Apprentice Healthcare Science Associate

Exciting opportunities have arisen for Apprentice Healthcare Science Associates at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The posts are available to anyone who is interested in working within an NHS Healthcare environment while completing a Level 4 Diploma in Healthcare Science (24 months).
Staff new to the Trust will be employed on an apprentice contract so that they have an opportunity to 'earn while they learn'.
Our apprenticeships offer:
+ The chance to earn a salary while studying.
+ Training in job specific and transferrable skills
+ Protected time to study towards a related qualification (including literacy and numeracy if required)
+ Regular pastoral support and personal development reviews
+ Employment on a 24-month training contract, You will be trained to perform a variety of Healthcare Associate roles within a busy department, which will involve meeting, communicating, and working with people from all backgrounds.
You will be working directly with other Pathology staff, preparing samples for diagnostic tests, undertaking basic diagnostic investigations, inputting data, following procedures, ordering stock and any other associated administrative duties.
There will be taught sessions (these may be online) and work-based assessment which contribute to the learning element of the programme. Apprentices will complete a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate their learning and skills in practice in accordance with the apprenticeship framework.
The Level 4 Healthcare Science apprenticeship is suited to those who are interested in the welfare of others and have a caring attitude to other people, with a keen interest in science. We are looking for an individual who can put the patient's needs before their own, be honest, friendly and have a professional attitude to work. The work will be based in busy departments; therefore, will suit individuals who like to deal with a variety of tasks. Through your working practices you will apply dignity, respect and maintain confidentiality, you will work well in a team, be courteous, sympathetic and professional. It is also important that you maintain a safe working environment and contribute to the safeguarding of patients.

Working for our organisation
We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, covering one of the largest geographical areas of any NHS trust in the country. Leading in innovation and quality - opening a state of the art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn't, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare, this is the Northumbria Way! Please read 'applicant guidance
notes' before submitting your application.
We'd be particularly keen to hear from you if:
+ You live in a neighbourhood with a low rate of progression to higher education.
+ You have been looked after or in care.
+ You would be in the first generation of your family to progress onto a level 4 qualification., Apprentice Healthcare Science Associates will undertake an initial structured departmental induction and then follow a training programme throughout the apprenticeship to enable them to:
· Work under the supervision of the Biomedical Scientist and other team members in the delivery of high-quality care.
· Provide assistance and support to a broad spectrum of service users, and the multi-disciplinary team.
· Take operational and administrative responsibilities for a specific area of the laboratory or provide operational and administrative support within a laboratory area. This may include the supervision of Medical Laboratory Assistants (MLA) and/or Level 2 Apprentices.
· Assist with the daily workload within a department.
· Be responsible for performing a range of scientific procedures on biological samples that contribute to the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of diseases and the investigation of other pathological processes.
· Gain relevant work-based learning within a Healthcare environment.
· Become prepared and knowledgeable within the working environment and work towards gaining a Level 4 Diploma in Healthcare Science.
The work of the service brings staff into constant contact with human body fluids, tissues, and hazardous chemicals. This may be blood, urine, other body fluids and faeces.
Please read person specification for essential qualifications before applying.
Closing Date: Please be advised that this job advert will close as soon as sufficient applications have been received. Please apply for this job as soon as you can, if interested.
Applicants who are members of the Armed Forces, and those who have a disability that requires support in the work place (two ticks pledge) and who meet the essential criteria will be interviewed under the Trust's interview guarantee scheme.
We recognise the positive value of diversity and inclusion and are committed to a workforce that is diverse, equal and inclusive. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME people are currently under-represented in our workforce as well as other under-represented groups such as LGBT+ and disabled candidates. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we have a Gold award from the Defense Recognition Scheme, and we are delighted to support Apprenticeships, Age Posi+ive and are a mindful employer.
If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend interview please make the recruitment team aware as soon as possible by calling our HR Recruitment Team on option 2.
Applicants who meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPR) will require additional pre-employment checks in line with CQC and NHS England statutory guidance.
Make sure to read the 'applicant guidance notes' before submitting your application and make sure you know everything there is to know before joining our fantastic trust!
Please note that it is a requirement of this Trust that all successful applicants pay for their own DBS certification if a DBS check is required for the post. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first monthly pay.

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022). Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn't, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!
What the Northumbria Way means for you:
+ Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
+ Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
+ A range of flexible working opportunities
+ Generous annual leave and pension scheme
+ Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
+ Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
+ On-site nursery places via salary sacrifice
+ Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank
We are proud to be one of the country's top performing NHS trusts - rated 'outstanding' overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people's homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.
We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise - a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people's lives, such as education, employment and the economy.
If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.
Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.