Health Care Support Worker - Ward 2B

St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Knowsley; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 24,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking a Band 2 Health Care Assistant to join Ward 2B at Whiston Hospital. You will work as part of a dedicated ward team delivering compassionate patient care.

The role focuses on personal care, maintaining privacy and dignity, and supporting the Registered Nurse to provide safe, five-star service. Excellent communication and teamwork are essential.

Qualifications

• Completion of Trust Care Certificate within 4 months of appointment.
• Basic literacy and numeracy skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with patients and families.
• Able to work as part of a ward team.
• Flexible in working hours.

Responsibilities

• Undertake personal care duties with supervision.
• Record patient information per policy.
• Work with multidisciplinary team to deliver patient care.
• Assist with movements and feeding as required.
• Participate in handovers and maintain patient dignity.

Skills

Communication skills

Teamwork

Flexibility

Basic IT skills

Education

Care Certificate

NVQ level 2 Health and Social Care

Basic literacy and numeracy skills

Job description

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 2 Health Care Assistant on Ward 2B. The new post holder will join our already existing, dedicated and friendly team of staff on Ward 2B at Whiston Hospital.

We are seeking flexible and enthusiastic individual who has excellent communication skills and will be able to work well as part of the ward team.

Your responsibilities will include maintaining the privacy and dignity of patients and supporting the Registered Nurse in delivering five-star patient care

Interview Date- To Be Confirmed

Main duties of the job

The Health Care Support Worker (HCSW) will:

• Undertake personal care duties for patients within the care setting accessing supervision from registered healthcare practitioner. Personal care refers to delivery of personal hygiene and assisting with feeding, not requiring clinical skills.
• Record patient's personal care information in accordance with local and trust policies.
• Work with all members of the multi-disciplinary team to deliver the Trust's vision and values providing safe, high quality compassionate, person-centred care.
• Demonstrate ward routine to new employees in own work area, where required

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Work as part of a team and duties will be delegated by the registered healthcare professional.
• Act within the scope of your training and competence, knowing who to ask for help and support if you are not sure.
• Work within agreed ways of working, following relevant Trust standards, policies and protocols.
• Communicate compassionately and effectively with individuals and their families, carers and health care practitioners using a range of techniques, maintaining confidentiality and using tact, empathy, persuasion and reassurance.
• Observe, assess and respond to personal care patient's needs appropriately, escalating concerns to nursing staff, as required.
• Organises self in general work tasks or when delivering patient care with supervision where needed from Senior Health Care Assistant and/or nursing staff.
• As directed, undertake personal care duties and support activities of daily living, e.g. mouth care, personal hygiene, and toileting needs, demonstrating person centred care.
• Safely deliver care duties including manoeuvring of patient equipment (such as hoists and wheelchairs).
• Under supervision of a registered healthcare practitioner, undertake delegated procedures within the limits of required training and measured competence, where appropriate. For example, patient moving and handling, and providing personal care.
• Support of patients feeding, diet and nutritional needs and accurately record patients nutritional intake and fluid intake and output, noticing and reporting changes to the nursing staff.
• Ensure patient property is managed as per Trust policy.
• Monitor levels of supplies and order supplies for the department as appropriate.
• Demonstrates own duties to new starters, contributing to the learning environment.
• To work in line with Trust policies and procedures
• Contributes to maintaining a safe, healthy working environment.
• Follow the principles for implementing a duty of care, always acting in the best interest of individuals to ensure they do not come to harm.
• Work in partnership with the individual, their carers/ families and the wider healthcare team.
• Maintain and further develop your own skills and knowledge through development and learning activities; maintain evidence of your personal development and actively prepare for and participate in appraisal.
• Participate in team handovers

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Completion of Trust Care Certificate within 4 months of appointment
• Basic literacy and numeracy skills

Desirable criteria

• NVQ level 2 Health and Social Care or equivalent
• Care Certificate (equivalent to level 1)

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of personal care and related procedures
• Experience of working in a team

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in a patient care/health related role

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to communicate effectively in both verbal and written formats
• Good interpersonal skills
• Able to work within a team
• Able to accept direction and guidance
• Aware of own limitations
• Flexible in working hours
• Able to prioritise own workload and manage time effectively
• Flexible, adaptable and responsive to change
• Reliable and professional
• Ability to cope in stressful and challenging situations
• Inclusive and non-judgmental
• Punctual, motivated and committed
• Effective role model demonstrating Trust values
• Basic IT skills

Other

Essential criteria

• Frequent, moderate effort for several short periods during the shift such as manual handling patients to supporting patients personal care
• Occasional requirement for concentration, with few competing demands for attention
• Aware that developing resilience to distressing situations is necessary without losing the ability to care compassionately
• Aware of the process for accessing staff health and wellbeing support
• Occasional exposure to distressing situations which may care of chronic health conditions, patient end of life care/ care after death
• Able to carry out direct personal care as required on ward or department
• Occasional exposure to patients with challenging behaviours

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people's race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact