Consultant Clinical Scientist

Job Overview

Are you a visionary Clinical Scientist ready to lead the future of microbiology? FHFT is seeking an exceptional Consultant Clinical Scientist to join our dynamic Infection Department. This autonomous post offers a rare opportunity to work alongside Consultant Clinical Microbiologists in shaping and delivering a safe, innovative, and efficient microbiology service across the Trust.

You will be at the forefront of cutting-edge diagnostics, playing a pivotal role in transforming patient pathways through advanced technologies and scientific excellence. As scientific lead for the microbiology lab, you will champion new methodologies, steer clinical strategy, and guide a skilled team of Clinical Scientists.

With strong leadership and a passion for high-quality care, you'll influence antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention, and collaborate closely with public health partners during outbreaks. You will report managerially to the Chief of Service for Pathology and clinically to the Clinical Lead for Infection.

Join us in delivering care that reflects our core values: committed to excellence, facing the future, and working together.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will serve as an autonomous Consultant Clinical Scientist within FHFT's Infection Department, holding shared responsibility for delivering a safe, effective, and high-performing clinical microbiology service. As scientific lead, they will guide the integration and development of innovative diagnostic services, aligning with clinical needs and national priorities.

Key duties include providing expert scientific and clinical advice, supporting antimicrobial stewardship, contributing to infection prevention and control, and liaising with public health teams during outbreaks. The postholder will manage the Clinical Scientist team (2 Band 7 and 3 Band 6), shaping departmental scientific strategy and mentoring future leaders.

They will advise senior Trust and BSPS leadership on emerging microbiology innovations, contribute to policy development, and assess new technologies and pathways to improve demand management and service delivery. With strong commercial awareness and a deep understanding of laboratory and clinical risk, the postholder will champion quality, governance, and continuous improvement in microbiology services across the system.

Working for our organisation

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to being an inclusive and disability confident employer and has been awarded the Gold for the Armed Forces Employment Recognition Scheme. We provide first class development opportunities for all staff and have a wide range of professional, management and leadership, and clinical skills training available.

Here at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, we know how important it is to have a healthy work life balance; this benefits not only individuals but the patients we care for too.

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service and its users.

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Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

For more information around the role please refer to the attached Job Description/Person Specification

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• First degree or assessed equivalent level of knowledge and expertise
• Masters Degree or PhD
• Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists
• Demonstration of Continuing Professional Development at agreed level of participation
• Registered as a clinical scientist with Health and Care Professions Council
  
  

Registration

Essential criteria

• To have completed a minimum of 5 years in post as a Registered Clinical Scientist
• To have completed an HSST training programme and hold a certificate of completion of training from NSHCS
  
  

Experience

Essential criteria

• Clinical microbiology as DGH and tertiary level including ward rounds, MDTs, delivering clinical advice to all grades
• Experience of analytical skills employed in microbiology with an understanding of underlying principles.
• Consulting with clinical staff of all grades wanting advice on any aspect of microbiology/infection and its relevance in specific situations
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Leading a microbiology team
• Experience as training or quality officer
• First-hand experience of the challenges involved in maintaining microbiology services.
• Achievement in research, development, and audit activities, through presentations at regional or national conferences and publication in peer reviewed journals
  
  

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) has an outstanding reputation and a proud record of achievement. As a well performing, well led and ambitious Foundation Trust, we have exciting times ahead of us. We have an ongoing commitment to improving the health and care services for the 900,000 people we serve across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire.

We are proud of the ambitions laid out in our strategy, Our Future FHFT, including our vision to be a leader in health & wellbeing, delivering excellence for our communities.

We continue to invest in our services and facilities, including a £10 million upgrade to the hospital maternity unit as well as £49m major new Emergency Assessment Centre on our Wexham Park site. The opening of a brand new £100m state of the art hospital which replaced the existing hospital facility at Heatherwood and are planning to invest further in diagnostics and inpatient capacity at Frimley Park.

We have also made significant investment in our quality improvement and digital programmes to support our vision and we will ensure that we achieve our aim of providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients. Our new EPR – Epic – went live in June and we are already beginning to reap the benefits of this ambitious investment.

Our three core values, and the behaviours that support them, guide everything we do and set out what we expect of our staff in the way they treat patients, visitors, service users and each other, Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future.

Apply online now