Band 4 Medical Laboratory Assistant Team Leader

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 24,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization in Birmingham is seeking a Band 4 Medical Laboratory Assistant Team Leader to oversee the Specimen Reception Team. This full-time position involves managing team responsibilities in a fast-paced environment while ensuring compliance with training requirements. The ideal candidate will have GCSE-level education in relevant subjects, experience in pathology, and excellent communication skills. Opportunities to work across various hospital sites are included, along with a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• GCSE level qualifications in English and Maths are essential.
• Experience in data entry and working with analytical technology is necessary.
• Must possess excellent telephone manner and ability to manage staff.

Responsibilities

• Perform Team Leader administrative duties overseeing Specimen Reception Team.
• Ensure compliance with training and manage workload effectively.
• Supervise a small group of band 3 MLA staff.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Basic scientific knowledge

Computer literate

Ability to handle sensitive information

Ability to multitask

Education

Education to GCSE in English and Maths

Qualification in a scientific subject

Tools

Laboratory computer systems

Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)

Job description

Go back University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Band 4 Medical Laboratory Assistant Team Leader

The closing date is 17 October 2025

The role is a full-time role of 37.5 hours a week. You will be required to cover a range of shifts, which will include weekends, bank holidays, early, lates, as part of the rota. The roles will be based at Heartlands and Queen Elizabeth hospitals mainly with expectations to work cross sites and weekends depending on service needs.

This is an excellent and exciting opportunity if you are willing to embark on a challenge and wish to join a professional team.

Please read the full Job description and Person Specification

For further information regarding please Contact: Suad Hussain, Specimen Reception Manager, on [e-mail]

Main duties of the job

Specimen Reception is a fast-paced, high output environment covering all four sites: Queen Elizabeth, Heartlands, and Good Hope over a 24-hour period and core hours at Solihull.

The successful candidate will perform Team Leader administrative duties such as day to day line management and operational responsibility for the Specimen Reception Team. This will involve first line sickness monitoring and management, appraisal completion, annual leave approval, ensuring mandatory training is within compliance, workload allocation and delegation, organising and reallocating work where situation change due to variation to the workload and staffing availability, reviewing work performance, support recruitment panels, planning and organising rota's, audits. Technical duties such as recording specimen details, traceability, recording and updating information on laboratory system, housekeeping, monitoring and recording of equipment, disposal of clinical specimens and waste as per laboratory protocol, filing and scanning of paper and electronic records in accordance with laboratory standard operating procedures, answering telephone enquiries, sorting reports, centrifuging samples

About us

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust strives to have an inclusive culture where everyone feels like they belong, can thrive, knows that they add value and feels valued. We do this by developing compassionate and culturally competent leaders, being values driven in all that we do and by creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace that thrives on the diversity of our people. As such we want to attract and recruit talented individuals from all backgrounds, and for each of you to feel supported for the diversity you bring, to achieve your full potential. For those staff with a disability, including physical disability, long term health condition, mental health or neurodiverse condition, this also means being committed to making reasonable adjustments needed for you to carry out your role.

Job responsibilities

Please Note : For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Education to GCSE in English and Maths.
• Qualification at GCSE level in a scientific subject.

Experience

• Basic scientific knowledge
• Computer knowledge
• Understand the concept of confidentiality.
• Experience of data entry
• Experience of confidence in working with analytical technology
• Basic computer knowledge
• Previous experience within pathology departments
• Management of small group of staff
• Previous experience of staffing shifts and E rostering
• Experience and confidence in working with analytical technology.
• Use of laboratory computer systems
• Experience at performing staff PDR
• Experience of performing stage 1 sickness reviews.

Additional Criteria

• Excellent telephone manner.
• The ability to give out results to staff at all levels.
• Must be able to handle sensitive information when dealing with patients.
• Be able to produce accurate and timely work.
• Be able to work with staff from other pathology disciplines.
• Ability to co-operate with staff of all grades from within the hospital and PCT's.
• Must have excellent communication skills to deal with both patients and staff at all levels
• Ability to supervise a small group of band 3 MLA staff.
• Must be capable of working with minimal supervision in accordance with standard operating procedures.
• At times must be capable of planning and prioritising own workload.
• Ability to follow policy and procedures in routine working minimal supervision.
• Ability to prioritise and complete workload.
• Flexibility to work cross site.
• Computer literate and key board skills
• Should be able to multitask.
• Able to undertake manual handling activity.
• Able to concentrate for long period of time.
• Understand written and follow verbal instructions.
• Committed and enthusiastic.
• Ability to handle biological material which may be hazardous nature.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to carry out training of band 3 MLA staff and complete competencies.
• Able to manage adequate levels of stock within the section.
• Familiarity with Word/PowerPoint and Excel
• Familiarity with document control and use of Q pulse.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust