Health Care Assistant

North West Borough Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Sefton; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

£3000 annual incentive

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a capable healthcare assistant to support the Physical Health team within the secure Health Centre and at ward level. You will perform venepuncture and ECGs, assist with escort duties, maintain safety, communicate effectively, and participate in training and quality checks.

You will work within a large Trust delivering physical and mental health services, with emphasis on dignity, respect, and patient-centered care across clinical settings.

Qualifications

• NVQ level 2 in care or equivalent experience is required.
• Desirable: NVQ Level 3 in care or relevant qualification/work experience.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate excellent interpersonal communication to convey information to patients.
• Collaborate with peers, share knowledge, and attend regular team meetings.
• Handle patients with challenging behaviour and adapt to changing service needs.
• Monitor therapeutic aspects of medications and maintain data systems.
• Observe patients’ well-being, including mental, physical, safety concerns; report to nurse in charge.
• Uphold Health & Safety standards for self, colleagues, and visitors.
• Maintain quality checks of equipment within the Health Centre.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Teamwork

Willingness to learn

Education

NVQ level 2 in care

NVQ level 3 in care (desirable)

Job description

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.

Using AI to support your application

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a helpful tool when preparing your application, supporting you to organise and structure your application and present your experiences clearly. However, we want to hear about your experiences and achievements. Please ensure everything you submit is truthful, accurate, and reflects your own work and experience. Your authentic story is the best way to help us understand who you are and what you can bring to the role. If content appears to be copied or misrepresented, it may impact the outcome of your application. We encourage you to use AI responsibly as a support tool, not a substitute for your own voice.

For tips and guidance, please refer to our applicant guidance.

Your experiences matter, let them shine.

Applications that appear mostly or fully generated by AI, without clear personal examples linked to the person specification, may be rejected.

Job overview

Financial incentives of £3000 per annum attached to this post paid over 12 monthly instalments.

To provide support to the Physical health team within the secure Health Centre and administration staff. To work unsupervised when performing investigations both within the Health Centre and at ward level. To assist with escort duties, internally and externally for both patients and visitors.

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust as a leading provider of community services, mental health care, physical health, addiction services and learning disability care.

Service users receiving a high quality service and one which is free from stigma, discrimination and harm.

Visible and responsive leadership, setting the standard for others and role-modelled throughout the division for all managers.

The Trust values of Continuous Improvement, Accountability, Respectfulness, Enthusiasm and Support will be embedded across the division for all staff and evident to service users.

To be able to respond appropriately to emergency situations.

To competently perform venepuncture / ECG's within the Health Centre and at ward level as directed by the requesting clinicians.

To operate the radio communications set when required and be conversant with hospital radio network procedures.

To undertake full control and restraint training, manage situations of actual and potential C&R issues using either approved C&R techniques or verbal de-escalation skills.

Main duties of the job

• To demonstrate excellent interpersonal communications skills to communicate factual information to patients to overcome barriers to understanding.

• To work collaboratively, sharing knowledge and experience with peers to provide support through teamwork. Participate in regular team meetings.

• To demonstrate appropriate skills to deal with patients with challenging behaviour. Be able to adapt to the unpredictable demands of the patient and the needs of the service.

• To assist with therapeutic monitoring of all relevant medication, being aware of data information system.

• To be aware of patients' well-being, taking into account mental, physical, security and potential violent issues, reporting any concerns to the nurse in charge.

• To maintain responsibility for the Health & Safety aspects of the environment for self, colleagues and visitors.

• To maintain quality control checks of all equipment within the Health Centre.

Working for our organisation

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• NVQ level 2 in care or demonstrate equivalent experience.

Desirable criteria

• Evidence of studying for NVQ Level 3 in care or other relevant skills/academic based course or working towards this.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience / knowledge of working within a high secure environment and mental health problems

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of phlebotomy, ECG recording and administrative work

• Smoking cessation trained.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to relate positively to people and to work within a changing and challenging environment

• Ability to work well within a team

• Willingness to maintain / develop skills and knowledge.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Experience / knowledge of working within a high secure environment and mental health problems

As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification.