Point Of Care Testing Officer

The POCT Department is looking to recruit a Full Time (37.5hr) POCT officer and a part time (20hrs) POCT officer.
The POCT officer role will include being actively involved in the monitoring of all Point of Care Testing (POCT) instrumentation which will include troubleshooting, quality control, audit and ensuring training records are maintained.
It is essential that you hold a full driving licence and have a good understanding of laboratory processes.
The post holder is expected to work as part of a team within the Point of Care Testing Department within the Black Country Pathology Service. After training they will be required to : -
Work as part of the POCT (Point of Care Testing) team providing an efficient, cost effective and timely POCT service to equipment users.
Provide technical support for Haematology clinics.
Concentration and attention to detail are essential to these processes and form the greater part of the working day. The post holder will require excellent organisational skills as they will be expected to plan their own daily activities which will depend on the status of the POCT equipment and the needs of the clinical users.
Whilst the post holder will be based at Walsall Manor Hospital the role is BCPS wide and duties cover all disciplines and outlying
hospitals/facilities. This will involve travel to, and from these hospitals and institutions.
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust is one of the largest NHS trusts in the West Midlands providing primary, acute and community services and we are incredibly proud of the diversity of both our staff and the communities we serve. We are building a workforce that can help us to fulfil our values, improve quality of Care for patients, and solve the health care problems of tomorrow. We’re passionate about the value that diversity of thinking and lived experience brings in enabling us to become a learning organisation and leader in delivering compassionate care for our patients.
We are delighted that we have been rated as “Good” by CQC. We have achieved numerous awards; The Nursing Times Best Diversity and Inclusion Practice and Best UK Employer of the Year for Nursing Staff in 2020.
The Trust is a supportive working environment committed to creating flexible working arrangements that suit your needs and as such will consider all requests from applicants who wish to work flexibly.
Liaise with the BCPS POCT Manager or deputy in planning, coordinating and organising the overall workload to ensure completion of work and that the POCT service is supported during normal working hours.
Plan own daily activities, depending on the daily status of the POCT equipment and needs of the clinical users.
Answer telephone enquiries regarding POCT equipment and communicate professionally with clinical users and liaise with other health professionals and POCT equipment suppliers.
Use, troubleshoot and assess POCT equipment and decide on the course of action to be taken when equipment failures occur. Provide advice, support and training to users of the equipment who are less experienced.
Ensure faulty equipment is returned to the manufacturer, when necessary, following set protocols.
Participate in stock control and correct storage of POCT consumables, alerting the BCPS POCT Manager or deputy when POCT consumables need to be purchased.
Assist in the distribution of External Quality Assurance (EQA) samples, collation of EQA data from appropriate software and entry of results into web based EQA schemes.
Analyse internal quality control (IQC) and EQA samples on POCT equipment when required. Perform tests using the equipment to ensure that it is working correctly.
Reconstitute IQC and EQA material which requires accuracy, ensuring that it is made up using correct volumes and with appropriate timings to ensure accurate results.
Carry out audits when required.
Perform general office duties associated with POCT activities such as scanning, photocopying.
Use a variety of different IT platforms for monitoring POCT equipment and entering and removing data such as user details.
Carry out the safe, accurate and precise handling of POCT equipment, reagents and samples. The use of the POCT equipment requires good hand eye co-ordination. Pipettes are used to aliquot small sample volumes and the post holder must ensure that the correct amount of sample is applied to the correct location at the correct time to ensure an accurate result is produced.
Understand basic analyser principles for processing samples.
Load up and closedown analysers/meters e.g. full blood count analyser.
Process internal quality control material and check within limits. Know how to troubleshoot IQC failures.
Process EQA material.
Check form/sample labelling and number samples according to laboratory protocols.
Analyse patient samples.
Perform stock control and batch recording of reagents.
Perform elementary clot removal.
Perform maintenance/decontamination and basic troubleshooting. Know when to phone the laboratory if the analyser/meter malfunctions.
Check results with previous/historical results for discrepant results.
Know the meaning of analyser flags.
Send samples to main laboratory.
Assist in equipment validation and audit.
Perform an unpredictable variety of activities, requiring differing combinations of sitting, standing, walking and lifting, with frequent periods of computer work.
Travel to all BCPS Trusts and the outlying hospitals.
Good hand eye co-ordination and accuracy when preparing IQC, EQA and using pipettes for measurement of samples.
Utilise and ensure others utilise information and IT systems to secure accurate and timely patient, workforce and resource data.
Demonstrate knowledge of the financial implications of adherence to Trust policies and exercise financial control by ensuring adherence to protocols.
Communicate with colleagues and clinical staff to convey information that may include patient data of a complex and sensitive nature.
Plan own daily activities depending on the status of the POCT equipment and the needs of the clinical users.
Liaise with various grades of internal and external staff
Assist in the development of audit tools and the dissemination of data
Investigate, report and document adverse incidents/near misses in accordance with the Trusts Clinical Governance strategy.
Use of laboratory information Management systems and other POCT IT platforms as necessary (training will be given).
Input patient data (including demographics onto the laboratory information system) and retrieval of patient data.