Health Care Assistant - Burstead Ward

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust; Basildon; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 29,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider is seeking a compassionate Health Care Assistant for its Basildon site. You will assist nursing teams by providing vital care to patients. Ideal candidates are caring, well-organized, and possess good communication skills. The role offers full-time and part-time options, with comprehensive training provided. This position is essential in enhancing the quality of patient care, and there is a pathway for career advancement to nursing or midwifery. Competitive salary offered as part of the NHS family.

Qualifications

• Experience of working with the public.
• Previous experience in a healthcare setting is desirable.
• Flexibility in the workplace and eagerness to learn new skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide support to Nursing and Midwifery teams.
• Assist with washing and dressing patients.
• Serve meals and help patients to move around.
• Communicate effectively with patients and families.

Skills

Caring and kind

Good listening and communication skills

Cheerful and friendly

Able to follow direct instructions

Well organised

Keen to support patients with personal needs

Teamwork and initiative

Job description

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Health Care Assistant - Burstead Ward

The closing date is 01 January 2026

Do you want to make a difference to people's lives?

We are looking for individuals with or without experience to work in healthcare, to join the NHS family helping people from your local community. Healthcare Support Worker opportunities are available in our Basildon Hospital site

No experience? No problem. We will teach you everything you need to know. To us, it is more important that you are a caring and kind person with a genuine desire to help and support patients and their families. If this sounds like you, then you already have the skills that make a great Health Care Support Worker.

Right from the time you join us, you will have access to learning, development and training opportunities. As you progress in your NHS career you will acquire the knowledge, skills and confidence you need to provide safe and compassionate patient care.

Mid and South Essex is a great place to work, offering a working environment with an inclusive culture that looks after and values our people and creates a sense of belonging. We encourage applications from people who embrace our values and who will enable us to expand our diverse workforce.

The Healthcare Support Worker role can also lead to a range of career opportunities. With the right support, those who want to can undertake the necessary training to become our future nurses, nursing associates and midwives.

Please note we are unable to offer VISA sponsorship for this role.

Main duties of the job

As a Health Care Support Worker, you will be a hugely valuable support to our Nursing and Midwifery teams providing care to our patients. Every day will be different and you will work alongside the rest of the team carrying out a wide range of tasks and assisting with care to support the needs of the patients and their families.

Examples of what you may do as part of your role

• Washing and dressing patients
• Serving meals and feeding patients
• Helping patients to move around
• Talking to patients and their families

Skills and personal attributes needed

• Caring and kind
• Cheerful and friendly
• Keen to support patients with their personal needs including washing and toileting
• Able to follow direct instructions
• Happy to work in a team but also able to use own initiative
• Have good listening and communication skills
• Be well organised

Full time and part time positions are available, and we are open to discuss flexible working arrangements.

About us

The Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System (ICS) brings together key health, care, community, and voluntary sector organisations from across our area. Our aim is to work together in partnership to join up health and care services, improving our populations health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities. One such example of this collaborative work is the launch of our HCA Academy, an ICS initiative between Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) and Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSEFT) to support the incoming Health Care assistant (HCA) workforce. The academy models a 'one workforce' cross system approach to the onboarding, induction, education, and experience of Healthcare Assistants.

Successful candidates to this role will be able to access the additional support provided by the HCA Academy following their induction with MSEFT. This includes development opportunities, pastoral support, staff rewards and access to HCA exclusive resources such as HCA App.

Job responsibilities

Are you looking for an exciting HCA role using your unique qualities? Then we want to hear from you.

For full details about this varied and rewarding role, please see attached job description.

We look forward to your application.

Please be aware that we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a suitable number of applications.

Person Specification

Skills

• Good literacy demonstrated through minimal spelling and grammatical errors throughout application
• Supporting information must demonstrate keeness to learn new skills and flexible in the workplace

Experience

• Experience of working with the public
• Previous experience of working in healthcare setting
• Working within a team and experience of working in an environment with changing demands and priorities

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.

Employer name

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

£24,465 a year Per Annum (Pro Rata for Part Time)