Job Description

An opportunity has arisen due to the opening of the Kent & Medway Orthopaedic Centre to work within the Decontamination Distribution Department at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospital as a Decontamination Support Worker. This post will alternates between sites within the trust, therefore the successful candidate will be required to travel to both Maidstone and Pembury.

You will work within a small team and be responsible for ensuring that sterile equipment for theatres, wards and departments is available and in good condition. The post holder will need to be flexible in their approach to given tasks with the ability to work both independently and as part of the team.

The role will include the delivery of clean surgical instrumentation to theatres, wards and departments, checking the integrity of sets prior to delivery to ensure sterility has been maintained for the end user. The role also incorporates other tasks to assist other departments within the trust and these will be discussed at interview.

You will be required to work 37.5 hours a week between 8am-7pm Monday \xe2\x80\x93 Friday and weekends on a rota basis. Currently set at one weekend in four.

The role will also involve assisting with repair and quarantine processes and assisting with loan kit process. You will scan and receive clean sets, scan and send dirty sets away for processing, undertake deliveries to wards, departments and theatres, manage the repair of surgical instrumentation and assist the supervisor and coordinator with other related tasks associated with decontamination.

You would benefit from having the following attributes: basic computer skills, good people skills and a flexible approach to working.

You must be able to carry out manual handling duties as this role will involve the movement of large trolleys around the hospital.

We are a small hard working team who work closely together to ensure the theatre department and other areas using sterile equipment for patients have what they need. Our work is critical to the smooth running of patient services.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is a large acute hospital Trust in the county of Kent.

The Trust provides a full range of general hospital services and some areas of specialist complex care to around 760,000 people living in the south part of West Kent and the north part of East Sussex.

The Trust\xe2\x80\x99s core catchment areas are Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells and their surrounding boroughs. We work from two main clinical sites: Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury. Tunbridge Wells Hospital opened in 2011 and provides single rooms with en-suites for all in-patients \xe2\x80\x93 the first of its kind in the country.

We employ more than 7,000 full and part-time staff in a huge range of clinical and non-clinical roles across both of our hospital sites.

Once your pre-employment checks have been completed you will be contacted by Recruitment to arrange your start date which will be in line with one of our Corporate Inductions.

Please note that appointment to this post will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure & Barring Service Check atStandard Level.

At MTW, we seek to develop a culture where everyone can reach their full potential with opportunities to grow and develop their career. We recognise and value the unique contributions that each of our staff bring, delivering the best quality care and service to our patients. We are committed to being a diverse employer and strive to reflect everyone in our local communities. We welcome applications from people of diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences and celebrate the diversity of thought, viewpoints and ideas that will make our Trust the best place to work.

This post forms part of the new Kent and Medway Orthopaedic Centre team at Maidstone Hospital. Over 200 new posts will support the new Centre, which is part of a national scheme to deliver more than 50 new surgical hubs across England. The new Centre will open in spring 2024 and treat patients from across the region, increasing the Trust\xe2\x80\x99s capacity for planned surgical procedures.

The Centre will contain the latest novel open plan laminar flow theatres; open-plan surgical areas where up to three patients are treated in a dedicated space with a specialised air canopy over each station to prevent the spread of infection. The new facility will also include a 14-bed inpatient ward and a 10-bed day case ward, with recovery, x-ray and therapy space, all within a dedicated elective building.

The Centre will expand orthopaedic surgical capacity across Kent and Medway, playing an important part in elective recovery and the reduction of patient waiting times across the region.