HSDU Sterile Services Technician

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust; Astley Village; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 23,000; Full time

Job summary

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust in Lancashire is seeking a Sterile Services Technician to decontaminate and reprocess reusable medical devices, primarily instrument sets used in surgery. You will dismantle, clean, reassemble and sterilize sets using washers and autoclaves, with occasional LGV driving during shortages.

You will work to a Quality Management System, maintain traceability using the track & trace system, and support operating theatres with timely delivery and accurate recording

Responsibilities

• Decontaminate reusable medical devices in line with departmental deadlines.
• Dismantle, clean, reassemble and sterilize instrument sets.
• Record data on the tracking system and ensure accurate instrument checklists at receipt and dispatch.
• Rotate stock to prevent expiry and ensure correct delivery to wards and theatres.

Job description

Please note that this post is Part of One LSC - a corporate collaboration hosted by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and providing Estates and Facilities Services to Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The Sterile Services Department is responsible for the decontamination and reprocessing of re-usable medical devices. These are instrument sets used for surgical operations. This is accomplished using dedicated washers and sterilizers, that require the sets to be dismantled, decontaminated, reassembled and sterilized before being returned to the operating theatres. The advertised role is for a technician to primarily undertake the above role as part of a larger team. On occasions the technician may be required to drive a Light Goods Vehicle (LGV) during periods of staff shortages or emergency requests.

To decontaminate re-usable medical devices effectively and in line with departmental deadlines requiring each set to be dismantled prior to cleaning and reassembled and checked prior to sterilization. Technicians must ensure that the instrumentation is accurate against the instrument checklists both at receipt and at dispatch and has been recorded on the tracking system.

All new colleagues can expect to receive a warm and friendly welcome from the very first time they make contact with us. We are described as competent and caring staff by our patients

You will be required to work to strict adherence of an accredited Quality Management System (QMS) that the department is required to maintain in order to retain its accreditation with Medical Devices Directives Effective communication with colleagues, supervisors and Managers is crucial. Information about instrument sets may need to be conveyed back to theatres or to other colleagues during shift changes.

As part of this role the department is required to collect dirty and distribute sterile instrumentation around numerous ward and clinic areas.Ensure that stock, sets, and instrumentation is correctly rotated upon return to wards and departments to restrict the amount of sets reaching expiry. Input data to produce checklists, labels and delivery notes using the departments track & trace system. The track & trace system enables all items to be tracked at each stage of the process thus providing an assurance that all instrumentation had undergone the correct and complete process