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Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

About
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is an award winning NHS Foundation Trust which provides hospital and community health services in North Tyneside, and hospital, community health and adult social care services in Northumberland.
Contact
- Address
- Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Human Resources Department
- Northumbria House
- 7/8 Silver Fox Way, Cobalt Business Park
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- NE27 0QJ
- Contact Number
- 0191 2031415 Option 2
Lead Quality Assurance (QA) Officer
Accepting applications until: 03-Sep-2025 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 03-Sep-2025 23:59
Key details
Location
- Gwefan
- Manufacturing and Innovation Hub
- Cyfeiriad
- Avenue Road
- Tref
- Seaton Delaval
- Cod post
- NE25 0QJ
- Major / Minor Region
- Tyne and Wear
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Oriau
- Full time
- Flexible working
Salary
- Cyflog
- £47,810 - £54,710 per annum
- Cyfnod cyflog
- Yearly
- Gradd
- (NHS AfC: Band 7)
Specialty
- Prif leoliad
- Medicines Manufacturing Centre
Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022). Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!
What the Northumbria Way means for you:
- Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
- Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
- A range of flexible working opportunities
- Generous annual leave and pension scheme
- Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
- Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
- On-site nursery places via salary sacrifice
- Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank
We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.
We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy.
If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.
Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.
Trosolwg o'r swydd
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a proactive and passionate Quality Assurance Officer to join the Medicines Manufacturing Centre (MMC)—a cutting-edge NHS pharmaceutical production facility based in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland. The MMC is in its final design stages, with facility construction planned through to September 2025. This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a pioneering NHS manufacturing facility, supporting a leadership team committed to quality, innovation, and patient care. Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received.
All employees of the Medicine Manufacturing Centre (MMC) are currently employed by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, under Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions. Should the service be transferred into alternative ownership, those employees with start dates prior to the transfer date, will be protected under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). Therefore, employees will transfer to the new employer on the same terms and conditions, which are protected and the employees’ continuity of employment is preserved
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- To contribute to the delivery of a GMP compliant manufacturing facility that optimises the regional benefit from the £30 million funding provided by NHSE.
- Support QA activities for products and processes under the MMC’s MS Licence, ensuring the compliance with MHRA and NHS standards.
- Provides technical QA resource, advice, and support to ensure GMP compliance at the MMC.
- Responsible for managing and training Quality Assurance staff.
- Manages the team that assures the quality of and release unlicensed medicines to the value of approximately £20 million per annum.
Gweithio i'n sefydliad
The Medicines Manufacturing Centre (MMC) is a brand-new, purpose-built NHS pharmaceutical production facility located at the Northumbria Innovation and Manufacturing Hub in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland. This cutting-edge centre is part of the North East and North Cumbria Provider Collaborative and has been established to meet the growing need for high-quality, regionally manufactured Ready-to-Administer (RtA) medicines and advanced aseptic products.
Funded with £30 million of investment from NHS England, the MMC will support a secure, sustainable supply chain for critical medicines, particularly for oncology and other high-risk therapies, while creating skilled jobs and driving innovation across the region. The facility is designed to operate under a Manufacturer’s Specials Licence (MS) and aims to secure a Wholesale Dealer’s Authorisation (WDA(H)), ensuring compliance with MHRA, GMP, and GDP regulations from day one.
At the MMC, quality, patient safety, and staff wellbeing are at the heart of everything we do. Our leadership team is committed to building a culture of openness, learning, and continuous improvement—offering staff a rare opportunity to help shape the systems, teams, and values of a truly modern NHS manufacturing unit.
Working at the MMC means being part of a forward-thinking and supportive team focused on enabling frontline clinical staff to spend more time with patients by delivering safe, ready-to-use medicines.
Swydd-ddisgrifiad a phrif gyfrifoldebau manwl
- To support and maintain the Pharmaceutical Quality System (PQS) within the Medicines Manufacturing Centre (MMC), ensuring compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), NHS guidance, and MHRA regulations.
- To complete relevant aspects of the PQS reporting systems e.g. Documentation Control, revision and approval, Change Control, Deviations, Quality Risk Assessments, Root Cause Analysis, Micro non-conformances, Complaints, Supplier Approval, Key Performance Indicator Trending, Quality Technical Agreements and Training Processes.
- To co-ordinate and perform the review, approval, and monitoring of QA processes, documentation, and release of products, as well as ensuring continuous improvement and regulatory compliance.
- To participate on investigations involving the quality of pharmaceutical products across the MMC
- To manage the Quality Assurance staff during day-to-day operations and longer-term planning
- To plan and implement a strategy to ensure a robust and fit for purpose Quality Assurance workforce throughout the product lifecycle
- To develop and monitor quality KPIs which demonstrate the state of control of the facility, and report these to the senior management team
- To role model compassionate and inclusive leadership to shape the creation of a collective leadership culture within the Trust. This means demonstrating a consistent leadership style which (a) engages, enables and empowers others (b) uses coaching to promote ownership of learning and quality improvement and (c)
facilitates team working and collaboration within teams / departments and across organisational boundaries.
Applicants who are members of the Armed Forces, and those who have a disability that requires support in the work place (two ticks pledge) and who meet the essential criteria will be interviewed under the Trust's interview guarantee scheme.
We recognise the positive value of diversity and inclusion and are committed to a workforce that is diverse, equal and inclusive. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME people are currently under-represented in our workforce as well as other under-represented groups such as LGBT+ and disabled candidates. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we have a Gold award from the Defense Recognition Scheme, and we are delighted to support Apprenticeships, Age Posi+ive and are a mindful employer.
If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend interview please make the recruitment team aware as soon as possible by calling our HR Recruitment Team on 0191 203 1415 option 2.
Applicants who meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPR) will require additional pre-employment checks in line with CQC and NHS England statutory guidance.
Make sure to read the ‘applicant guidance notes’ before submitting your application and make sure you know everything there is to know before joining our fantastic trust!
Certificate of Sponsorship
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust proudly hold a sponsor licence. In order to provide sponsorship you and the role you are applying for must meet UKVI eligibility requirements. Please check your eligibility prior to submitting an application. Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Please note that it is a requirement of this Trust that all successful applicants pay for their own DBS certification if a DBS check is required for the post. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first monthly pay.
Person specification
Qualifications / Professional Registration
Meini prawf hanfodol
- Degree in Pharmacy, Chemistry, Biology, or a related scientific field or equivalent experience.
- Or Basic qualification in pharmaceutical sciences (BTEC) or an equivalent scientific qualification to same level with a Postgraduate Diploma in Pharmaceutical Technology or similar.
- Eligible to be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), Royal Society for Chemistry (RSC) or Royal Society for Biology (RSB) or Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).
Meini prawf dymunol
- Master Qualification in a scientific discipline (preferably in Pharmaceutical Manufacture) or be willing to work towards a Diploma / Master’s degree while in post.
- Management qualification
- Professional Registration
Experience and knowledge
Meini prawf hanfodol
- Knowledge of GMP and MHRA guidelines and experience of working in a regulated environment.
- Significant experience postqualification relevant GMP experience.
- Extensive experience in the management and maintenance of pharmaceutical quality systems.
- Evidence of continuing education/professional CPD
Meini prawf dymunol
- Evidence of managing product release.
- Evidence of successfully managing a team
- Experience in manufacture of sterile medicines
- Experience of training colleagues in GMP
- Knowledge of or experience in coaching and mentoring practices and tools
- Knowledge of or experience in Quality improvement tools, techniques and methods.
Further details / informal visits contact
- Enw
- Carly McGurty
- Teitl y swydd
- Deputy Head of Quality
- Cyfeiriad ebost
- [email protected]
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