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Job summary

Main area
Medical Laboratory Assistant
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 3
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
423-7432078
Employer
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Airedale General Hospital
Town
Steeton
Salary
£24,937 - £26,598 pro rata per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
03/09/2025 08:00

Employer heading

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust logo

Higher Medical Laboratory Assistant - Histology (Band 3)

NHS AfC: Band 3

Be part of our future landscape

At Airedale, we are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion. We actively encourage applications irrespective of people’s age, lived experience of living with a disability or long-term conditions, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances.

Increasing our diversity and supporting our organisation to be more inclusive is a key priority here at Airedale and our teams are at the centre of how we work towards this.  

We appreciate all people may have diverse and individual needs and we pride ourselves on supporting all people to thrive and flourish at work. We have frameworks in place that support reasonable adjustments and flexible working for colleagues throughout their working lives which starts at recruitment.

These are exciting times for Airedale.  We have the once-in-a-career opportunity to be involved in the planning and building of a completely new hospital here on our Steeton site by 2030.  By joining us now you’ll be a key part of our journey over the next few years, with the chance to input into a state-of-the-art, modern healthcare facility that will deliver care to our communities for decades to come. We are also on the journey to a new electronic patient record, part of our wider ambition for our digital future – a future that builds on our significant telemedicine and digital care success. Ultimately, what makes Airedale special is our people. Not just our staff, but our volunteers, patients, visitors, and wider population who make up the Airedale family. This is a Trust that sits at the heart of our community, and our communities are very proud of their Trust.

 

Please read the  attached AI statement prior to submitting any application 

 

Job overview

LOCATION: Histopathology Department, Airedale General Hospital and other Trust sites as appropriate.

Integrated Pathology Solutions LLP is an innovative joint-venture pathology service between Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust. This partnership delivers a high quality pathology service through collaboration between three Trusts for the benefit of patient and service users.

We are looking for enthusiastic, motivated, full- time Medical Laboratory Assistant (Band 3) to work as part of the Histopathology Department at Airedale General Hospital and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. 

The successful candidate will undertake a period of supervised training and competency assessment in a variety of tasks. These tasks will include the embedding and microtomy of tissue samples as well as performing staining to provide diagnostic appraisal of patient material. The candidate will also be expected to engage in digital pathology. There will also be a requirement to support a variety of clinical personnel during tissue dissection. 

 

Main duties of the job

The selected candidate will be expected to perform routine daily tasks which include receipt of pathological specimens, assisting with the pathological dissection of tissue, input of data, block and slide filing as well as block retrieval. In addition, the candidate will be involved in the organisation of prepared histology slides for scanning on to digital scanning equipment. The candidate would be expected to liaise with Biomedical Scientists to ensure effective workflow in all areas of the lab and be prepared to maintain equipment in accordance to Standard Operating Procedures. The candidate will also be trained to a competent level in microtomy and the performance of special stains. 

Working for our organisation

We are always looking for enterprising and innovative approaches to the way we provide our services.

We are a national centre for telemedicine and introduced telehealth to the UK offender healthcare sector and also provide the service to patients in their care homes. Community matters to us and we are supported by 400 dedicated volunteers and have strong links with Bradford University, Craven College and Leeds City College to ensure we inspire the workforce of the future.


We want to attract staff who embrace our Right Care behaviours of compassion, a commitment to quality of care and working together for patients we want to make these part of our DNA.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information and full details of the job role please see the attached job description and person specification.

This position is not currently eligible for a certificate of sponsorship in line with Home Office guidance.

 If you currently hold a different type of visa allowing you to work in the UK we would welcome an application from you. If your visa expires or there is a change in status during your employment, the Trust will be required to review your employment which may result in the termination of your employment to comply with the relevant immigration legislation

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Minimum of 2 GCSE must include Science, English or maths or equivalent level qualification
  • IBMS Certificate of Achievement Part I or equivalent qualification/significant experience at relevant level
Desirable criteria
  • A level or equivalent qualification

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Knowledge of the NHS Constitution & ‘Understanding the New NHS’
  • Good organisational and communication skills
  • Demonstrates good attention to detail
  • Ability to prioritise work and work effectively under pressure
Desirable criteria
  • Health and safety legislation
  • COSHH
  • Theoretical knowledge of histology

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Previous Histology laboratory experience
  • Experience of following SOP’s
Desirable criteria
  • Previous Laboratory experience
  • Previous experience of embedding, microtomy, manual staining
  • Previous administrative experience

Other

Essential criteria
  • Ability to take part in working rotas as required by the service including late shift, weekends and bank holidays
  • Flexibility in working hours to suit the needs of the service

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardDisability Confident - two yearsNHS Employers Diversity and Inclusion PartnersVeteran AwareApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyMenopause Friendly EmployerPositive about disabled peopleInvestors in PeopleDisability confident employerStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Happy to Talk Flexible WorkingArmed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.

Application numbers

In the event of exceptionally high levels of response, we reserve the right to close the post before the date stated above in order to prevent the number of applications received being unmanageable. You are advised to submit your completed application form as soon as possible to have the best chance of being considered.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Alison Boyle
Job title
Cross Site Lead, Histopathology
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01535 293457
Additional information

For further information please contact Alison Boyle on 07773 486859

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