Decontamination Technician - Colchester

NHS; Colchester; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare trust in Colchester is seeking a Decontamination Technician to support sterilization services within its Sterile Service Unit. You'll operate decontamination equipment and work within a friendly team, with full training provided. Ideal candidates will possess effective communication skills and a keen attention to detail. The role offers opportunities for professional growth along with a competitive benefits package, including NHS discounts and a generous pension scheme.

Benefits

Generous pension scheme

27 days annual leave

Access to NHS discounts

Qualifications

• Ability to train staff in decontamination systems.
• Knowledge and experience in the decontamination of reusable medical devices.

Responsibilities

• Operation of decontamination equipment.
• Pushing and pulling trolleys.
• Stock control and processing reusable medical devices.

Skills

Ability to work as part of a team

Ability to work accurately under pressure

Working knowledge of keyboard, typing and computer skills

Education

GCSE or equivalent in Maths & English (grade 2-4)

NVQ3 (Technical Certificate Decontamination) or equivalent level of knowledge

Job description

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Decontamination Technician - Colchester

The closing date is 09 December 2025

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a decontamination technician to work within the Sterile Service Unit and Endoscopy Reprocessing Unit at Colchester Hospital.

You will join a busy friendly team, dealing with sterilization and decontamination services; you will be involved in the reprocessing surgical instruments and flexible endoscopes. You will be working as part of a team in a busy, fast moving acute hospital. You must have a flexible approach to your work & possess good verbal and written communication skills.

You are not required to have previous experience as full training will be provided to undertake the technician role. There may also be opportunities for further additional training.

As you will be required to work across both the Sterile Service Unit and Endoscopy Reprocessing Unit, you will begin with a structured training programme to gain competencies in all areas.

Main duties of the job

Duties of this role will include: Operation of decontamination equipment, pushing and pulling trolley, stock control, lifting heavy theatre sets and processing reusable medical devices.

You will need: good communication and interpersonal skills, excellent attention to detail, excellent customer services attributes, good numeracy and literacy skills and good retentive memory.

About us

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

• Ability to train staff in decontamination systems
• Knowledge and experience in the decontamination of reusable medical devices

Qualifications

• GCSE or equivalent in Maths & English (grade 2-4)
• NVQ3 (Technical Certificate Decontamination) or equivalent level of knowledge and experience through decontamination training

Skills

• Ability to work as part of a team
• Ability to work accurately under pressure
• A working knowledge of keyboard, typing and computer skills

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

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust