Dental Assistant in Burnley

Welcome to FCMS!

Pay: £13.00 Per Hour - Weekend and Bank holiday enhancements

Hours: Bank, Weekends & Bank holidays 2pm to 6pm

Reports to: Senior Dental Nurse

Base: Dental Department, St Peters Centre, Burnley

Closing Date: 21st April 2026

Overview of Role: An opportunity has arisen for a reliable and detail-oriented individual to join our Emergency Dental Service as a Dental Decontamination Technician. This role is essential in ensuring dental instruments and equipment are decontaminated, sterilised and safe for use, supporting both patient safety and the clinical team. Decontamination is the process by which reusable dental instruments are rendered safe for reuse on patients and safe for staff to handle. The process involves several key stages, including cleaning, disinfection, inspection, assembly, and sterilisation, and must be carried out in strict accordance with national regulations and guidance, including HTM 01-05.

About the Service: We are commissioned by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board to deliver NHS urgent and emergency dental care across Lancashire. Our service operates 365 days a year, providing essential care to patients outside of normal working hours, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays. We currently deliver services from multiple sites, including Blackpool, Morecambe, Blackburn and Burnley. We are committed to making a difference for our communities and take pride in delivering high-quality, safe and compassionate patient care when it is needed most.

Day to Day Duties to include, but not exhaustive:

• Undertake the full cycle of dental instrument decontamination in line with regulatory requirements and HTM 01-05 guidance.
• Inspect and assemble dental instruments, ensuring functionality, cleanliness and fitness for use.
• Operate sterilization equipment safely and effectively.
• Monitor, check and document sterilization cycles to ensure effectiveness and compliance with required standards.
• Demonstrate a good understanding of infection prevention and control principles and their importance within dental services.
• Adhere to strict infection control protocols, including the correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Maintain a clean, safe and hygienic decontamination environment through regular cleaning and disinfection.
• Ensure all documentation and records are completed accurately and maintained in line with policy and audit requirements.
• Stay informed about advancements in decontamination and infection control practices.
• Provide training and education to dental staff on proper decontamination techniques and infection control protocols.
• Any reasonable duties requested by line manager.

Our key expectations are:

• Self-awareness
• Living authentically
• Adaptability - Being ready to adjust depending on the situation
• Openness - What you see is what you get
• Positivity - with a real sense of being able to strive for the impossible
• Generosity of spirit - Everyday should be an opportunity to act with kindness
• Ability to have fun
• Taking the role seriously, whilst being yourself

Our Why: To nurture an environment of inspiration, innovation and disruption so this people in our world receive exceptional healthcare for this generation, and the next.

Values: Our organisational culture is very important to us, so it is vital that the successful candidate lives and breathes complimentary values and behaviours. Our behaviours should be in line with our values which form part of our Company DNA:

• Fun: People rarely succeed unless they are having fun. Happiness is healthy!
• Awesome: We aren't here to be average, we're here to be awesome!
• Humble: We're here to make a difference to the lives of others, NOT to see how important we can become
• Brave: We challenge the norm. We have the courage to get the difficult jobs done
• Oompf: We have natural oompf! It's infectious!
• Go-getting: We are intuitive to changing needs and respond quickly which we do with energy, ideas, and positivity

Come and be a part of our amazing team!

We offer:

• NHS Pension
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Career Development Opportunities
• Attendance Bonus
• Staff Benefit Scheme
• Free Tea & Coffee
• Eye Care Contributions
• Disability Confident Employer - As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exemption Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions. This will require three forms of valid ID to be produced and verified. The onboarding process is also subject to an Occupational Health check, suitable professional references and eligibility to work in the UK (with the requirement to provide relevant documentation as evidence). For Driver positions you will also be required to undertake a Driver check.

Person Specification

Qualifications Desirable NVQ l3 decontamination or equivalent

Experience Essential: Effectively work as part of the team, being considerate and caring of your team members. Good communication skills. Desirable: Experience in a similar role, preferably dentistry.

Skills, Knowledge & Competencies Essential: Excellent organizational and time management skills. Act on own initiative. An eye for detail. Work to a high standard. Desirable: Understanding of regulatory guidelines and standards related to instrument sterilization. (HTM01-05/CQC) Familiarity with dental instruments and equipment.

The organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. You will be expected to fulfil your mandatory safeguarding training at the level applicable to this role.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.