Poct Associate Practitioner

West Suffolk Nhs Foundation Trust; West Stow; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

West Suffolk Nhs Foundation Trust in the West Suffolk area is seeking a motivated POCT Associate Practitioner for our busy Point of Care Testing team. You will work across the main hospital and off-site locations, delivering rapid results to support patient care.

You will troubleshoot devices, support IQCs/EQA, train users and assist with device verification and reagent validation, while flexible to meet service needs.

Qualifications

• Experience within the NHS or a laboratory environment.
• Good IT skills and ability to use IT systems.
• Ability to work effectively in a team and individually.
• Ability to prioritise workload and respond to service needs.

Responsibilities

• Carry out day-to-day POCT tasks to ensure smooth service across Trust sites.
• Troubleshoot devices and perform routine maintenance and decontamination.
• Distribute and process IQCs and EQA samples for POCT devices.
• Train POCT device users and assist with device verification.

Skills

NHS experience or lab environment

Good IT skills

Teamwork / independent

Prioritise workload

Flexible / adaptable

Job description

Job summary

The Point of Care Testing (POCT) team are looking to recruit a motivated, proactive and hardworking individual to one of the Associate Practitioner roles within their small and friendly department.

This role will give the post holder the opportunity to work in an exciting and emerging area of Pathology, which has improving patient care at its core. Over the last year the team have been responsible for implementing C-reactive protein (CRP) testing devices within the Virtual Ward and upgrading the pre-term birth testing within the Maternity Department. Whilst there are also many exciting upcoming projects, such as replacing the urinalysis meters, expanding IT connectivity across the POCT device portfolio and verifying and implementing a viscoelasticity testing device within the Maternity Department.

POCT, as the title suggests, is patient testing at or near the patient bedside. Meaning a faster turnaround time to results to allow for quicker diagnosis and treatment. Although POCT sits within Pathology, many of POCT operators are clinical staff. Therefore, the role of the POCT team is to ensure laboratory standards are met for all operators, devices and results across multiple areas and sites.

This role is highly mobile and involves frequent visits to wards and departments both at the main hospital site and at off‑site locations.

Main duties of the job

As a POCT Associate Practitioner your role will to complete the day‑to‑day POCT tasks to ensure a smooth running of the service across all Trust sites. Your duties will include:

• Troubleshooting devices, in addition to performing routine maintenance and decontamination procedures.
• Distributing and processing internal quality controls (IQCs) and external quality assessment (EQA) samples for POCT devices.
• Training POCT device users.
• Assisting with device verification and reagent batch validation.

Essential requirements

• Have experience within the NHS or within a laboratory environment.
• Have good IT skills.
• Be able to work both in a team and as an individual.
• Be able to prioritise workload.
• Be flexible and able to respond to the needs of the service.

About us

We are a busy, friendly, rural NHS Trust providing high‑quality care and compassion to more than a quarter of a million people across west Suffolk. We care for, treat and support people in hospital, at home and in various community settings.

The West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds provides acute and secondary care services (emergency department, maternity and neonatal services, day surgery unit, eye treatment centre, Macmillan unit and children’s ward). It has 500+ beds and is a partner teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge.

Adult and paediatric community services, provided in collaboration with West Suffolk Alliance partners, include a range of nursing, therapy, specialist, and ongoing temporary care and rehabilitation, some at our Newmarket Community Hospital.

We do our utmost to achieve outstanding clinical outcomes for patients and our values of fairness, inclusivity, respect, safety and team work guide how we work and behave as a team.

With nearly 5,000 staff, from all over the world, we strive to make our organisation a great place to work. Whatever your role or ambition, we want to help you be the best you can be.

We promote a diverse and inclusive community where everyones voice counts and you can #BeKnown for whoever you are.

Join us. What will you #BeKnown for?

Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 4
Salary: £28,392 to £31,157 a year Per Annum, Pro Rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full‑time, Flexible working
Closing date: 04 November 2026
Reference number: 179-8050154-C-A

Contact: POCT Manager Emma Scrivener, [e-mail], 01284712812

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.