Senior Healthcare Science Assistant

Employer heading

Senior Healthcare Science Assistant

Band 3

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.

With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, we’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.

As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and suitability qualified Senior Healthcare Science Assistants to join the Blood Sciences Laboratory. We currently have vacancies in the Specimen Reception of our busy Blood Sciences Departments.

• Interview Date Wednesday 29 April 2026
• 37 Hours 30 Minutes/Week (Various Hours Available)
• You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy.
  
  

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Main duties of the job

Successful candidates will work alongside a team of other Senior Healthcare Science Assistant, Biomedical Scientists and Healthcare Scientists contributing to the day-to-day work of the sections including specimen reception duties, administrative tasks and performing practical laboratory work. You must have good attention to detail and organisation skills, as well as being able to prioritise and manage your workload.

Working for our organisation

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

With around 2 million contacts with patients every year, we deliver care from:

• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Freeman Hospital
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Cramlington Manor Walks
• Urgent treatment centres
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service
  
  

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.

For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

• A Senior Healthcare Science Assistant (HCSA) is part of a clinical support team whose purpose is to provide timely and accurate high quality scientific information that will assist service users from the hospital and community, in the establishment of a clinical diagnosis and monitoring of patient treatment.
• The Senior HCSA will use extended technical skills to carry out a variety of laboratory duties including reception and data entry of requests received and some routine pathological tests under the direct or indirect supervision and guidance of a Biomedical Scientist.
• To assist in the preparation of specimens for analysis, including the separation of blood, serum and plasma, and the cataloguing and storage of specimens.
• Entering requests into the laboratory computer system.
• To carry out, under direct or indirect supervision, some laboratory diagnostic tests and the operation of laboratory equipment. This may be in the laboratory or in Point of Care Testing environments such as wards an clinics where supervision and advice may be available by telephone or electronic means.
• To order blood products from the National Blood Authority and to transfer blood stocks as appropriate under the supervision of a senior member staff.
• To label and issue patient intended blood/blood products.
• To assist in the department Quality Assurance programmes
• To work in compliance with local health and safety rules to ensure a safe working environment for you, colleagues and visitors. To adhere to department and Trust Health and Safety policies (including COSHH, Risk assessments and Standard Operating Procedures) and to report any non-compliances to a senior member of staff.
• Answering telephone enquiries and retrieving results in accordance with the standard operational procedure.
  
  

Person specification

KNOWLEDGE

Desirable criteria

• Basic understanding of the biology of the blood
  
  

Skills

Essential criteria

• Technical skills to support the routine use of laboratory equipment
• Good communication skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Keyboard skills
  
  

Experience

Desirable criteria

• Experience as a HSA in Blood Sciences
  
  

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• NVQ 3 or equivalent in Biomedical Science related subject or equivalent plus laboratory working experience or significant Blood Science laboratory experience
• Educated to a minimum level of five GCSE at grade C to include English, Maths and Science or equivalent qualifications
  
  

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Documents to download

• Job Description (PDF, 174.7KB)
• Newcastle Staff Benefits (PDF, 274.4KB)
• Behaviour and Civility Charter (PDF, 93.8KB)
  
  

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name Ian McGahan Job title Blood Sciences Reception Manager Email address i.mcgahan@nhs.net Telephone number 01912448203 Additional information

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