Biomedical Scientist - Microbiology

The King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) in the Falkland Islands has an opportunity for a Biomedical Scientist with Microbiology expertise to join the team in the Laboratory for a fixed term 12 month period to cover maternity leave.  The department serves a small, diverse population and processes over 60k test per annum.  The laboratory has a small staff establishment of four BMS staff, one food and water scientist and two support staff, that provide testing across Biochemistry, Haematology, Transfusion, Clinical Microbiology and Food & Water Microbiology.

Working as part of a multi-disciplinary clinical diagnostic team offering a service to our small, remote and rural hospital and two external independent medical centres, you will act in a dual capacity mainly working in Microbiology but also covering areas within Blood Science.

Registered as a Biomedical Scientist with the HCPC, you will have an honours degree or equivalent experience suitable for registration with the Institute of Biomedical Science or equivalent international body.

This a wonderful opportunity to expand your professional skill mix whilst enjoying life in a unique location with unprecedented access to nature.

The Role

Perform and report investigations in all the main areas of a bacteriology lab (blood cultures, respiratory, genital, urine, enteric testing, wound and ENT cultures) and also serology and molecular testing methods.

Opportunities to train and participate in Food & Water Microbiology will be provided to ensure that service provision in all areas of microbiology testing is resilient.  Training in provision of blood science testing will be provided to allow the candidate to participate in the multi-disciplinary out of hours roster, including lone working at weekends.

The role reports directly to the Laboratory Manager and has no direct line management responsibility for staff.

The Person:

Is familiar with UK Standards for Microbiology Investigations (UK SMIs) on which the KEMH laboratory methods are based.

• Has experience in performing antibiotic sensitivity testing and reporting using disc diffusion method and EUCAST guidelines.
• Experienced with working to ISO standards 17025 and/or 15189.
• Has a high level of professionalism, especially in regards to medical confidentiality and data protection.
• Has sufficient experience to confidently make independent decisions about microbiology issues.
• Is thorough in the undertaking of internal quality control and assurance activities.
• Must be comfortable working with a high degree of autonomy, but communicate effectively both with departmental team members and clinical colleagues.
• Organised, enthusiastic, self-motivated and proactive, problem solver and a supportive team player.
• Has at least 2 years’ experience working in a clinical Microbiology laboratory.