Job summary
- Main area
- 317 Central Staffing Blood Sciences
- Grade
- Band 2
- Contract
- Permanent: 20 hours working 17:00-21:00 Monday-Friday, and 16 hours working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
- Hours
- Part time - 20 hours per week (Monday to Friday 17:00 - 21:00 or 16 hours working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday)
- Job ref
- 317-2025-31-07-DR
- Employer
- The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Freeman Hospital
- Town
- 317 Trustwide
- Salary
- £24,465 pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 03/08/2025 23:59
- Interview date
- 22/08/2025
Employer heading
Healthcare Science Assistant
Band 2
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 15,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.6 billion.
We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.
We’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country, supporting people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.
Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts each day, delivering high standards of healthcare.
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.
Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.
Job overview
We are looking for motivated and enthusiastic individuals to work within the laboratories of the Blood Sciences Department, which is part of the Integrated Laboratory Medicine Directorate. Blood Sciences provides diagnostic support for the Trust, regional GP's and national hospitals, on a 24/7 basis.
- Interview Date: 22nd August 2025
- 20 Hours/ Week or 16 Hours/Week
- You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy.
NO AGENCIES PLEASE
Main duties of the job
- The post holder will work as part of a team and carry out varied tasks including specimen reception, labelling, registration, and pre-analytical sample preparation, processing and data manipulation using the department networked computer system. They will perform basic laboratory tests, operate equipment and record some laboratory results.
- The post is based in our busy Reception area to support with the processing of our GP workload.
- The post holder will be expected to participate in ‘out of hours’ working, including some weekend and bank holiday shifts when sufficiently experienced.
- To assist in the preparation of specimens for analysis, including the separation of blood, serum and plasma, and the cataloguing and storage of specimens.
- Entering requests into the laboratory computer system.
- To carry out, under supervision, some simple laboratory diagnostic tests and the operation of laboratory equipment.
- To assist in the department Quality Assurance programmes
- To work in compliance with local health and safety rules to ensure a safe working environment for you, colleagues and visitors. To adhere to department and Trust Health and Safety policies (including COSHH, Risk assessments and Standard Operating Procedures) and to report any non-compliances to a senior member of staff.
- Answering telephone enquiries and retrieving results in accordance with the standard operational procedure.
Working for our organisation
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Our staff oversee over 6,500 patient contacts every day, delivering high standards of healthcare from the following sites:
• Freeman Hospital
• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Health Innovation Neighbourhood (on the former Newcastle General Hospital and Centre for Ageing and Vitality site)
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service
• Cramlington Manor Walks
These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.
We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.
Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.
For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- A Healthcare Science Assistant is part of a clinical support team whose purpose is to provide timely and accurate high quality scientific information that will assist service users from the hospital and community, in the establishment of a clinical diagnosis and monitoring of patient treatment. The HCSA will use practical skills to carry out a variety of laboratory duties including reception and data entry of requests received and some basic pathological tests under the supervision and guidance of a Biomedical Scientist.
Person specification
Qualifications & Education
Essential criteria
- Educated to a minimum level of three GCSE at grade 4 or above, to include English and Maths or equivalent qualifications.
Desirable criteria
- Information Technology or Typing qualification
- Specific qualification in Healthcare Science
Knowledge & Experience
Desirable criteria
- Previous NHS laboratory experience
- Experience of working shifts
- Experience in a customer service role
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria
- Good communication skills
- Keyboard skills
- Self-organisation and the ability to prioritise
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Susan Flynn
- Job title
- Reception Section Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0191 22 31581
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