Job summary
- Main area
- Pharmacy
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 3
- Contract
- Secondment: 12 months
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 196-LIS9505
- Employer
- Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £30,039 - £31,088 inc HCA
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 25/05/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Environmental Monitoring Assistant
NHS AfC: Band 3
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
Due to secondment, we are looking for an enthusiastic, motivated individual with an interest in pharmaceutical microbiology. Ideally the candidate will have experience in undertaking monitoring activities or working in the cleanroom environment and is familiar with performing settle and contact plating, completing swabs along with air and particulate sampling.
The candidate will not only undertake monitoring activities but read plates, liaise with contract laboratories to identify organisms recovered and report results back to our manufacturing units which are critical to ensure environmental control is maintained.
This is an ideal opportunity for a recent graduate in a biology / microbiology / biomedical sciences field or an aseptic / production operator who has previously successfully undertaking monitoring activities in a cleanroom / laboratory environment.
Training on gowning procedures and sampling techniques will be provided.
Note: this post operates across both Guys (London Bridge) and St Thomas' (Waterloo) sites
If you are looking for a new challenge then this could be the opportunity for you.
Main duties of the job
To undertake the physical and environmental monitoring of aseptic, production, radiopharmacy and other trust manufacturing units. Supervision of media incubation and reading/recording of results of microbiological recoveries and accurately imputing data onto Quality Management Systems in accordance with GMP and current departmental procedures.
Working for our organisation
Department Information
The Pharmacy Quality Assurance department at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust is an independent department within Pharmacy which provides support and guidance to clinical pharmacists and in-patient pharmacy dispensaries at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital plus alongside the on-site Quality Control department provide a full Quality Assurance manufacturing and product release service to aseptic, sterile and non-sterile manufacturing.
The manufacturing units undertake a wide range of manufacturing and dispensed activities to provide medicines to meet the special clinical needs of patients which are not commercially available. Each unit has a full complement of Pharmacists, Technicians and Assistants and prepare a wide range of products.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Pharmacy Quality Assurance – Micro-team SATO
- To carry out routine physical and microbiological environmental monitoring of pharmaceutical production areas following Standard Operating Procedures and schedules.
- To use environmental monitoring and other QA equipment correctly by following the procedures for use, cleaning and monitoring of such equipment.
- To ensure that all required documentation is filled in correctly, processed and filed in the correct manner according to GMP principles.
- To maintain and update accurate record logs of environmental monitoring undertaken and subsequent results.
- To assist in the arrangements for QA equipment calibrations.
- To accept delivery of materials for the Pharmacy QA micro-team.
- To book in raw materials and containers on receipt from external suppliers according to Standard Operating Procedures.
- To assist in the stock control of media used in the microbiological monitoring service.
- To actively assist senior staff in the maintenance of the Quality Management System.
- To contribute to the development of GMP documentation such as standard operating procedures and worksheets.
- To contact Manufacturers and Suppliers to obtain appropriate Certificate of Analysis or Certificates of Conformity for received raw materials and containers.
- To ensure that working procedures at all times conform with standards of Good Laboratory Practice, The Health and Safety at Work Act, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations and other relevant legal and professional directives.
General:
- To undertake other duties as required in order to maintain the safe, efficient and effective provision of Pharmaceutical services.
- To contact appropriate supervisor for assistance as required when undertaking the activities of this job description.
- To attend courses and undertake training to develop expertise in appropriate skills, where training needs are identified.
Person specification
Education/Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Numerate and literate
- Computer literate (Microsoft office applications)
- GCSE (or equivalent) Grade C or above in Maths, English and Science
Desirable criteria
- NVQ Level 2 in Pharmacy Services or equivalent
Experience
Essential criteria
- Demonstrated ability to work accurately to set procedures.
- Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team and under own initiative.
- Demonstrated ability to prioritise and organise routine daily tasks using own initiative.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate routine information effectively using clear written and spoken English.
Desirable criteria
- Demonstrated ability to undertake tasks within an aseptic preparation area.
- Demonstrated practical understanding of the principles of GMP and QA.
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to work within a team and under own initiative
- Ability to work unsupervised after suitable training.
- Able to work under pressure and prioritize workload
Desirable criteria
- Willing to ensure continuing education and professional development
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Frederick Akuffo
- Job title
- Pharmaceutical Microbiologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0207 188 5047
- Additional information
List jobs with Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in Health Science Services or all sectors