Medical Laboratory Assistant (Specimen Reception)

Job summary 1 x 37.5 hours per week and 1 x 30 hours per week available. Current operating hours at Southport and Ormskirk sites are Sunday - Saturday 8.00am - midnight, including bank holidays. There is a concurrent on-call rota covering the Ormskirk site from midnight - 7.30am Sunday - Saturday. The post holder will be expected to rotate across these shifts, in the first instance covering mainly Monday - Friday. The department is moving towards becoming operational 24/7 which will include night shift work. The primary role of the post is to receive samples for laboratory testing to check that all details of the request forms and samples match and to enter and receive them into our laboratory information system. It also includes the pre-analytical preparation required for analysis and ready to be processed on the analysers. This role is primarily based at Southport Hospital. Main duties of the job We are looking for an enthusiastic, organised, methodical and highly motivated individual. The responsibilities of this job are to perform basic clerical and reception duties within the laboratory, receive and log specimens into the department and record tests requested on the laboratory computer system. Working independently although under the technical supervision of a qualified Biomedical Scientist, to undertake pre-analytical preparation of specimens received and to act as the first point of reference for enquiries into the department. This will involve working closely with Consultant and junior medical staff, General Practitioners, Laboratory and other hospital/professional staff both in this organisation and outside agencies and assisting patients with general enquiries both on the telephone and face to face. You will be required to participate in the bank holiday, evening and weekend work rotas as required. Please note, previous candidates need not apply. This vacancy may close early if enough applications are received. About us Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites. We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care. Our Services: Acute Care Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites. Primary Care Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital. Community Services Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre. Specialist Regional Services We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales. Achievements: Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018 Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal) National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme Details Date posted 15 October 2026 Pay scheme Agenda for change Band Band 2 Salary £25,272 a year Per Annum, Pro Rata Contract Permanent Working pattern Full-time, Part-time Reference number 409-8102235-A Job locations Southport Hospital Town Lane Southport PR8 6PN United Kingdom Job description Job responsibilities KEY DUTIES Technical Duties may vary slightly from site to site so may or may not be applicable on all sites. Receive and barcode all samples and request forms as appropriate Enter Patient and Sample details into Laboratory Information System. Data entry of all patient identifiable information, clinical details and request details for all disciplines with the exception of Blood Transfusion into the Pathology (Telepath) system (accuracy is vitally important). Sort and deliver bar-coded samples/requests to appropriate department in a timely manner Receive requests into Telepath via the order communications systems Process samples through pre-analytical stages such as centrifugation, aliquoting into additional tubes, removal of clots and loading onto the analytical track to be analysed. Numbering, Telepath entry and loading of Blood Cultures onto the analyser in Microbiology Take and communicate as required all telephone enquires Prioritise urgent samples for fast tracking Process add-on Requests To use the Patient Administration System and other systems to check patient details. To carry out LIMS housekeeping manual patient merges in Haematology, Biochemistry and Microbiology once patient information has been checked in the above systems and to not