Assistant Technical Officer (ATO)

North Bristol NHS Trust; Bristol; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

An NHS Trust in Bristol seeks an Assistant Technical Officer responsible for decontaminating medical equipment for patient care. This entry-level role requires manual dexterity and teamwork skills, emphasizing the importance of health and safety in a busy healthcare environment. Applicants should have a good education and an understanding of hygiene practices.

Qualifications

• Able to read and understand written and verbal instructions in English.
• Good general education to GCSE level or equivalent.
• Understanding of basic hygiene.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for collection, decontamination, and distribution of medical devices.
• Maintain safe systems to support patient and staff safety.
• Participate in quality checks and audits as necessary.

Skills

Communication

Teamwork

Manual dexterity

Attention to detail

Education

GCSE level or equivalent

Job description

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Job Overview

• The Decontamination Technician is responsible for providing effective, safe and efficient collection, decontamination (manual cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation) and distribution of re-usable medical devices including flexible endoscopes for use in direct patient care.
• Work in co-operation with the Theatres, wards and departments to provide a flexible and efficient service that is responsive to the needs of the patients’ and the Trust.
  
  

At all times and throughout all production areas, ensuring safe systems are followed that will support patient and staff safety.

Main duties of the job

Onsite training will be carried out within all areas of the Decontamination Facilities.

You will be required to use keyboards, touch screens and scanners.

To experience repeated periods of intense concentration.

To develop a high degree of manual dexterity, accuracy, precision, and speed.

To push/manoeuvre trolleys, manually handle instruments, sets and stock.

To work while standing for prolonged periods of time.

To understand how to operate a PC, scanners, and label printers in order to operate computerised traceability system.

To develop an extensive knowledge of medical devices and their functions.

To use your initiative for routine and non-routine day-to-day tasks.

Working for our organisation

North Bristol NHS Trust employs over 12,000 staff providing healthcare to the residents of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset from our award-winning hospital building at Southmead. We are the regional Major Trauma Centre, and an internationally recognised centre of excellence in a range of services and major specialities. Our vision is that by enabling our teams to be the best that they can be, we will provide exceptional healthcare, personally delivered.

North Bristol NHS Trust values all people as individuals. We aim to be an anti-discriminatory organisation and are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We welcome applicants from all underrepresented groups.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

General

Maintain and develop good relationships with other staff within the department and with our Service Users such as theatres, wards and various other departments.

Behave in a professional manner at all times.

On rotational basis duties include: receiving, disassembly and cleaning of contaminated equipment including the high-level disinfection of flexible endoscopes.

To inspect, test, assemble, pack, sterilize and distribute instruments, endoscopes and equipment for supply to customers, wards, departments, theatres and external customers.

To assess and approve work of colleagues and others.

To record all the essential stages of the decontamination/sterilisation process.

Operate and test all equipment within the department.

To make a diagnosis of daily test results on machinery used in Decontamination Facilities and inform relevant personnel if results are contrary to the required standards; ISO 13485, HTMs, MDD 93/42/EEC and Health & Safety.

Carry out functionality tests on all re-usable medical devices.

To record and process the test results and demonstrate compliance, so as to enable audits and facilitate analysis.

Participate in Department and Trust wide audits when requested by the Decontamination Manager and support the introduction of any changes in practice shown to improve standards.

Assist with Planned Preventive Maintenance.

Carry out all duties in line with the Trust’s Health and Safety policies.

Carry out all duties in line with the Department’s accredited Quality System.

Receive and document goods and equipment, check delivery notes against goods delivered for accuracy and record non-conformances.

Assist in restocking of supplies and record all information required.

Carry out assigned clerical tasks as required.

Mentoring / training of new colleagues and less experienced members of staff.

Keep areas clean and tidy; maintain a safe and compliant environment.

Deliver the workload within the agreed time and to the required customer service level agreement.

Prioritise, depending on customer requirements to ensure, minimal disruption to patient care e.g., surgical lists and trust waiting list initiatives/targets.

Pushing/manoeuvring trolleys, manual handling of instrument sets and stock.

To have an understanding of how to escalate any problems or emergency relating to decontamination equipment to the Team Leaders/Production Coordinators or Managers.

To contribute to ensuring that quality assurance and production controls systems are maintained in accordance with work instructions.

To report all customer complaints to the Quality Manager or Production Manager.

To attend any training as required.

To participate in performance and development review.

To work alongside organisational colleagues in order to contribute to the NBT’s vision and values “Exceptional healthcare, personally delivered” and to contribute fully towards Facilities objectives, divisional and departmental delivery plans.

Raw Material Store & Endoscopy Storerooms

Process orders using correct documentation; ensure rotation of stocks, removal of external packaging.

Pushing/manoeuvring trolleys, manual handling of instrument sets and stock.

Take part in stock take exercises when required.

Comply with legislation relating to required storage conditions e.g., temperature, humidity, COSHH and manual handling.

Responsible for maintaining levels of stock and the raising of orders for raw materials.

Washrooms

Carry out daily test & maintenance on all Washer/Disinfectors, Trolley Washers, Niagara SI Ultrasonic WDs, Medisafe Ultrasonic Cleaner and Automatic Endoscope Reprocesses (AERs) and record the test results to demonstrate compliance, so as to enable audits and facilitate analysis.

Follow Washroom protocols and standard operating procedures all the time.

To log all incoming set, scopes and instruments into the department via the Fingerprint Tracker computer system and prioritise workload.

To check that all equipment is present and correct.

Report any discrepancies to the customer and the Team Leader/Production Coordinator immediately.

Complete the relevant documents for non-conformances.

To wash and decontaminate medical devices according to the departments policies and procedures, particularly Health and safety and Control of Infection.

To take delivery of and process unique specialist loan medical device for use in complex clinical procedures, following the manufacturers’ instructions.

To be able to recognise single use equipment and dispose of as appropriate.

Deal with customers’ queries and reschedule workload as Fast Track items as received.

Receive and document contaminated equipment, check delivery notes against equipment delivered for accuracy and record non-conformances (NCR) where necessary.

Adhere to specified levels of Personal Protective equipment and universal precaution for Cytotoxic, NICE Guidance & CJD (Creutzfeldt - Jakob Disease) Policies.

Disposal of waste bags to include clinical waste, sharps containers, linen bags, and fluids.

Inspection Assembly and Packing (IAP) Room & Endoscopy Clean Room

Take readings and record environmental checks on air handling units.

Test and record results of heat sealers and diathermy testers.

Undertake quality checks for cleanliness and functionality before packing to agreed specifications.

Pack sets and instruments using various designs of wrappings/containers in such a way as to ensure an effective sterile field for up to one year after sterilisation.

The packer will sign the tray lists of instruments/apparatus, therefore accepting final responsibility for work undertaken.

Deal with clinical user queries and reschedule workload when Fast track items are received.

Visual checks are carried out on all wash cycles to ensure correct parameters are achieved, if these are not achieved wash load is failed on traceability system and returned for reprocessing.

To include tamper proof security seals, sterilizing indicators and wrapping materials.

Assist in restocking of supplies and record all information required.

Comply with Gowning room procedure.

Deliver the workload within the agreed time and to the required customer service level agreement.

Prioritise depending on customer requirements to ensure minimal disruption to patient care e.g., surgical lists and trust waiting list initiatives/targets.

A technician working in Endoscopy Decontamination Unit (EDU) will scan the endoscopes out of the washers and for their subsequent despatch to the end user, therefore accepting final responsibility for work undertaken.

Sterilisers

Test all sterilisers within the department in accordance with the departmental Quality Control Procedures.

To record and process the test results and demonstrate compliance, so as to enable audits and facilitate analysis.

Process instruments using sterilisers, maintaining safe working practice at all times, use correct PPE when necessary.

Deliver the workload within the agreed time and to the required customer service level agreement.

Prioritise workload depending on customer requirements to ensure minimal disruption to patient care e.g., surgical lists and trust waiting list initiatives/targets.

Inspect sets/instruments on a regular basis to ensure integrity of loads i.e., visual indicators.

To raise Non-Conformance Reports (NCR’s) where necessary.

Categorise all sets/instruments into appropriate areas for despatch.

Person specification

Shortlisting Criteria

Essential criteria

• Able to read and write & understand written and verbal instructions in English Language
• Good general education to GCSE level or equivalent
• Understanding of basic hygiene
• Experience of dealing with demanding situations
• Ability to work under pressure at a fast pace in a physically demanding environment, requiring manual handling
• Possess good communication skills (both verbal and written) with a confident and approachable manner when dealing with colleagues & various service users
• Team player with a professional outlook
• Health and physical abilities sufficient for the post (if necessary, with reasonable adjustments with respect to the Equality Act/Disability Discrimination Act)
  
  

If you apply for this vacancy and have not received a communication from North Bristol NHS Trust within three weeks of the closing date, please assume that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful.

Please note that North Bristol NHS Trust does not reimburse travel expenses relating to interview attendance.

If you feel you meet the requirements of the Disability Act / Two Ticks scheme and require further support/advice, please contact us on tel [phone].

North Bristol NHS Trust are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

The successful applicant(s) will normally commence at the minimum of the scale unless they have previous NHS service at the same band. Progression through the scale is by annual increments.

At North Bristol Trust (NBT), we know diverse and inclusive environments lead to happier and healthier teams and improved patient care and outcomes. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are currently underrepresented in NBT’s workforce at Band 8a and above. These include people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people and LGBTQIA+ people.

Please note that stringent pre-employment checks are undertaken on all successful applicants prior to commencement in post.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Entry level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Information Technology

• Industries

  Hospitals and Health Care

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