Job summary
- Main area
- Research, Development & Innovation
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 3
- Contract
- 12 months (Fixed term)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Mon - Fri)
- Job ref
- 409-7191138-A
- Employer
- Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Southport Hospital
- Town
- Southport
- Salary
- £24,625 - £25,674 Per Annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 08/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Research Support Assistant
NHS AfC: Band 3
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Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 3, Research Support Officer to join the Research Development and Innovation Team at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. This is a fixed term post for a 12 month period.
The purpose of this post is to provide comprehensive support to the Clinical Research Delivery team. The assistant will be expected to perform a variety of clerical/research duties within a research environment and in such a way as to make a direct and positive contribution to the organisation of the work aiding the research nurses and wider clinical delivery team to maximise the effective use of their time
Experience of using computers for word-processing and data entry is essential. The ability to work of part of team is also required for this post.
If you are a dynamic person with a real interest in research, we would encourage you to apply for the position.
(This vacancy may close earlier than expected depending on the number of applications)
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be a member of the Research Development & Innovation Department. Providing key research services to Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust – predominantly Southport and Ormskirk hospitals.
Working for our organisation
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
- Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- Provide support to all Research Nurses as and when needed including:
- Registration of study file and documentation, including local reference
- Work closely with PIs and research teams throughout the duration of a study to facilitate study progress, identifying barriers to successful recruitment and reporting these to RDI Manager.
- Be main point of contact for internal personnel and external organisations, resolving most queries independently or referring on to the most appropriate member of staff as appropriate.
- Collection of patient data from medical notes and completion of both electronic and paper case report forms (CRF’s), liaison with Research Nurse and clinicians to ensure correct data collection. Responsible for quality control, checking validity and completeness of the data.
- Submit requested data to the Trial Centres, ensuring that all data is validated by the Research Nurse and that all data is processed, accurate and delivered within their target dates.
- Liaise with all other departments within the hospital, i.e. wards, medical outpatient departments, medical records etc. with regard to all aspects of patient care, e.g. Appointments, investigations etc.
- Retrieval of medical records, investigation reports, etc.
- Take action to obtain or correct missing or contradictory data while maintaining confidentiality.
- Recording/reporting of patient recruitment and completion of studies.
- Contact research participants to arrange appointments with Investigator/Research Nurse as and when required by Research Nurses/Principal Investigators
- Create study specific screening/recruitment logs and ensure data uploaded by researcher/nurse on a regular basis.
- Where necessary investigate and report related data anomalies to identify risks, implementing corrective actions where appropriate.
- Closing of the study, including arranging appropriate archiving of documentation
- Organise the attendance of research professionals at training and conference events where necessary, including travel arrangements and the payment of fees
- Co-ordinate & co-facilitate all aspects of the Research Team meetings.
- Arrange completion of Progress Reports for reporting to RDI or Ethics.
- Service meetings ensuring adequate facilities are booked in advance; agendas are prepared in good time, producing accurate and timely formal minutes, recording actions and progress through to completion.
- Assist with monitoring visits/meeting, booking venue, IT training, refreshments etc for all attendees.
- General clerical and office management duties including the maintenance of efficient filing and archiving systems
- Attend regular team meetings and provide regular updates and progress reports
- Demonstrate a continuous process of professional and personal development and maintain a high level of knowledge concerning research.
- Processing of study amendments, ensuring that appropriate approvals have been obtained, with support services being notified of any changes relevant to their area, and superseding all previous documentation
- General office duties, including taking documents for signature, scanning, photocopying and maintenance of efficient filing systems on behalf of Research Nurse / RDI Manager.
- Undertake any other duties deemed relevant to the post and grade.
- Receive and redistribute stationery orders and supplies – logging items received and reporting discrepancies.
- Delivering prescriptions to pharmacy and collecting trial medication.
- Collection, processing (including centrifugation, freezing, handling of dry ice) and shipping of biological specimens according to protocol requirements.
- Co-ordinating courier collections for blood samples and documents.
- Observe strict confidentiality in accordance with the Data Protection Act and Caldicott Principles.
CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Adhere to the RDI Standard Operating Procedures
- Adhere to European Clinical Trials Directive, GCP (certificate renewal every 2 years), attending new training when certificate is due for renewal.
- Adhere to Department of Health Research Governance Framework (DH2005)
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
- To ensure that a system is in place to track and respond to correspondence in a timely manner.
- Ensure the flexibility of projects if required to meet conflicting / changing requirements.
- Be responsible for ensuring accurate and timely compliance with internal and external requests for information e.g. clinical trials teams, and sponsors.
- To maintain e-mail and diary management to ensure the smooth running of the department e.g. correspondence with trial centres, panning patient appointments, follow up of care and liaise with the Research Nurses.
TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSBILITIES
- To maintain a level of training and competency commensurate for the role according to Good Clinical Practice guidelines.
- Participate in an annual individual performance review.
- To conform to established policies, codes of practice and Standard Operating Procedures within the Department.
- To adhere to all established Trust policies and to adhere to all current legislation and DH guidelines.
- Attend regular team meetings and provide regular updates and progress reports
- Demonstrate a continuous process of professional and personal development and maintain a high level of knowledge concerning clinical research.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to GCSE standard/NVQ Level 2 or equivalent experience
Desirable criteria
- NVQ/other relevant IT qualification Knowledge & Experience
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
- Microsoft Office proficiency
- Multidisciplinary working
- Previous experience in administration /Project work including minute taking
- Ability to liaise with other stakeholders
- Prioritise workload
- Work with frequent interruptions
- Good time management and organisation skills
- Uses own and others time effectively
- Keep work systems up to date, neat and tidy
- Plans workload and tasks in a systematic way, ensure all tasks / activities are completed in a timely manner
Desirable criteria
- Hospital Administration Systems
- Case Note tracking
- Knowledge of medical terminology
- Patient Administration experience
- Data Management experience
Skills
Essential criteria
- Good interpersonal skills
- Ability to liaise with other stakeholders
- Highly organised
- Team worker
- Ability to work under pressure/deadlines
- Ability to use own Initiative
- Reliable
- Good time-keeper
- Flexible in approach to work
- Meticulous attention to detail
- Organised –ability to deliver and maintain daily routine, work in a planned and structured way
- Plans workload and tasks in a systematic way, ensure all tasks / activities are completed in a timely manner
- Use systems and Tools to ensure records and audit trails are clear and up to date
- Recognise own Limitations and seek advice when required ( team approach)
- Has a positive attitude to change management
Other
Essential criteria
- Required to work the hours and duties required for the post
- Willingness to change as the role evolves
- Strive to achieve high level of work with significant attention to detail
- Willingness to meet performance criteria in the job description and undertake personal and professional development
- Ability to manage challenging situations with staff, patients and visitors such as aggression, grief, anger, conflict.
- Ensure that other team members know how process & systems work
- Continual VDU use
- Able to use initiative to decide relevant actions within the limitations of the role and make recommendations to the Team Leader, with the aim of improving deliverables and compliance to Trust policies and trial protocol
- Ability to maintain Trust & Confidentiality
- Used to working in a busy environment
- Willingness to engage as a team & with other professionals & colleagues in the desire to promote or s support the most appropriate interventions for patient care
- Demonstrate a strong desire to improve performance and make a difference by focusing on goals
- Ability to complete tasks to resolution
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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
- Julie Ditchfield
- Job title
- RDI Coordinator
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01695 656506
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