Job summary
- Main area
- Clinical Support
- Grade
- Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 319-7397386GH
- Employer
- Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- North Tyneside General Hospital
- Town
- North Shields
- Salary
- £31,049 - £37,796 Per Annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 25/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Anatomical Pathology Technician
Band 5
Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022). Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!
What the Northumbria Way means for you:
- Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
- Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
- A range of flexible working opportunities
- Generous annual leave and pension scheme
- Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
- Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
- On-site nursery places via salary sacrifice
- Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank
We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.
We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy.
If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.
Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.
Job overview
We are looking for a motivated individual to join our team as an Anatomical Pathology Technician. The successful post holder will be required to carry out both routine and advanced post mortem procedures & communicate technical autopsy information to Consultant Pathologists.
You must be capable of effectively applying empathetic and counselling skills when dealing directly with bereaved relatives. Will be routinely required to deal with range of extremely sensitive issues, e.g. explaining post mortem procedures, religious issues etc.
Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received.
Please note, for Secondment roles before an application is submitted, please ensure you have received the appropriate approval and completed documentation required beforehand, as this may delay the process if an offer was to be made
Main duties of the job
The post holder will carry out post mortem procedures and communicate sensitive and confidential information to the police, coroner’s officers, pathologists and Trust staff.
Cleaning & maintaining work environment and equipment, and completion of all required documentation.
Communicates with funeral directors providing information with respect to the deceased such as body sizes for coffins, date of release of the body.
Receipt and release of the deceased.
Explain a range of issues directly to deceased relatives e.g. post-mortem procedure, the Coroner and inquest process, retention of tissue & organs following post mortem etc.
Working for our organisation
We manage four hospitals at North Tyneside, Cramlington, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres.
We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will practice as an Anatomical Pathology Technician, working effectively as part of a team providing autopsy and histopathology services to Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the Police and local Coroners.
The post holder will carry out both routine and advanced post mortem procedures supporting the Consultant Pathologist, Home Office Pathologist or other visiting Consultant pathologists. CT-PM is due to be introduced routinely to our mortuary service, and we also intend to begin development of advanced roles for APTs.
They will provide support and advice to clinicians, the Coroners Officer, local Funeral Directors and other staff to maintain an efficient mortuary service.
The post holder will ensure that infection control procedures are adhered to at all times, ensuring that instruments, equipment and all work areas are cleaned and sterilized after each post mortem session.
They will carry out Laboratory duties as directed by the Cellular Pathology & Mortuary Service Manager. This will include procedures related to foetal disposal, specimen receipt and processing.
Please refer to the detailed job description (attached to advert).
Person specification
Experience and knowledge
Essential criteria
- Extensive practical experience in a range of advanced autopsy, reconstruction and infection control procedures.
Desirable criteria
- Working towardsLevel 4 Diploma in Healthcare Science (Anatomical Pathology Technology
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Level 3 Diploma in Healthcare Science (Anatomical Pathology Technology) or Certificate in Anatomical Pathology Technology.
Desirable criteria
- ECDL or similar demonstrating computer literacy
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Andrew McCrostie
- Job title
- Senior Aanatomical Pathology Technician
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0191 2932555
- Additional information
Please contact the Department with any informal queries.
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