Healthcare Assistant

NHS; Gateshead; On-site; GBP 40,000 - GBP 60,000; Full time

Job description

An exciting opportunity for a career within Nursing has arisen at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust to work within Care of the Older Persons. We have 3 wards at the QE which specialise in caring for those over the age of 65 with an element of frailty. You will have the opportunity to work alongside numerous professions from Nursing, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy as well as many others.

We are looking for caring and compassionate individuals, who can prioritise delivering high quality and safe patient care, to join our Organisation as a HealthCare Assistant.

We are keen to hear from individuals who are hard working, reliable and passionate in making a difference to our patients.

Full time and part time hours will be considered.

Main duties of the job

1. Undertakes a range of delegated clinical care duties in hospital, community, or other settings
2. Records patient observations and changes to patient clinical conditions
3. Carries out limited clinical care duties

About us

Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blaydon urgent care centre and Bensham Hospital, all within Gateshead.

Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.

We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.

Our values should be the 'golden thread' which runs through everything we do - they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronymICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.

We have a number of staff networks including the Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women's Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our Armed Forces network is one of our emerging networks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our 'Balance' programme balancegateshead.com to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.

Job responsibilities

1. Key responsibilities
   • To abide by trust policies and procedures
   • Build and maintain safe and effective therapeutic relationships
   • Support individuals to contribute to collaborative care/support/recovery plans
   • Support the named nurse to develop collaborative individual, patient centred care plans and implement them creatively using initiative.
   • Communicate effectively with a wide range of people using a range of preferred methods
   • Contribute to monitoring, observing and engaging with individuals, communicating outcomes and conclusions with the rest of the team
   • Gain an understanding of a persons experiences in relation to their mental health, learning disability and/or dementia.
   • Understand a persons coping strategies and strengths and support people to use these at times of distress or difficulty
   • Contribute to reflective practice and encourage compassion and understanding
   • Be able to recognise increasing risk and alert significant others and the team to respond as needed
   • Undertake a range of practical tasks and duties in support of the Team and individual needs.
   • Follow principles of diffusion and de-escalation and where physical interventions or restraint are required, to approach in line with approved techniques considering the safety and dignity of the individual throughout.
   • To feel confident to be able to report untoward incidents and areas of concern as soon as they arise
   • To document any relevant information in an electronic record following relevant policy and legislation
   • Contribute to individual reviews and team meetings
2. Duties
   • Each individual has different needs however the list below outlines just some of the practical duties that the post holder will undertake, support and enable people to/with:
   • Using appropriate assessment tools under supervision to assist the registered practitioner in assessment of the patients health and wellbeing needs.
   • Initiate emergency action when required e.g cardiac arrest, fire
   • Identify/contribute to their own goals to improve their quality of life
   • Participate in clinical skills as trained in line with role e.g recording ECGs
   • Contribute to their own care/support/recovery plans
   • Support individuals to express their needs and wishes
   • Promote their personal hygiene and physical health.
   • Actively engage in health promotion
   • Engage in meaningful and enjoyable activity
   • To support individuals with external activities/appointments under indirect supervision
   • May have responsibility for patient monies/valuables which need to be handled within GHFT guidelines
   • Assist individuals with activities of daily living encouraging active participation and independence
3. Training and Supervision
   • Undertake mandatory and appropriate training relevant to your role for example:
   • Identify own training and developmental needs
   • Identify areas of training need that are relevant to the team
   • Assist in the delivery of training in areas of personal experience and interest
   • Provide mentoring to level 2 healthcare support worker apprentices who you are working alongside
   • Provide assessment and supervision of band 2 colleagues as they complete the care certificate
   • Participate in regular individual and group supervision
   • Use supervision to understand, reflect, inform and improve your work practice
   • Participate in the development of the service
4. Personal responsibilities
   • Ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect
   • Promote anti-discriminatory activities
   • Work flexibly to meet service needs
5. Administrative responsibilities
   • Keep clinical records up to date using trust systems in accordance with legislation as delegated by the nurse in charge
   • Support people to contribute to their own clinical notes
   • Maintain records to a high standard and record activity data in a timely manner
6. Professional responsibilities
   • Maintain confidentiality of all personal information and data in line with organisational policy and the GPDR 2018
   • Be familiar and work in line with local and national policy and procedures.
   • Raise concern in regard to disciplinary or performance issues to the management team using policies and procedures such as safeguarding and Freedom to speak up.

This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities and in discussion with the manager the postholder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the Banding of the post. The job description will be reviewed regularly in the light of changing service requirements and any such changes will be discussed with the post holder.

The post holder should be comfortable in the use of computer technology, have basic keyboard skills and have the ability to use email.

All employees are expected to observe the following:

Equal opportunities and dignity at work statement of intent

The Trust is a major employer and provider of services. We are committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of and meets the needs of the local community.

We oppose all forms of discrimination on legal and moral grounds and recognise that discrimination creates barriers to achieving equality for everyone.

The Trust is committed to making equality of opportunity and fair treatment a reality whereby an individual can seek, obtain and continue employment without unfair discrimination.

As an equal opportunities employer, we will ensure that all job applicants and employees receive fair and equal treatment and will not be disadvantaged by unjustified conditions or requirements.

The Trust's Equal Opportunities and Dignity at Work Policy underpins the Trust's commitment to achieve equality and fairness at work and to ensure that individuals or groups are not unfairly discriminated against.

Safeguarding children and adults

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people (anyone under the age of 18) and adults. It expects all staff, volunteers and contracted staff to share this commitment and act in such a way that safeguards and promotes the health and wellbeing of children, young people and adults.

Staff must ensure that they are familiar with the signs and symptoms of abuse and know what to do if any such concerns are raised.

Staff are expected to know about and follow the Trust's safeguarding children and safeguarding adult policies which can be found on the Trust intranet and participate in related mandatory/statutory training.

Staff should be aware of the principles of risk management and adopt appropriate practice to reduce the risk to themselves and others. In particular, staff should observe the Trust's Risk Management Strategy, Risk, Incident and Serious Incident reporting and management policies, Health and Safety regulations and the risk management training requirements for all staff.

Infection prevention and control

Staff are expected to comply with the Trust's Infection Prevention and Control policies and conduct themselves in such a manner as to minimise the risk of causing healthcare associated infections

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Maths and English qualifications or equivalent eg. NVQ level 3
• Vocational qualification in health and social care (e.g. care certificate; level 2/3 diploma)

Experience

• Experience of working with people in a healthcare setting with mental illness, learning disability and/or dementia
• Experience of mentoring or supervising colleagues

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Effective communication and listening skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Willingness to develop the skills necessary to mentor/supervise level 2 healthcare support worker apprentices you are working alongside
• Full driving license and car
• Understanding and practical knowledge of working in a healthcare setting

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£24,937 to £26,598 a year per annum (pro rota)