Registered/Trainee Biomedical Scientist in Newcastle upon Tyne

Employer The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Trustwide Town 317 Trustwide Salary £31,049 – £37,796 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 11/01/2026 23:59 Interview date 26/01/2026

Registered/Trainee Biomedical Scientist

Band 5 (Annex 21)

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.

With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, we’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.

As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under‑represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a well‑motivated individual to work in our Microbiology and Virology Department as a Registered Biomedical Scientist.

Applicants must have an accredited degree in Biomedical Science, be registered with the HCPC or be working towards such status and be eager to learn and participate in continuous professional development. Candidates should ideally have experience in Microbiology and/or Virology.

Applications for a Trainee BMS position will be considered from candidates with an IBMS accredited Biomedical Sciences degree. The successful applicant will be expected to undertake a period of on‑the‑job training whilst completing an IBMS Registration Training Portfolio, which will result in the award of an IBMS Certificate of Competence on successful verification. Typically, this will take approximately 12 months to achieve and will enable application for HCPC registration as a Biomedical Scientist. During this period the trainee will be placed on Annex 21 at 75% of Band 5.

• Interview Date 26th January 2026
• You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Main duties of the job

As a biomedical scientist, you will utilise scientific knowledge and technical skills to investigate a wide variety of patient samples to detect bacterial and viral pathogens. You will use both manual bacteriology methods, automation such as ROCHE Flow molecular systems and a wide range of stand‑alone serology platforms. You will primarily be expected to work in one of the 4 core sections Bacteriology, Serology, Molecular or TB, however there may be opportunities to rotate through all sections of the laboratory depending on service need. You will work closely with department medical/infection prevention and control/health protection teams to contribute to delivery of high quality patient care.

Applicants will be required to participate in out of hour’s service once trained.

The Microbiology & Virology team processes 1.8 million samples per year from patients within the Newcastle Hospitals Trust and wider Newcastle area. The department also acts as a regional reference laboratory for specialist testing such as TB and Mycology and is part of the North East North Cumbria ICB Pathology Alliance. The department is UKAS accredited ISO 15189 (2022) and is IBMS and National School of Healthcare Science accredited for training, with participation in CPD being actively encouraged.

Working for our organisation

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts every day, delivering high standards of healthcare from the following sites:

• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Health Innovation Neighbourhood (on the former Newcastle General Hospital and Centre for Ageing and Vitality site)
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting‑edge care (supported by state‑of‑the‑art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• The department of Microbiology and Virology is made up of several specialist sections and the post holder will normally rotate between them and participate as part of a team, in providing Microbiology and Virology laboratory support to the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, General Practitioners and other legitimate users of the service.
• Procedures will be carried out without supervision under the guidance of an Advanced Biomedical Scientist. The post holder will be required to evaluate situations and seek advice from senior members of staff if deemed appropriate.

Responsibilities

• To undertake the reception, sorting, numbering, booking in and preparation of Microbiology and Virology samples for analysis, including interpretation of clinical details and deciding which investigations are most appropriate.
• To inoculate and incubate culture plates, analyse cultures, decide on possible significant pathogens, identify micro‑organisms, perform antibiotic susceptibility tests, validate and report results and interpretive comments using judgement in determining and initiating further tests that may be required.
• To perform microscopical examinations on a variety of samples, identifying any abnormal results and taking appropriate actions.
• To process blood and serum samples by automated or manual methods, analysing and reporting results and interpretive comments.
• To bring any significant or aberrant results to the attention of the departmental senior staff, Medical staff and Infection Prevention & Control Team as appropriate.
• To provide specialist technical advice to Medical and Infection Prevention & Control Team regarding the results obtained.
• To actively participate in the maintenance and basic trouble shooting of automated laboratory equipment, report any faults and non‑compliances to a senior member of staff and take prompt and appropriate action in response to unexpected situations.
• To participate in the department Quality Assurance programmes and to report any non‑compliant events to a senior member of staff.
• To work in compliance with local health and safety rules to ensure a safe working environment for you, colleagues and visitors. To adhere to department and Trust Health and Safety policies (including COSHH, Risk assessments and Standard Operating Procedures) and to report any non‑compliances to a senior member of staff.
• To supervise, teach and train students, unqualified staff, Specialist Registrars or visitors, and to cover for absent colleagues.
• The Registered BMS will participate in Microbiology out of hours rotas when sufficiently experienced. They will be asked to provide cover for Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday duties in the department as required.
• The Registered BMS will be expected to be competent to take part in on‑call working, and will be required to provide out of hours cover during the week, at weekends and also Bank Holidays.

Person specification

Qualifications & Education

• BSc in Biomedical Sciences or other subject approved by IBMS & / or accredited by HCPC or working towards said qualifications
• Health & Care Professions Council registration as BMS (or commencing pathway to becoming State Registered)

Skills & Abilities

• Able to organise and prioritise own work activities
• Analytical and judgemental skills
• Planning and organisational skills
• Keyboard skills and some technical skills.
• Additional responsibilities e.g. manual handling, first aid
• Awareness of the role of Healthcare Science Practitioner / Biomedical Scientists

Knowledge & Experience

• CPD
• Familiarity with Health & Safety and COSHH
• NHS Laboratory Experience
• Specialist training courses
• Knowledge of the role of microbiology and/or virology
• Aware of ISO 15189 and evidence of its importance

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e‑mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.