Senior Clinical Technologist

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Be a specialist engineer for a range of allocated highly complex medical equipment.
• Take a leadership role in the day-to-day activity of the service and work they are assigned, including the management of staff assigned to the same/similar task, ensuring service objectives and targets are met.
• Work under own initiative, manage and prioritise own workload and workload of others and exercise a broad degree of responsibility.
• Takes a leadership role in organising, prioritising, and undertaking unsupervised maintenance and repairs to specialised equipment in critical care/surgical areas whilst patients are present.
• In consultation with the section lead, devise/develop and maintain planned maintenance schedules on all high/medium risk medical equipment.
• Undertake preventative maintenance, servicing, inspection, and repair to a wide range of complex and patient-critical medical equipment.
• Communicate effectively with clinical users to schedule servicing or gain a clear understanding of the nature of problems with equipment. They shall assess the seriousness and implications of any reported problems and respond appropriately to the urgency of the user request.
• Undertake fault-finding. Apply suitable fault-finding techniques to diagnose problems, which may be due to user error, equipment failure or environmental issues (e.g. Temperature, RF interference). Undertake repairs on complex mechanisms and systems to component level.
• Carry out modifications to highly complex multi-module medical equipment as specified by equipment manufacturers, and any remedial work recommended by the MHRA hazard notices or manufacturer FSN’s.
• Arrange the return of repaired equipment to the clinical user, taking into account urgency and departmental targets.
• Write and update written procedures for the performance and functional verification of medical devices. Assist the section lead in ensuring all relevant documentation such as work instructions are complete and up to date.
• Take a leadership role in ensuring that stocks of any components and spare parts used, do not fall below agreed levels. Submit requisitions for spare parts, the dispatch of ‘back to base’ repairs and engineer callouts dealing with subsequent financial queries regarding price verification and delivery of goods and services.
• Take a leadership role in developing and maintaining a technical library.
• Propose and be prepared to support changes to departmental working practices and to assist the Management team in the preparation of reports and feedback following equipment commissioning, service, repair, evaluation, or failure.
• Ensure that work carried out within the service complies with set procedures and conform to the appropriate quality standards. Advise the line manager on any matters of concern to ensure continual improvement of service performance.
• Shall have a good knowledge of the trusts policy on medical device management and shall hence bring to the attention of the management team all matters relating to noncompliance of the policy, that they are made aware of.
• Prioritise planned preventative maintenance and medical equipment breakdown requests with departmental colleagues to ensure that the overall maintenance plan is achieved, and repairs are made as quickly and as efficiently as possible, keeping in mind the departments defined KPI’s.
• Keep relevant scientific and technical records of work performed. In particular ensure the equipment management computer database is operated in an accurate, methodical manner with work being logged as it progresses until completion.
• Liaise with manufacturers to obtain information on spares availability and return of equipment from repair, or if technical support/advice is required.
• Assist with medical equipment procurement exercises by liaising with clinical staff, company representatives and engineers, either during clinical trials or technical evaluations.
• Support the calibration organiser to maintain test equipment in a safe and operable condition.
• Provide specialised in depth, detailed technical advice regarding the operation, limitations, configuration, procurement, and maintenance aspects of medical equipment to clinical and other staff groups as appropriate. Provide technical support to patients and carers as appropriate. Promote a culture of good customer communications.
• Respond to Medical Device Alerts from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and from equipment manufacturers and as directed by the section Leads or Clinical Scientists.
• Investigate incidents/non conformances and contribute to high quality technical reports stating the outcomes of findings. Supply information to the management team who will coordinate responses to risk management and external bodies (MHRA).
• Attend and contribute to the regular section meetings. Appreciate and influence policymaking and procedural updates. Take part in other formal meetings and working groups as requested by the section leads/clinical scientists
• Ensure that our customers receive a high quality, prompt and efficient service at all times and are kept up to date as to the progress of their equipment maintenance repairs and enquiries.
• Appraise staff within the team, ensuring that staff they manage have clear objectives and an appropriate personal development plan.
• Monitor and oversee trainees on placement and others as requested by section leads/clinical scientists. Provide technical training and supervision to junior staff, and undertake competency assessments in line with the departmental policy on training and competency.
• Be a registered clinical technologist, or be working to achieve this registration. Participate in Continued Professional Development.
• Ensure the Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER 98). Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Participate in a service to remote sites where Clinical Engineering provides a maintenance support service.
• Clean and decontaminate contaminated equipment. Information must be sought as to the nature of contamination and the associated risks before carrying this action out.
• Manage own day-to-day workload and the workload of others with only minimal direction by line manager. Maintain high quality customer services in the absence of senior staff.