Job overview
Please note that this post is Part of One LSC – a corporate collaboration hosted by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and providing Estates and Facilities Services to Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The role of Sterile Services Technician is a vital component in the day-to-day running of any surgery department. It requires focus and a microscopic attention to detail, ensuring the safety of all those involved in surgery, from staff to patient. If you think you are up to the challenge, we would love to hear from you!
As a Technician your role will be one that requires a methodical and accurate approach to the production of theatre trays and procedure packs containing surgical instrumentation and reprocessing endoscopes. This is accomplished using dedicated washers and sterilizer’s, that require the sets to be dismantled, decontaminated, reassembled and sterilized before being returned to the operating theatres. Adherence to departmental standards and procedures is essential.
Main duties of the job
Some of your day-to-day duties will include ensuring compliance with ISO 13485:2016 standards and meeting the requirements of the Medical Devices Regulations. You will be responsible for the collection, inspection, cleaning, disinfection, maintenance, assembling, packing, sealing, labeling, and sterilization of surgical instruments, trays, and equipment. It is essential to operate all equipment safely, following the provided work instructions, including washer disinfectors and sterilizers. Working as part of a team, you will ensure that all tasks are completed efficiently and within the required timeframes.
Additionally, you will be required to participate in weekend and Bank Holiday rotas to support continuous service delivery.
You may be required to drive a Light Goods Vehicle (LGV) during periods of staff shortages or emergency requests.
Working for our organisation
We have 10,000 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.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
* To decontaminate re-usable medical devices effectively and in line with departmental deadlines requiring each set to be dismantled prior to cleaning and reassembled and checked prior to sterilization.
* The department uses dedicated washers and sterilizer equipment as part of the process. Upon completion of appropriate training you will be required to understand and operate these machines.
* The department has a dedicated training programme in addition to the trusts mandatory programme which all technicians are required to complete. The process has been broken down in to various modules which are to be completed before competency can be approved.
* Technicians must ensure that the instrumentation is accurate against the instrument checklists both at receipt and at dispatch and has been recorded on the tracking system.
* You will be required to work to strict adherence of an accredited Quality Management System (QMS) that the department is required to maintain in order to retain its accreditation with Medical Devices Directives
* Effective communication with colleagues, supervisors and Managers is crucial. Information about instrument sets may need to be conveyed back to theatres or to other colleagues during shift changes.
* As part of this role the department is required to collect dirty and distribute sterile instrumentation around numerous ward and clinic areas.
* The department is required to maintain a pre-determined level of goods for use on wards and clinics. All technicians are required to participate in the departments Top-Up system to the wards and departments of the trust.
* Ensure that stock, sets, and instrumentation is correctly rotated upon return to wards and departments to restrict the amount of sets reaching expiry.
* Input data to produce checklists, labels and delivery notes using the departments track & trace system. The track & trace system enables all items to be tracked at each stage of the process thus providing an assurance that all instrumentation had undergone the correct and complete process
* You will be expected to maintain a good standard of housekeeping throughout the department and adhere to environmental control limitation such as limited amounts of products to be stored and removal of external packaging prior to submission to the clean room.
* The washers and sterilizers are required to undergo some basic daily housekeeping checks which are undertaken by the machine operative on a daily basis.
* Push/pull instrument transportation trolleys
Person specification
Qualifications & Education
Essential criteria
* Full UK Manual Driving License
Desirable criteria
* Basic Hygiene qualification
* Decontamination qualification
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
* Awareness of Health & Safety at work policies
Desirable criteria
* Knowledge of work undertaken by Sterile services
* Knowledge of surgical instrumentation
* Knowledge/ Experience of operating washers/ Sterilizers
* Knowledge of COSHH
* Experience of working in a cleanroom environment.
* Awareness of quality control systems
* Recent experience of manufacture in a sterile services department