Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) Co-ordinator

at  Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Working Full time : 37.5 hours per week
This is an exciting opportunity to undertake a newly created role within the organisation. The band 4 Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) Co-ordinator will be responsible for providing a fit testing service and co-ordination of all RPE for all staff that may be required to wear respiratory protection (re-usable, single use or powered respirators) as part of the job. The post holder will be fully trained for quantitative fit testing methods. The post holder will be responsible for providing high level of comprehensive support to staff being mask fit tested.

The post holder will need to have excellent customer care to provide a professional, reliable and consistent service. The post holder will develop and maintain relationships with staff from all areas to monitor and deliver the fit testing programme; this will also require excellent organisation skills for administration and record keeping.

• Training on ‘donning’ and ‘doffing’ respiratory protective equipment
• Undertake quantitative mask fit testing using the Portacount machine
• Maintain accurate record keeping of fit testing
• Adequacy and suitability of tight-fitting masks
• Training how to use face masks safely
• Guidance on correct handling and storage of RPE
• Guidance on when to use respirators
• Deliver Powered Air Respirator competency training, and
• Co-ordinate the provision and accessibility to Powered Air Respirators.

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides services to West Cheshire and to Welsh patients covered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. Its services are provided from three locations:

• The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 438 general and acute beds.
• Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 56 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility.
• Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.

The Trust employs over 6258 staff (headcount) which includes temporary bank staff and provides acute emergency and elective services, primary care direct access services and obstetric services to a population of approximately 407,000. This includes 357,000 residents in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire which has a population of approximately 50,000.
The Trust is a busy district general hospital and in 2022/2023, there were more than 503,342 patient attendances (inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic) ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to major cancer surgery. This is an increase of nearly 10,000 compared to the previous year when there were 494,387 patient attendances.
See Job Description for further details.
Recruitment selection processes are based on competence (see Person specification) and values.
Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. The cost of the DBS application is £27.50 (standard) or £55.50 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first three months of employment.
You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. A small annual fee of £16 per year applies.
New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above.
Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post, we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date.
Good luck with your application

Please refer the Job description for details