Specialist Medical Engineer

Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Preston; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the UK is seeking an Engineer to join their Medical Engineering team. This role involves maintaining over 36,000 medical devices, ensuring safety and efficiency in clinical services. Ideal candidates will have a relevant engineering degree and strong technical and communication skills. The position offers opportunities for personal development and contribution to patient care excellence.

Benefits

Varied development opportunities

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Proficient in repairing and maintaining medical devices.
• Ability to conduct acceptance testing and planned maintenance.
• Capable of training junior staff and clinical staff on equipment.

Responsibilities

• Perform acceptance testing and deliver planned maintenance.
• Communicate efficiently with clinical and technical staff.
• Organise loan equipment provision during repairs.

Skills

Medical device maintenance

Technical troubleshooting

Communication skills

Team collaboration

Education

Degree in Engineering or related field

Tools

Calibration equipment

Diagnostic tools

Job description

Join our dynamic and passionate team of Medical Engineers and become an integral part of maintaining and managing Medical Devices at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.

We are searching for an exceptional Engineer to join our extraordinary team and support clinical services within the hospital. By joining us, you will have the exciting opportunity to play a key role in the seamless functioning of clinical services and ensuring the utmost safety for all patients. Our prestigious ISO9001:2015 accredited department and become an integral part of managing over 36000 medical devices! Our team works tirelessly ensuring top‑notch care for our patients.

As a member of our highly skilled team, you will have the opportunity to conduct acceptance testing, deliver planned maintenance, and repair a diverse range of medical equipment in various clinical divisions. Your role is crucial in ensuring the safe and efficient operation of this equipment, minimizing downtime, and prioritizing patient safety at all times. With your extensive knowledge in medical engineering and impressive technical experience, you will be a valuable asset to our team.

Along with a passion for continuous personal development and the ability to remain professional and organized under pressure, you are a perfect fit for this exhilarating opportunity!

Working for our organisation

We have 10000 fantastic people working hard to deliver quality services to our patients. Whatever your role, you help look after 370,000 people in our local area & give specialist care to 1.5 million people across Lancashire & Cumbria.

Working with us gives you the knowledge and sense of pride that every activity you do genuinely does make a difference to support our patients & staff, ensuring we keep thriving & delivering outstanding healthcare right across our local towns.

You'll have access to varied development opportunities, learn new skills, meet fab people & do things you'd never have done. You'll learn about working in a hospital, interacting with people from all different roles to build skills & enhance your career path.

You'll make an impact, be challenged to think differently, be bold & help innovate to keep improving things. Everything we do centres around patient care and enhancing their experience which means your role is pivotal and something really to be proud of.

Communicate and develop relationships with a range of organisations and technical and clinical staff on adverse incidents, investigations and day to day issues.

• Explain the possible configurations of users' computer / microprocessor based equipment and configure it to operate appropriately and safely for their areas/tasks.
• Develop relationships with medical equipment manufacturers and suppliers so as to obtain best value and quality with the supply of products and services.
• Liaise with external contractors to request repairs and repair quotations.
• Communicate efficiently with, and offer advice on medical equipment to, clinical and technical staff at all levels within the Trust. Advice may include purchase, use, training, replacement, research etc.
• Prioritise and negotiate with other Health Care Professionals in obtaining to medical equipment for maintenance.

Developing oneself and others within the Trust

• Train junior Medical Engineers and take responsibility for their work when they are working under the post holder's direction.
• When appropriate, train clinical staff across the Trust in the function, operation and day‑to‑day maintenance of medical equipment.
• Attend technical training courses when required and in line with the Job Description. This may include hardware, software, clinical, management or mandatory training.
• Brief clinical staff across the Trust in the function, operation and day‑to‑day maintenance of medical equipment.
• Support colleagues by providing them with technical information and training on devices where appropriate and passing on information gained from technical and clinical courses where required.
• Undertake CPD to update own technical knowledge of specialised equipment and update knowledge in respect of the Clinical use of such equipment.

Health and Safety

• Be aware of, and contribute to, Health, Safety and Security of self and others. Act independently, safely, promptly and efficiently in all situations with patients, colleagues and contractors.
• Take appropriate precautions to ensure safety when working with heavy loads.
• Follow departmental guidelines to ensure safety when working on open live electrical equipment, equipment with high pressures, high voltage capacitors, dangerous mechanical parts, dangerous RF / microwave fields, powerful light / laser outputs, dangerous radiation levels or hazardous chemicals and on equipment in the patient environment.
• Undertake all duties with due regard to infection control risks.
• Seek to minimise patient risk in all circumstances.

Service Improvement

• Organise the provision of loan equipment from service providers on occasions when repairs cannot be achieved within a desired time scale, or in incident situations, to enable patient services to be maintained.
• Contribute to and participate in regular meetings with Medical Engineering Management to improve departmental performance.
• When appropriate undertake project work.
• Be involved in the creation and updating of written procedures for the performance and functional verification of medical devices.

Quality

• Work unsupervised to Professional Standards in compliance with Department of Health guidelines, relevant standards set by Regulatory Bodies and Departmental Procedures.
• Use technical expertise and clinical experience to identify potentially hazardous symptoms and faults and act to ensure safety. In conjunction with senior staff, report novel fault conditions to the manufacturers and the MHRA.
• Collate details of notifiable incidents, quarantine equipment and accessories, submit written reports to the MHRA and liaise with the MHRA, manufacturers and Hospital Staff in any subsequent investigation.
• Be responsible for the quality of your work. Referring to department work procedures and to published guidance.
• Highlight and bring to the attention of the Manager any deficiencies found in the quality of your own or others' work in order that this may be rectified at the earliest opportunity.
• Analyse the impact of equipment maintenance on service provision and work to minimise detrimental effects.
• Follow Departmental procedures and seek advice when unsure on these.

Equality and Diversity

• Be familiar with and follow the Trust's reporting procedure for sickness, annual leave and flexi‑time.
• Act in ways that value diversity and encourage equality both within the department and in the wider Trust and working relationships with companies.

Systems vehicles and equipment

• Carry out the regular maintenance, calibration, function checking and electrical safety testing of a wide range of medical equipment ensuring it is safe and complies with the manufacturer's specification.
• Prioritise planned preventative maintenance and medical equipment breakdown requests with departmental colleagues to ensure that scheduled maintenance is up to date and repairs are made as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
• Acceptance test / commission new equipment ensuring that it is as ordered, is electrically safe, meets manufacturer's specifications and MHRA guidelines and is appropriately CE marked.
• Function and electrically safety test equipment upon its return from external repair and before its release to users.
• Act independently, promptly and efficiently in response to emergency and unpredictable situations.
• Take part in rotas when required and attend to urgent repairs immediately, undertaking, distributing to colleagues and following up repair work as required and returning completed equipment to users.
• Where necessary, use skills, knowledge and understanding of the clinical applications of medical devices to assist the user with potentially faulty equipment that may still be attached to the patient.
• Take part in the departmental out‑of‑hours on‑call rota covering all medical devices in the Trust including imaging, anaesthetic machines, ventilators, ECG Monitoring Systems and Foetal Monitoring Systems. Where appropriate, act on telephone advice provided by specialist engineers and in turn provide online advice to other on‑call engineers.
• Take appropriate actions to ensure patient data, clinical information or event histories are preserved/backed up before maintenance or repair where possible.
• Assess the seriousness and implications of reported problems and respond appropriately to the urgency of the user's request. Ensure that the users receive a high quality, prompt and efficient service and are kept informed of the progress of on‑going and outstanding work.
• Apply specialised fault finding techniques to diagnose complex problems including those beyond the scope of manufacturers' supplied information and make repairs down to component level using expertise, precision engineering techniques and fine control of tools and small components.
• Take responsibility for all tools and specialised test equipment within the post holder's care and assist in ensuring workshop facilities are kept clear and well ordered.
• Act as Lead engineer in one or more Specialist areas of Medical Engineering. These areas of expertise will be reviewed at regular intervals to meet the needs of staff development and the service in order to provide a comprehensive, high quality, cost‑effective service and to ensure continuity during absence of colleagues.
• Appraise loan equipment provided for evaluation and advise user during trials of appropriateness for purpose and future maintainability.
• Maintain a level of competency in all devices to ensure medical engineering knowledge and skills are maintained and cover for other engineers is in place.
• Apply knowledge of IT and cyber security in the securing of patient data and the trust IT networks. Understand the particular IT hardware and software issues that arise with medical equipment and discuss at joint meetings with IT colleagues.

Procurement and commissioning

• Raise orders for spare parts, the dispatch of repairs and engineer call‑out dealing with subsequent financial queries regarding price verification and delivery of goods and services.
• Ensure that stocks of any components and spare parts used, do not fall below agreed levels.
• Liaise with, supervise and work alongside external service contractors.

Information processing

• Take appropriate precautions to ensure that clinical information / event history on computer based systems has been backed‑up before maintenance is carried out.

Thanks for taking the time to view this advert; we're looking forward to receiving your application. You should be aware that the vacancy may close earlier than the published date if sufficient applications are received so it would be best to apply as soon as you can. We'll contact you by e‑mail to update you on the progress of your application so please check the e‑mail account that you applied from (including spam/junk) regularly.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, neurodiversity or veteran status are encouraged to apply for this post. Our Statement on the Recruitment of Ex‑Offenders is available Here.

To support you in your application process we've created a What we can offer you guide that shows what you can expect when you join our hospitals. The guide includes links to our strategic aims and objectives as well as our values, development support and rewards and benefits. To help you get the best from your application we've also put together two guides to help you make your application the best it can be. Just click here and here to go through them, or have them open as you complete your application.

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 your application for this post.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications
If you choose to use AI or other tools to assist in writing your application, it's essential to personalise this information, particularly your supporting information section. While AI can help streamline the writing process, these tools cannot fully grasp the context or requirements of the job you're applying for. There is also a risk that it can generate false or misleading information.

AI-generated job applications can often be generic, impersonal and may not accurately reflect your qualifications, knowledge, skills, and experiences. It is crucial that you personalise your supporting statement by articulating these in your unique voice. Relying solely on AI to write your application or supporting information section is not advocated by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and could negatively impact your chances of success in the application process.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored and if applicants have used it then they are required to declare this.

Supporting Information
The supporting information section is an opportunity for you to showcase how your qualifications, knowledge, skill and experiences align with the requirements and criteria outlined in the job description and person.

Our recruiting managers score applications based on the criteria listed in the person specification. They will be looking for evidence of how you meet these criteria. To increase your chances of securing an interview, provide examples of how you have applied your skills and knowledge in real‑life situations. Share work‑related successes and challenges you've navigated that align with the criteria. These could be from various aspects of your life, including work, education, and personal experiences.

Consider structuring your supporting information section with clear headings or bullet points. This approach will help both you and the recruiting manager navigate through your application more effectively.

Working Smarter pledge
We are reminded everyday of how important life is, so as part of our Working Smarter pledge we offer a variety of flexible working options and wellbeing support to enable our people to find and maintain the right work‑life balance.

Secondments
If you are applying for a secondment role please ensure you have agreement from your current line manager prior to attending an interview. Also please ensure you have read the LTHTR Secondment Policy. A copy of this can be found on the intranet or by contacting [email protected]

Young People
Please note a young person must be in part‑time education or training until they're 18. therefore 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 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 and Enhanced DBS check £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. This includes mask wearing and adherence to social distancing at all Trust sites.