Decontamination Technician

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; York and North Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization is looking for a motivated Decontamination Technician to ensure surgical instruments are reprocessed to high standards. The role requires attention to detail and involves cleaning, inspecting, and sterilizing medical devices. Successful candidates will have support through in-house training and must be able to lift heavy equipment. This permanent position has variable shifts including weekends.

Benefits

NHS Pension Scheme

27 days holiday

Employee Assistance Programme

Learning and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Experience working in a customer service setting.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Previous use of decontamination equipment is beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Ensure decontamination of medical devices is performed accurately.
• Handle customer queries with professionalism.
• Supervise junior staff and provide training as needed.

Skills

Attention to detail

Teamwork

Customer service

Education

Functional English and Maths Level 2 or equivalent

Tools

Decontamination equipment

Job description

Go back York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Decontamination Technician

The closing date is 30 September 2025

We are looking for a motivated and detail-oriented Sterile Services Technician to join our Decontamination Services team on our York Site. This is a key role in supporting safe and effective patient care, by ensuring surgical instruments and medical devices are decontaminated and sterilised to the highest standards.

The Sterile Services Department (based at York Hospital) provides a vital service, decontaminating and reprocessing surgical instruments for use on the wards and departments within the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

You will be involved in the cleaning, inspecting, assembling, packing, sterilizing and distributing surgical equipment to wards, departments and theatres.

Successful candidates will require attention to detail and an eagerness and ability to learn. We have a comprehensive in-house training package which successful candidates will be expected to complete. The role is physically demanding, lifting and handling heavy instrument sets and long periods of standing.

As a clinical support unit, the department is operational 7 days a week to meet the demands of the hospital. The technician role is for a permanent 2pm-10pm shift, Monday to Friday, and includes weekends on a rota 8am-4pm and also rostered bank holidays.

The department is compliant to ISO 13485 Quality management System. Previous experience working with a quality system or in the decontamination is desirable but not essential.

Main duties of the job

• To undertake decontamination science duties and assist in providing a specialised decontamination of medical devices service, contributing to the clinical care of the patient.
• To carry out the receipt, disassembly, cleaning, disinfection, reassembly, packing, sterilisation or high level disinfection of reusable medical devices. Record all tasks in the Healthcare Science Information Systems (tracking and tracing) database.
• To deal with all levels of customer queries via; telephone and direct personal contact, including clinicians, nurses and other practitioners.
• To provide supervision to Apprentice Decontamination Technicians and other junior staff within the team.
• Work in accordance with the Department's Standard Operating Procedures and Quality Management System ISO13485:2016.
• The role involves exposure to infectious material and bodily fluids.

About us

We offer a range of benefits to support our staff including:

• Access to the NHS Pension Scheme, providing generous benefits upon retirement, as well as a lump sum and pension for dependants
• 27 days holiday rising to 33 days (depending on NHS Trust service)
• A variety of different types of paid and unpaid leave covering emergency and planned leave
• Confidential advice and support on personal, work, family and relationship issues, 24/7, from our Employee Assistance Programme
• NHS Car Lease scheme and Cycle to Work scheme
• An extensive range of learning and development opportunities
• Discounts on restaurants, getaways, shopping, motoring, cinema and finance through a range of provider

For further information on the fantastic range of benefits we offer please visit the Trust's dedicated Staff Benefits pages.

Job responsibilities

A full description of the role is available in the attachment: job description.

Please note that if a high number of applications are received this advert may close early. You are advised to submit your application at the earliest opportunity.

Working for the Trust

Across our organisation, people are guided by values that were co-developed with staff: we are kind; we are open; and we pursue excellence.

Our values play into our ambition to develop a more diverse workforce, truly representative of our communities. We welcome applications from everyone, while working with our Staff Networks - including our Race Equality, LGBTQ+, Disability and Carers Networks - to increase the number of applications we receive from different backgrounds. If there is anything we can do to make our application process more accessible to you, please contact: [e-mail].

As part of seeking to become more inclusive, we will consider requests for flexible working from the start of your employment. It may not be suitable for every role, but we will try and be supportive where we can. We would encourage you to speak to the recruiting manager named within this advert to discuss any requirements you may have.

Armed Forces Friendly Employer

We are holders of the Gold Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which is helping actively promote SaBRE - Supporting Britains Reservists and Employers. This means that we have made a statement of intent to support all Defence personnel, including with applications for employment.

Person Specification

Education

• Functional English and Maths Level 2 or equivalent

Experience

• Experience working in a customer service setting
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Experience using decontamination equipment or other commercial machinery
• Working in an hospital environment or similar

Aptitude and Personal Qualities

• Availability to work weekends & BH to meet service need

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

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust