Senior Decontamination Technician

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Knowsley; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare trust in the United Kingdom is seeking an experienced Senior Endoscope Decontamination Technician. The successful candidate will be responsible for the complete cycle of endoscope decontamination and provide operational support to technicians. An excellent understanding of infection control procedures and decontamination regulations is critical. This role offers a salary of £24,937 to £26,598 per annum, pro rata, and requires GCSE education or equivalent experience. Opportunity to work between St Helens and Whiston sites.

Responsibilities

• Undertake the complete cycle of endoscope decontamination.
• Carry out all relevant daily tests on endoscopes and associated equipment.
• Maintain department stock by stock checking and ordering.
• Support education and training of staff within decontamination.
• Conduct auto-apprenticeship of new endoscopes.

Skills

Ability to provide information, training, and advice to decontamination technicians

Ability to develop new skills

Knowledge of duties and responsibilities of the post of decontamination technician

Basic knowledge of legislation and regulations relating to endoscope decontamination

Team worker with ability to motivate others

Infection control procedures in relation to endoscope decontamination

Computer literacy skills including SBS, Endoscope tracking system, basic email, and word documents

Education

Educated to GCSE Level or equivalent experience

Job description

Overview

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

The Endoscope Decontamination Units are responsible for the decontamination of all flexible endoscopes used within the Trust. There are Decontamination Units on both St Helens and Whiston sites and the successful candidate may be expected to work at either site. A good working knowledge of standards, regulations, and legislation relevant to endoscope decontamination is also required.

The successful candidate will be responsible for providing senior support gained through their previous experience to the decontamination technicians and the delivery of a quality service on a day-to-day operational basis. The Senior Technician will in turn be supported by the Decontamination Supervisors and the Quality Manager.

Previous Endoscope Decontamination experience is essential.

Job description and person specification subject to change as per AfC review.

Main duties of the job

• To undertake the complete cycle of endoscope decontamination
• This includes the visual inspection, manual cleaning, processing in an Endoscope Washer Disinfector, storing, tracking and tracing and collection and delivery of all flexible scopes used in the Trust.
• To carry out all relevant daily tests required on endoscopes, washer disinfectors and associated equipment as per departmental protocol
• To have a good understanding of how to deal with any emergency relating to machinery that may occur in the decontamination rooms and to request a repair engineer when necessary
• To ensure all necessary documentation concerning the decontamination of each endoscope (tracking and tracing) is completed effectively and efficiently and in accordance with the departmental procedure (electronic and paper systems)
• Maintain department stock to agreed levels by stock checking, rotation of stock and ordering using the Trust electronic system SBS
• Assess the competency of the decontamination technicians against documented standard operational procedures and maintain records of the competency
• Support the education and training of all staff within Decontamination and support user department staff on the use and operation of the storage cabinets and the electronic tracking system
• Conduct auto-apprenticeship of all new endoscopes as required, in line with EWD manufacturer's instructions and departmental procedures.
• Act as role model.

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9,000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Job responsibilities

Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Proposed Interview date: TBC

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Educated to GCSE Level or equivalent experience

Knowledge & Experience

Skills

• Ability to provide information, training, and advice to decontamination technicians
• Ability to develop new skills
• Knowledge of duties and responsibilities of the post of decontamination technician
• Basic knowledge of legislation and regulations relating to endoscope decontamination
• Team worker with ability to motivate others
• Infection control procedures in relation to endoscope decontamination
• Computer literacy skills including SBS, Endoscope tracking system, basic email, and word documents

Values

• We are kind
• We are open
• We are inclusive

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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.

Employer name

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

£24,937 to £26,598 a year, per annum, pro rata