Job Advert
This post is a 2 Year Fixed Term / Secondment position
About the Organisation:
National Services Scotland (NSS) is a national NHS Board operating right at the heart of NHSScotland (NHSS) providing support and advice at a strategic and operational level. NSS supports NHSS to deliver their services more efficiently and effectively and we offer shared services on a national scale using best-in-class systems and standards. Our priority is always the same – to improve the health and well-being of the people of Scotland. We do this by working in partnership with colleagues across Health and Social Care to deliver fit for purpose solutions and systems, delivering high quality services that help our stakeholders to free up resources so they can be re-invested into essential services. .
The Post:
The national decontamination agenda currently addresses a significant aspect of the public health agenda in relation to the control and prevention of Healthcare Associated Infection and iatrogenic transmission of vCJD.
Health Facilities Scotland is a division of National Services Scotland and provides operational guidance to NHSScotland bodies on a range of healthcare facilities topics. We deliver and co-ordinate effective advice and support in relation to national facilities, decontamination and equipping and technical matters which support and improve health and well-being services.
The Decontamination Team within HFS undertakes projects on behalf of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate and provides support to the NHS Scotland Boards. The aim of these projects is to improve the decontamination of medical devices undertaken within central, endoscope and local decontamination units throughout NHSScotland and the independent sector.
We are looking for a trainee Validation Engineer to join our existing team of home-based engineers, who carry out commissioning and annual testing of the full range of decontamination equipment (sterilizers, surgical instrument washer-disinfectors and endoscope washer-disinfectors) to ensure compliance with laid down standards and national guidance. The postholder will work under the supervision of a qualified and experienced Validation Engineer and follow a clearly defined programme of training to learn how to test each different type of machine in different types of decontamination units across Scotland. External training will also be provided by Eastwood Park Training Centre to enable the Trainee Validation Engineer to become fully qualified to test all types of decontamination equipment to annual level.
The Candidate:
Supported by the Team, the postholder will complete the training and be fully qualified and competent within 2 years of the appointment.
In addition, the postholder must be qualified to a minimum of HNC level in an appropriate engineering/microbiology/decontamination subject and will ideally have recent & appropriate experience in performing weekly/quarterly testing and/or maintenance on a range of decontamination equipment and will possess BTEC/City & Guilds Test Person/Competent Person quarterly testing qualification for steam sterilizers, instrument washer-disinfectors or endoscope washer-disinfectors.
The postholder will have excellent interpersonal, numeric, time-management and organisational skills and should be experienced in producing technical reports in relation to equipment performance.
Benefits:
Our benefits package includes pension scheme, comprehensive range of work life balance policies, occupational health services, learning resource centres and discounted leisure, financial and shopping benefits
Further Information:
For an informal discussion on the post, please contact Norman McLean, Validation Manager, Health Facilities Scotland, email norman.mclean@nhs.scot.
Further information on NSS is available from: www.nhsnss.org
Closing date for completed applications is Thursday 6th October 2022.
Please note that the majority of correspondence is sent by e-mail only, so please check your e-mail regularly (including junk folders).
NHS National Services Scotland is an equal opportunities employer and as committed participant in the disability confident scheme, guarantees to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies
We welcome applications from all candidates, however in line with Scottish Government requirement we will be giving priority consideration to NSS Test and Protect core staff who meet the essential criteria for the role.
NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society.