An opportunity has arisen for the post of Associate Practitioner (Band 4) within Histopathology at Liverpool Clinical Laboratories. This is a permanent role and is an opportunity for an existing member of staff in either LCL or LUHFT to obtain a set of highly technical laboratory skills, whilst contributing to cancer and other patient care.
This post is essential for the day to day running of the service and the successful candidate will receive the training necessary to work with other staff within the team to deliver the highest quality standard of patient care.
The directorate receives greater than 65,000 cases per year and is the largest provider of specialist Cellular Pathology services within Cheshire and Merseyside. The department consists of over 100 members of staff, including Medical Laboratory Assistants, Associate Practitioners, Biomedical Scientists, Consultant Pathologists, pathology trainees and administrative and managerial staff working together to deliver the specialist Cellular Pathology service at LCL for Cheshire and Merseyside
The department’s operating hours are 07:00 to 19:00 Monday to Friday and 08:00 to 16:00 Weekends and Bank Holidays.
The successful candidate will undertake all routine tasks within the Histology laboratory according to departmental Standard Operating Procedures and policies. These tasks include:
Paraffin wax embedding
Microtomy of all specimens
Haematoxylin and Eosin, and special staining
Freezing of human tissue for frozen sections, immunofluorescence and lipid stains
Equipment maintenance
Quality control procedures
Preparation of staining solutions and reagents
Safe disposal of a range of hazardous and non-hazardous laboratory waste
Monitoring and receipt of consumables and reagents
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital & Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
We are part of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, formed on 1 Nov 2024 from the coming together of LUHFT and Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust. The Group was born from a shared aim to improve the care we provide our patients.
UHLG is one of the largest employers in the region, with over 16,800 colleagues dedicated to caring for our communities - from birth and beyond.
For the 630,000 people across Merseyside, we are their local NHS. We provide general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services for more than two million people in the North West.
Aintree University Hospital is the single receiving site for adult major trauma patients in Cheshire and Merseyside and hosts a number of regional services including an award-winning stroke facility. Broadgreen Hospital is home to elective surgical, diagnostic and treatment services, together with specialist patient rehabilitation. Liverpool Women’s Hospital specialises in the health of women and babies, delivering over 7,200 babies in the UK’s largest single site maternity hospital each year. The Royal Liverpool University Hospital is the largest hospital in the country to provide inpatients with 100% single bedrooms and focuses on complex planned care and specialist services.
For roles at Liverpool Women’s, visit their careers page .
See Job Description for further details:
To participate in the activities of the department. Primarily providing the technical support of the diagnostic service to the Trust and other users, in accordance with departmental protocols and under appropriate supervision.
To participate in the routine work of the main histology laboratory in accordance with departmental protocols.
Receive specimens into the department ensuring correct patient
identification and accessioning.
Assist the pathologist and BMS staff during cut-up
Store specimens safely and appropriately prior to and after processing.
To embed processed surgical and postmortem material ensuring correct
Microtomy - simple sectioning of large blocks, sectioning levels from biopsy material, serial sectioning of material and macroscopic quality control of sections produced.
Haematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) staining – manual and automated methodologies.
Initial quality control checks.
Preparation of staining solutions and reagents.
Safe disposal of a range of hazardous and non-hazardous laboratory
waste i.e. paper, chemicals, glass, human tissues.
To take delivery of consumables as required.
To safely store and monitor levels of consumables reporting low stocks to senior members of staff.
To participate in some of the specialised areas of the department when required.
Special staining techniques including primary quality control of stains.
Freezing of material for frozen sections, immunofluorescence and lipid stains
Immuofluorescent techniques.
To participate in the departmental rota
Undertake tasks required for UKAS accreditation e.g.: reviewing SOPs.
All employees have a duty to take reasonable care to avoid injury to themselves or to others and to co-operate with the Trust in meeting its statutory requirements
To handle chemicals and biological material in accordance with COSHH regulations and departmental protocols, including handling possible chemical and biological spillages.
To participate in the department’s appraisal scheme.
To behave with courtesy and consideration to colleagues and service users, regardless of hierarchical or professional position within the organisation at all times.
All staff are expected to have or to gain a minimum of basic level IT skills to enable them to use the Trust IT systems to support Trust services and needs.
All staff should be familiar with relevant IT systems and security policies and procedures.
All staff are personally responsible for record keeping. A record is anything that contains information in any medium e.g. paper, tapes, computer information, etc. which have been created or gathered as a result of any NHS activity.
Please ensure you check the email account (including junk/spam boxes) from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.
Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.
