Principal Clinical Scientist in Biochemistry

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust; Sevington; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a principal clinical scientist to join our dynamic pathology team based in Ashford, with occasional work at Canterbury and Margate sites. The post requires Part 1 FRCPath, an MSc in Clinical Biochemistry, HCPC registration, and a track record in clinical biochemistry leadership and method development.

The role includes on-call duties, quality management, and training of staff.

Qualifications

• Part 1 FRCPath is required.
• MSc in Clinical Biochemistry is required.
• Registration with the HCPC as a clinical scientist is required.

Responsibilities

• Lead the clinical and technical management of the specialist biochemistry section.
• Undertake method development and develop clinical guidelines.
• Provide clinical liaison and act as duty biochemist.
• Participate in the on-call rota after attainment of full FRCPath.
• Contribute to quality management and staff training.
• Engage in regular departmental journal clubs and meetings.
• Represent the service across cross-site activities within the network.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Biochemistry expertise

On-call liaison

Education

FRCPath Part 1

MSc Clinical Biochemistry

HCPC registration

Job description

Kent and Medway Pathology Network

East Kent Hospitals requires a principal clinical scientist to join our dynamic team of three consultants, two principal (including this post), two senior, and two STP clinical scientists. We are looking for experienced, enthusiastic and motivated applicants for this permanent full-time post. You should possess part 1 FRCPath, an MSc in Clinical Biochemistry, and have registration as a clinical scientist with the HCPC.

The Trust has three acute hospital sites each with a laboratory (William Harvey Hospital at Ashford, Kent and Canterbury Hospital at Canterbury and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital at Margate). The post-holder will be based in Ashford, however, across site working will be required at the Canterbury site and occasionally Margate. The pathology service is an actively engaged member of the Kent and Medway Pathology Network which aims to modernise and harmonise the way pathology services are delivered across Kent and Medway.

The post-holder will lead the clinical and technical management of the specialist biochemistry section of the service and will be expected to undertake method development and develop clinical guidelines. The post-holder will provide clinical liaison, including working as duty biochemist, and participate in the on-call rota (following attainment of full FRCPath) with appropriate remuneration. They will contribute to quality management, and the training of both clinical scientists and biomedical scientists. There are regular Kent and Medway journal club and clinical meetings which all clinical scientists attend.

Our laboratories provide a wide range of diagnostic tests with some specialised services provided on one or more of our sites. The Trust serves a population of approximately 700,000, making it one of the largest trusts in the UK and the laboratory processes over 11 million biochemistry and immunology tests annually. The Department of Pathology employs 380 WTE staff and has an annual budget of approximately £42 million. All primary care work from East Kent is processed at the Ashford laboratory. The laboratory has UKAS ISO15189: 2022 accreditation, and is accredited for clinical scientist and biomedical scientist training.

We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference'. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.

Kent and Medway Pathology Network (KMPN) is a formal partnership of seven laboratories across three pathology services in four acute Trusts. Our 1000 colleagues provide services across the health and care sector to a population of nearly 2 million.

We are at an exciting point of our network development with a recommendation to form a joint venture across the four Trusts leading transformation. Our projects including single IT solutions, procurement and digital projects, to ensure our services are able to meet growing demand for our service users, patients and communities.

A single LIMS solution will go live across the network in the next 12 months. The contract for a single Kent and Medway managed service has recently been awarded.