Community Healthcare Assistant

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust; Norwich; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

East of England Community Health and care NHS trust is recruiting a Band 3 Healthcare Assistant to join the Community Nursing Team at Norwich Community Hospital. You will work with nurses, nursing associates and other colleagues to deliver high-quality, patient-centred care in the community.

You will gain training for clinical skills and a thorough induction, with support to develop your practice in patients' homes, care homes and local clinics across Norwich.

Qualifications

• Band 3 Health Care Assistant role with clinical skills including venepuncture, ECGs, and patient observations.
• Ability to work under supervision with progression to independent practice.
• Commitment to confidentiality, infection control and patient-centred care.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality community-based care in patients' own homes, clinics and care settings.
• Assist with venepuncture, ECGs, blood pressure, wound care and diabetes management.
• Support medicines administration under supervision and ensure accurate record-keeping.
• Attend multi-disciplinary meetings and contribute to care planning.

Skills

Venepuncture

ECG

Vital signs

Wound care

Diabetes management

Catheter care

Palliative care

Infection control

Communication

Tools

SystmOne

Job description

Are you a compassionate, enthusiastic Healthcare Assistant looking to make a real difference every day? We have an exciting opportunity to join our welcoming and supportive Community Nursing Team based at Norwich Community Hospital.

You’ll become part of a dedicated multidisciplinary team of Nurses, Healthcare Assistants, Nursing Associates and Assistant Practitioners, working together to deliver high-quality, person-centred care across the Norwich community.

Our Community Nursing Service provides care predominantly in patients' own homes, including residential care homes and supported living complexes, we also provide some services within community clinic settings.

As part of the Norwich Neighbourhood Team, you'll work alongside local service providers within the Primary Care Network to deliver integrated, community-based care. Together we are developing innovative services that enable patients to remain at home wherever possible, ensuring they receive the care and support they need in a coordinated and compassionate way.

This is a varied and rewarding role where no two days are the same. You'll be supported by experienced colleagues, encouraged to develop your skills, and valued for the important contribution you make to improving the health and wellbeing of our patients.

If you're passionate about providing outstanding care and want to be part of a friendly, forward-thinking team that works together to deliver exceptional community care, we'd love to hear from you.

The workload requires a good range of clinical skills to be applied in managing our patients with varied health problems including the venepuncture, preforming ECGs, the taking and recording of patient observations such as blood pressure, diabetes management, traumatic, chronic and post-operative wound care, pressure ulcer prevention and management, catheter support, palliative and end of life care. Many of our patients will have complex multi-pathologies and so we aim to provide holistic, patient centred assessments and deliver individualised care. Full training will be given for all clinical skills as well as a comprehensive induction period.

East of England Community Health and care NHS trust is committed to the development of future health clinicians and there will be an expectation that the Band 3 Health Care Assistant will be highly motivated team player that provides high standards of care to our patients. You will live, breathe and promote the NCH&C's Behaviour Framework.

All staff are required to respect confidentiality of all matters that they learn as a result of the employment with the Trust, including matters relating to other members of the staff and members of the public/patients.

The post holder will need:

• 1. To work generically in provision of care, to patients under the supervision of a qualified practitioner, following a prescribed treatment/care plan in order to prevent admission to hospital.
• 2. Plan and prioritise own visits to delegated patients.
• 3. Ensure patient held records are completed for each visit, and that SystmOne inputting is completed on a daily basis.
• 4. Make basic judgements on patients' response to prescribed treatment/care plans, and report findings to a qualified practitioner.
• 5. Liaise with other health care professionals as required.
• 6. Communicate with patients/carers by exchanging factual information, reassurance, tact and empathy.
• 7. Establish and maintain appropriate working relationships with colleagues, patients, carers and other health care professionals.
• 8. Demonstrate dexterity and coordination when undertaking treatment of patients where accuracy is important, e.g. The taking of bloods, preforming ECGs, taking blood glucose results, wound care, administration of medication such as insulin.
• 9. Be responsible for ensuring equipment is used safely, following relevant training, and that it is maintained appropriately.
• 10. Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of consent, and gain consent as appropriate following organisational policies.
• 11. Share responsibility of indirect patient contact tasks, such as, answering telephones, arranging appointments, processing referrals and inputting activity data.
• 12. Undertake health promotion / education as required, e.g. smoking cessation, falls etc.
• 13. May be exposed to bodily fluids, infected material and blood products, therefore must utilise universal precautions and adhere to infection control policies.
• 14. Attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary team meetings and other meetings where appropriate.
• 15. Attend in-house and competency training as required in development of current job role.
• 16. Work predominately independently on specified tasks, with regular clinical support and supervision by a qualified practitioner.
• 17. Be aware of limitations of own scope of practice and competency, and when to involve a more senior practitioner, both in daily practice and in emergency situations.
• 18. Acknowledge and recognise peoples' expressed beliefs, preferences and choices.
• 19. Demonstrate an awareness of clinical governance and risk management, and apply to work situation.
• 20. To provide peer support to other assistants.
• 21. Actively contribute to team working and express ideas on improving services for users and the team.
• 22. Share responsibility for maintaining store cupboards, cleaning specialist equipment and general housekeeping tasks.

This job description is not exhaustive and may be amended from time to time in consultation with the post holder. The post holder will be required to undertake any other duties as may be required for the effective performance of the post.