Maintenance Plumber

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust; Chorley; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 34,000; Full time

Job summary

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking a skilled estates maintenance technician to work as part of a small team, taking ownership of planned preventative maintenance, repairs to mechanical and electrical plant, and building services across Trust premises.

You will diagnose faults, read drawings, support commissioning, and respond to urgent issues on site, including hazardous environments, with on-call duties and strict safety compliance.

Qualifications

• Attained a recognised craft certified qualification (e.g. City & Guilds or NVQ Level 3).
• Relevant credited technical qualification.
• Willing to participate in NHS maintenance training programmes.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with managers, colleagues, contractors and trust wide service users.
• Liaise with contractors, utility suppliers and other service users during and out of hours on call.
• Provide operational advisory support to ensure compliance with safety standards and procedures.
• Respond to estates related incidents and liaise with Trust staff to request assistance.
• Carry out planned preventative maintenance inspections and commissioning tests.
• Carry out maintenance of complex systems including boilers, heating and water systems.
• Identify and prioritise own workload and participate in performance management records.

Skills

Maintenance planning

Mechanical maintenance

Plumbing & drainage

Safety compliance

Reading drawings

On-call readiness

Education

City & Guilds/NVQ Level 3 in relevant trade

Job description

You will be issued with our easily recognisable Hospital uniform and will work as part of a team with six colleagues carrying out all manner of planned preventative maintenance, repairs to engineering plant and equipment. Owing to the skills and experience you possess, this is without supervision as we trust you to be in charge of your own work activity. Many of the repairs will need to be attended to urgently and some aspects of the work can be hazardous but this will be a walk in the park for you.,

• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with managers, colleagues, contractors and trust wide service users.
• Liaises with contractors, utility suppliers, professional parties and other service users both during normal working hours and out of hours whilst on call.
• Provide operational advisory support to Trust staff and managers to ensure compliance with all safety standards and procedures.
• Advise the Senior Estates Officer and/or Senior Hospital Staff (Duty Manager on call/Directorate Managers) on maintenance issues as required outside of normal office hours.
• Respond to estates related incidents and liaise with other members of the Trust's staff who request assistance
• Liaise with Wards and Departments to ensure requested work is specified correctly to meet the users' needs, provided efficiently and completed within the agreed priority response periods. This applies to all work requests including patient critical engineering plant, equipment and building services.
• Carry out panned preventative maintenance inspections and testing to ensure compliance in line with Trust procedure and statutory requirements.
• Refer to and understand Engineering/Technical drawings, specifications and technical manuals.
• Assist in commissioning of mechanical services, plant and equipment.
• Understand the workings of mechanical and plumbing systems within all Trust properties. Test, diagnose and repair faults on these systems, and to deal with new situations as they arise. To pass on knowledge to others.
• Carry out maintenance of complex systems including Boilers, Heating and DHW systems, pressurised systems, water systems, tanks, rain water systems, lead flashings, drains, sewers, air conditioning systems, building management systems, catering equipment, heat exchangers, plant and equipment contained within the mortuary and theatres and other hospital fixed plant and equipment
• Be prepared to work in hazardous areas, confined spaces and on contaminated equipment taking all safety measures to prevent danger, avoid injury and prevent damage to equipment in accordance with Trust policy and safe working procedures. Ensure that Risk Assessments and the use of operational procedures are actioned and observed by all maintenance staff.
• Be fully conversant with all Trust policies and procedures including:- Fire Safety, Infection Control, Health & Safety at Work Act, COSHH Regulations and Manual Handling guidance and safe systems of work
• Identify and prioritise own work load and that of others when appropriate and actively participate in the operation of the performance management information system, including the completion of all paper work required by the scheme in a timely manner.
• Carry out planned preventative maintenance inspections and commissioning tests in accordance with Trust procedures and schedules
• Ensure the security of all plant, equipment and buildings under the jurisdiction of the Maintenance Department. Make sure that any work areas are secure when working. Ensure that plant rooms are locked at all times
• Assist with, and support the Trusts Engineering Officers in project work, new equipment testing and commissioning, specifications, surveys, costing and other similar duties. Undertake inspections for pre-installations and investigate services which may be required for new equipment and carry out minor installation improvement works
• Keep plans, electronic and hard copy records, spread sheet statistical data and ensure such records etc. are correct, updated and revised as necessary
  We cannot even begin to tell you what a great place this is to work, with so many interesting and intricate engineering systems that you just won't find anywhere else - so much different to domestic plumbing. You will demonstrate a good working knowledge of plumbing and drainage systems in compliance with all statutory requirements and good practice guidelines. You will apply a high degree of attention to detail and be precise in the recording of relevant results so we have effective and accurate records., Attained a recognised craft certified qualification (e.g. city and guilds qualification or NVQ level 3)
• Relevant credited technical qualification
• Be willing and able to participate in an on-going training development programme within NHS maintenance services

Desirable criteria

• Attained or working towards a technical qualification in a specialist area
• Attained a recognised and certified supervisory/ Leadership/ Management qualification, Proven ability to understand and comply with detailed procedures
• Be able to demonstrate competences in a maintenance plumbing role
• Be able to demonstrate continued training across traditional trade groups
• Completed a recognised engineering apprenticeship

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of working in the NHS or large complex building service installations (non-domestic)

One LSC is a new collaborative partnership shared service formed by the five NHS Trusts serving the Lancashire and South Cumbria population of 1.8 million people. We are a shared service run by the NHS, for the NHS and are hosted by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust on behalf of the partner Trusts of the Lancashire and South Cumbria system.

One LSC stands for 'One Lancashire and South Cumbria' and reflects the Lancashire and South Cumbria System ambition to have one team serving Lancashire and South Cumbria in a joined-up way. It is jointly run by the five Trusts as a collaborative partnership. The Trusts that make up One LSC are:

• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
• Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

One LSC brings together the Digital, Data and Technology, Estates and Facilities, Finance, People Services and Procurement and Logistics services from each of the provider Trusts to create one central community of professionals. Under one leadership team, they will provide services for and on behalf of all Trusts. The aim is to bring services more closely together so that we can deliver the best service possible to each of our partner organisations. At the core of One LSC delivery is eliminating duplication, removing unwarranted variation, realisation of the benefits of sharing common systems and processes and ensuring we deliver value for money for our partners, our system and, ultimately, for the communities we serve.

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 Trust is an equal opportunities employer, committed to improving the working lives of our staff and operates a 'Zero Tolerance' policy to aggression, violence, bullying and harassment. In addition, our aim is to help protect children and vulnerable adults by providing a first-class service to the recruitment of people into positions of trust. We aim to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from everyone irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, disability or social background. We especially welcome applications from members of our black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, as we have identified that ELHT has an under-representation of BAME employees. Appointments will be made on merit.

The Trust is an equal opportunities employer, is committed to improving the working lives of its colleagues and operates a 'Zero Tolerance' policy on aggression, violence, bullying and harassment. As a recruitment service, our aim is to help protect children and vulnerable adults by providing a first-class service in recruiting people into positions of trust. It is important to us that we employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from everyone - irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, disability or social background. We especially welcome applications from members of our black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, as we have identified that as an employer we are under-representation of BAME employees. Appointments will be made on merit. We recognise that the recruitment process may present barriers for some and you may need personal adjustments to enable you to participate in our recruitment process. Please make contact with the recruitment team at the earliest opportunity to ensure that measures can be put in place to enable you to apply for this post.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

It is important you are made aware of the following as regards your application to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

• Please note that the salary advertised is for full time hours. If this post is less than 37.5 hours per week, the salary will be pro-rata. For posts on Agenda for Change pay-scales, new entrants to the NHS will normally commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.
• This vacancy may close before the closing date if the recruiting manager deems sufficient applications have been received. Therefore it is advised to complete your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
• Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.
• Please note that shortlisting is completed anonymously with candidates being assessed against the essential criteria for the post. Therefore only applicants, who can clearly demonstrate how they meet our person specification criteria in their application, will be short-listed.

Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS) If the role you are applying for is identified as either controlled or regulated activity as defined in in the Safeguarding vulnerable Groups Act (2006) any offer of employment is provisional upon a satisfactory DBS check being obtained. The healthcare sector is exempted from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. In line with other NHS organisations in the North West Region, the Trust is now passing the charge for undertaking a DBS check on to candidates in the event they are successfully appointed into the post for which they have applied. Candidates can choose whether to pay this over 1-3 months as a deduction from the monthly salary. However, if you are applying for a post as a BANK worker, the payment must be made in full at the time of employment checks. By applying for this vacancy you are agreeing to this undertaking in the event you are successfully appointed. The cost for an Enhanced DBS, is £45.90 and for a Basic & Standard, this is £24.90 this cost includes a £4.90 admin fee.

Please note: a young person must be in part-time education or training until they're 18. If you are under 18 we are unable to employ you on a full time basis, unless it is in an apprenticeship role.

Disclosure and Barring Service checks If the role you've applied for requires a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check we will administer this on your behalf and the cost will be recovered from your salary, either as a one-off payment, or over 3 months. The level of check required depends on the role that you have been offered. Currently the charges are - Basic DBS check £26.40, Standard DBS check £26.40, Enhanced DBS check £54.40 and Enhanced DBS check with Barred List(s) £54.40. You should be aware that if you are successful in obtaining a position that requires a DBS check but later withdraw your application, you may be required to reimburse the cost of the DBS check. DBS checks remain free of charge for volunteer positions. The DBS Code of Practice can be accessed here. In line with guidance from United Kingdom Health Security Agency, all staff and volunteers are required to comply with Trust Infection Prevention and Control processes in relation to safe working.