Laboratory Support Worker (Cellular Pathology) | East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust; Blackburn; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in England is seeking enthusiastic full-time staff for a new role in the Histology Department at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital. This permanent position involves handling complex histology samples and requires responsibilities such as maintaining laboratory equipment, preparing solutions, and housekeeping duties. The closing date for applications is Tuesday, 14 Oct 2025.

Responsibilities

• Block scraping and filing in numerical order.
• Filing, archiving and retrieving of laboratory slides and blocks.
• Maintain laboratory equipment according to department procedures.
• Prepare and package material for dispatch to external providers.
• Prepare solutions and reagents.
• Housekeeping duties such as discard specimens and wash buckets.

Job description

Overview

We are looking for 2 enthusiastic full time staff to fill a new and exciting role in our Histology Department.

The post is permanent. Hours are 37.5 per week.

The department handles over 53,000 Histology samples per annum, with a high proportion of complex cases including Breast, Head and Neck, Hepatobiliary and Urology.

About East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

At East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 700,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 8,000 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work.

Aligned to national strategy, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is working 3 local Trusts to form a single Pathology Service for Lancashire and South Cumbria, hosted by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.

Location and potential changes

Whilst this post is based at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, this may change in the future if services are reorganised. Within current timelines, this post may TUPE into LTHTR as the hosting employer in early 2026.

Responsibilities

1. Block scraping and filing in numerical order.
2. Filing, archiving and retrieving of laboratory slides and blocks
3. Maintain laboratory equipment according to department procedures (e.g. tissue processor, staining machine).
4. Prepare and package material for dispatch to external providers
5. Prepare solutions and reagents (e.g. staining solutions, buffers)
6. Housekeeping duties such as: discard specimens, wash buckets, bagging up specimens.

Closing date

This advert closes on Tuesday 14 Oct 2025