Specialist Biomedical Scientist
National Health Service Blood
Total years of experience :20 years, 3 Months
NHS Blood and Transplant is an executive non-departmental public body of England's Department of Health and Social Care. It was established on 1 October 2005 to take over the responsibilities of
two separate NHS agencies: UK Transplant (now renamed Organ Donation and Transplantation), and the National Blood Service (now renamed Blood Donation). Its remit is to provide a reliable, efficient supply of blood, organs and associated services to the NHS. Since NHSBT was established, the organisation has maintained or improved the quality of the services delivered to patients, stabilised the rising cost of blood, and centralised a number of corporate service. The company has been reconfigured and centralises strategy based on the closure of most local processing and testing labs, and subsequent operation out of just three large 'supercentres' to serve the same geographical area with the Filton centre in Bristol as the largest.
Key Responsibilities
• As a Biomedical Scientist I test sample size of 1% of daily blood donations and blood products for Quality monitoring to specification. I also carry out environmental monitoring of productions sites for compliance to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. I process about 4, 000 blood samples and operate a range of laboratory analysers and equipment including Navios Flow cytometer, Olympus PK7300, Abbott Prisms, Architect, Roche Cobas Taqman 6800 & 8800 signing off controls daily. I handle mandatory microbiological testing on Blood donors for blood safety. And also identify the blood groups and subtypes that are clinically importance for transfusion.
•My experience working on my own in the lab requires excellent troubleshooting skills and creative problem solving skills while maintaining the highest levels of compliance. To this end I have been trained as a Continuous Improvement and Lean Practitioner adept at using A3 and logical problem solving.
•I Perform routine and ad-hoc temperature monitoring on sample and reagent storage fridges, freezers and other critical equipment. I also carry out water testing including testing for conductivity using ELGA water purification system for my Lab.
•Carry out routine analysis on quality control in-process samples ensuring compliance with GLP/GMP and that all turnaround times are met. While working as a part of a close knit team, a high level of organization and self -motivation is required to ensure all tasks required across the board were completed. An amount of flexibility is required to carry out an in-process testing role. In a fast paced, ever changing environment a degree of organization between team members and constant communication is required to ensure all tasks are completed and all turnaround times are met.
•Ensured test-result validity before recording /reporting results, earning a reputation for meticulous attention to detail.
•Demonstrated the ability to communicate test results effectively to Blood Component Laboratory, Issues Department, Stem Cell Laboratory, Red Cell Immunohematology Lab and other interdisciplinary team focused on providing exemplary quality of care.
•Reviewed quality control results within laboratory using standard laboratory test and measurement controls, and maintained compliance with MHRA, BSQR, safety and risk-management guidelines.
•Responsible for completing assigned quarterly reports, and reports on microbiological testing for stake holders meeting
•Trained in both managing and performing environmental monitoring of the Filton testing site including water analysis, microbiological sampling.
•Reviewed documentation for archiving and did all required to keep the lab in a constant state of audit readiness, good documentation practice and information governance.
•Involved in daily meetings on performance and challenges in the laboratory.
•Interact with other departments, kept colleagues informed of current issues and developments as appropriate. Communicate technical issues to other departments which often included a non-technical audience.
•Proficient in LIMS, Pulse Graphic User Interface, Telepath, Hematos and Microsoft Office.
•Trained new analysts on laboratory tasks and also on environmental monitoring procedures for compliance to GMP.
Key Achievements
•Assisted in the implementation of 6S in the testing laboratory, I cleaned and inspected areas daily along with bringing issues forward on areas needing improvement to keep standards high.
•I have saved the company several thousands of pounds in expenditure with my introduction of lean and continuous improvement initiatives in standardisation of methods, techniques and work flow
Daily operational organisation, coordination and analysis of workload and release of results to LIMS
•I performed validation of tests methods, Lot release tests, and Delivery Acceptance Tests and on all Kits in use in the Quality Monitoring section, and the general Laboratory.
•Participated in operational involvement events using lean principles and identifying areas for improvement.
•Involvement in all elements of quality Assurance e.g. adverse events, internal and external audits nonconformities, change control and validation
•Demonstrated personal ownership for pursuing, communicating and implementing change minimising impact on service users
•Wrote reports, prepared and delivered presentations to management and colleagues
•Solved a wide range of operational problems for purposes of business continuity and ensured compliance to regulatory and accreditation standards like ISO15189 BSQR at all times.
•Performance of daily, weekly and monthly maintenance of Laboratory analysers including Navois Flow cytometers
Preparation and daily operation of Siemens ADVIA2120 Flowcytometer
•Dilution of samples and preparation of Quality Control samples for the ADVIA
•Process flow management of Control failures on ADVIA
•Transfer of Flow cytometer results into analyser-LIMS interface Halia and then into Telepath LIMS
•Participation in UK NEQAS external quality assessment
Period:
Managerial responsibility for the day by day running of the laboratory
•Technical instructor for clinical and biomedical students on rotation
•Operation of BD FACSCOUNT to assess CD4+ and CD8+ of HIV/ AIDS patients
•Daily weekly and monthly maintenancee of FACS analyser
•Analysis of Viral Load of HIV/ AIDS patients with COBAS Amplicor
•Management and monitoring of stock of reagents and supplies
•Preparation of Rotas, annual leave calendar and training of new staff
•Ordering of reagents and preparation of quarterly statistics
•Quality Assurance and external quality assessment
Company 7: Department of Blood Sciences (Haematology, Clinical Chemistry and Blood Transfusion, KATH, Kumasi- Ghana
Period:
Modules studied: Research Skills & Research Project, Biomedical Immunology, Applied Biomedical immunology and Molecular Medical Microbiology •As part of my final year project I completed a 6 week research on: Super antigen inhibition of natural T regulatory cells and Proteolipid Protein (PLP) specific T- effector cell proliferation - implication for the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis
Clinical Laboratory Sciences) - Completed