Health Care Assistant

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust; Oxford; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization is seeking a Healthcare Assistant to support adults with eating disorders in Oxford. The role involves delivering high-quality care, promoting recovery through established programs, and working with a collaborative team. Applicants should have strong communication skills and relevant qualifications, notably a Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care. This position offers numerous benefits including career progression opportunities and competitive annual leave.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days

NHS Discount across various retailers

Competitive pension scheme

Access to tailored learning and development

Cycle to work scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Experience of working in a hospital or Mental Health environment.
• Able to work as an active and supportive member of the team.
• Completion of the care certificate or willingness to undertake.

Responsibilities

• Assist in delivering holistic care to patients.
• Contribute to and interpret care plans.
• Assess and promote good physical health.

Skills

Communication

Interpersonal skills

Problem solving

Teamwork

Understanding of eating disorders

Education

Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care

Job description

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Do you have experience in Mental Health and want to make a difference in the day to day lives of vulnerable people?

Are you looking to build a career and develop further within Eating Disorders?

We are currently seeking a Healthcare Assistant (HCA) to join the function! Step Care is an exciting service being developed by the HOPE Provider Collaborative. The Step Care team will focus on adults with eating disorders who meet the threshold for inpatient care. In some cases, admission will be prevented and in others, people will be stepped down to the Step Care service following a short inpatient admission.

Integrated step care consists of three phases:
1. Starting well
2. Working Towards Recovery
3. Staying well

The model is underpinned by enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E) and is fully integrated with community teams and inpatient services to offer a seamless service.

Step Care maximises the use of new technology, provides care close to home, reduces admissions, length of stay, waiting times and provides earlier discharge from inpatient care.

Main duties of the job

The responsibilities of the role include, but are not limited to:

• Assist the AED Step Care team in delivering a high standard of holistic care to patients in a friendly, respectful, and professional manner.
• Contribute to and interpret care plans accurately and consistently.
• Carry out delegated care tasks including supported meals and skills sessions.
• Assess and promote good physical health and raise any concerns with the Team.
• Assist the team to identify and manage areas of risk in the home environment to safeguard health and safety for patients and their families.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

Person specification

Knowledge Requirements

• Basic understanding of eating disorders and how they are treated
• Knowledge of mental health disorders
• Able to work remotely and have good IT skills including knowledge of Microsoft teams
• Previous DN team experience
• In depth knowledge of eating disorders and other mental health disorders.

Qualifications

• Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social care
• Ability to work as an active and supportive member of the team
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing
• Ability to support & motivate patients
• Ability to work on his/her own, but with supervision
• Completion of the care certificate or willingness to undertake level 3 senior health care support worker apprenticeship certificate
• Mandatory Training MHA Induction / Refresher Managing Challenging Behaviour (Post holder will agree to undertake training of all the above as required).

Competence/Expertise

• Willingness and ability to role model healthy eating behaviour with patients and support as trained/required.
• Demonstrate a willingness to be involved in the induction of new staff
• Ability to be resourceful & use problem solving skills

Experience

• Experience of working in a hospital or Mental Health environment
• Experience of therapy intervention
• Experience of working MDTs

Personal Qualities

• Able to prioritise own work with the aid of supervision
• Good communication and interpersonal skills
• Is flexible and reliable.
• Recognise own abilities & be willing to engage in reflective practice as a means of learning & developing one’s own practice
• Ability to organise workload & time efficiently under supervision
• Interest in personal & professional development
• All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
• We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
• We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
• Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing