A-C in all specialties demonstrated
Evidence of training Biomedical Scientists and junior medical staff
Experience of leadership and management within a Pathology setting

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Evidence of comprehensive CPD portfolio in relevant specialty
Up to date knowledge of Royal College of Pathologists guidelines for specimen dissection
Up to date knowledge of Evidence based national and international patient care pathways
Understanding of Health & Safety requirements in laboratory
Understanding of up to date UKAS/ISO15189 or equivalent standards for medical laboratory accreditation

Skills

Essential criteria

Advanced macroscopic tissue recognition and dissection skills
Evidence of ability to order appropriate ancillary tests (e.g. fresh tissue collection)
Able to produce high quality macroscopic descriptions for clinicians in all Trusts in a timely fashion meeting departmental KPI’s
Autonomy in dissection of comprehensive range of surgical specimens (Category A-C)
Able to manage and prioritise the work of the dissection room.
Assessment of the suitability of set procedures for any given specimen and using judgement to carry out alternatives.
Able to organise own workload and do so under pressure
Able to obtain appropriate biological control material, use of other specific control measures where appropriate and complete the validation of such material

Please ensure you check the email account (including junk/spam boxes) from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.

Posts advertised to ‘internal staff’ are open to employees of hospitals within University Hospitals of Liverpool Group and you should confirm your employment within your application form.

Note: Under current Home Office Immigration Rules we are currently unable to offer right to work visa sponsorship for Band 2 and 3 roles with a salary of less than £25,000 pa as they do not meet the UK Visas & Immigration criteria.

Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.

We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.

Candidates applying for the role of Healthcare Assistant on the staff bank should note that due to the nature of the role, workers must be aged 18 or above when commencing in post. Applicants are therefore welcome from those aged over 18 or within 3 months’ of their 18^th birthday.

The Trust is committed to promoting a healthy work-life balance and achieve fair, equitable and consistent practice. We welcome flexible working requests and will consider a variety of flexible working arrangements from day one of your employment. Not all roles are suitable for every flexible working opportunity all of the time. Flexible working options may include reduced hours, compressed hours, fixed shifts, time back in lieu and home working.

The Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity; we value the contribution of individual talent, skills, knowledge and experience and aim for a workforce demography representative of the local community. We encourage applicants from the following groups that are currently under-represented in our workforce black, Asian and minority ethnic, lesbian, gay, bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQ+), disabled, male and age 16-24.

Trust policy requires that the cost of submitting & processing the successful applicant/s DBS application be recovered via salary deduction following start in post. The amount of £25.70 (standard disclosure) or £46.70 (enhanced disclosure) will be deducted from salary, in manageable monthly instalments for up to 3 months following commencement of employment. Bank posts require upfront payment.

From April 2017, Skilled visa applicants and their adult dependant(s) will be required to provide a criminal record certificate from each country they have lived in consecutively for 12 months or more in the past ten years.

Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website - https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.

This organisation has a zero-tolerance approach to the abuse of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All staff must ensure they adhere to the organisations safeguarding children and adults’ policy and comply with the Local Safeguarding Children and Adult Board procedures.

Staff should be mindful of their responsibility to safeguard children and adults in any activity performed on behalf of the organisation in line with the requirements of statutory guidance and legislation.

All employees (and volunteers)are expected maintain their safeguarding knowledge and skills by completing mandatory safeguarding training which includes understanding and recognising the signs of abuse and neglect and taking appropriate action.

As an organisation, we have adopted the Merseyside Domestic abuse workplace scheme which supports our staff who are experiencing Domestic Abuse /any forms of sexual violence.

If you have any personal requirements that will enable you to participate in our recruitment process please contact a member of the Recruitment Services by phone on 0151 706 4666 at the earliest opportunity to ensure that measures can be put in place to enable your application for this post.

Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.