Healthcare Assistant

South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

A mental health care service provider in London seeks a dedicated Healthcare Assistant to support elderly patients on Jasmine Ward. The role requires delivering high standards of care and effective communication, working within a multidisciplinary team. Candidates should have relevant experience, a Care Certificate, and strong interpersonal skills. Competitive salary ranging from £29,651 to £31,312 per annum, with flexible working opportunities.

Benefits

Flexible working

Career development opportunities

Variety of benefits

Qualifications

• At least one year as a Healthcare Support Worker or equivalent experience.
• Able to cope with challenging behavior effectively.
• Experience facilitating group activities.

Responsibilities

• Implement nursing care under guidance of registered staff.
• Help lead activities to ensure fundamental care is met.
• Support service users in a respectful and dignified manner.

Skills

Empathy for individuals with mental health problems

Communication skills

Resilient

Ability to provide responsive care

Education

Care Certificate

Level 2/3 Health and Social Care qualification

English and Mathematics basic qualifications

Job description

Go back South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust

Healthcare Assistant

The closing date is 12 October 2025

An exciting opportunity has risen for a passionate and enthusiastic Band 3 Health care assistant on Jasmine Ward (Tolworth Hospital).

Jasmine Ward is a 16 bedded unit that offers care and treatment for male and female patients over 75 years of age. The service offers Inpatient care for older people with mental health problems, provides assessment and treatment of older people with a range of diagnoses, who require hospital care due to the severity of need. We provide services for patients who cannot be cared for in the community or other settings, due to the intensity and expertise of the care required. The ward is located in Red Lion Road , Surbiton Tolworth with good local links via underground and bus to both outer London.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for individuals who have a genuine passion in working with elderly patients and willing to make a difference in their lives. You will be expected to deliver high standards of care alongside our team of nurses, doctors and therapists. You will need to be a proactive person with experience working with older adults. You will be providing all aspects of support to individuals to meet their psychological and physical health needs (personal care, physical health monitoring and emotional support).

The post is for 37.5 hours per week and you will be required to work a range of shifts across 7 days.

About us

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.

Job responsibilities

1. Working under the guidance of a Registered Nurse/ AP/NA/B4, to implement the delivery of quality nursing care, contributing to the physical, psychological, social, recreational and spiritual care in a recovery-focused way through therapeutic engagement and activities, and taking steps to address any issues that arise.

2. Leading on and undertaking activities to ensure that the fundamentals of care are met - nutrition, hydration, hygiene, comfort, emotional and social support.

3. Supporting junior to staff and leading on providing hands-on care to service users including:a. Undertaking 1-1 engagement with service users in an honest, open and non-judgmental way.b. Recognising and valuing service users as individuals, acknowledging theimportance of maintaining the service users respect and dignity at all times and ensure that the care provided respects equality and diversity.c. Escalating any concerns to a Registered Nurse.d. Monitoring and recording service user clinical observations, such as Physical observations and vital signs and escalating as appropriate any signs or symptoms of deterioration or that do not fulfill the personal parameters to the relevant professional.(Band 4 or Registered Nurse).e. Implementing the principles of recovery: encouraging and supporting service users to engage with healthy lifestyles, facilitating psychosocial activities and other activities of their interest.

4. Escorting service users, as required, in line with Trust policies.

5. Facilitating the admission and discharge of service users, ensuring needs of the patient are met including activities such as property checks, orientation to services, and ensuring that community support needs are met under direction of a senior clinician.

6. Demonstrating an enhanced understanding of Mental Health signs and symptoms and an understanding of how these may present in practice including recognition of impact on patient presentation and behaviour including risk factors.

7. Recognizing and responding appropriately to challenging behaviour in line with Trust policies and training, actively seeking the supervision and guidance of a Senior Health Care Support Worker, Assistant Practitioner, or Registered Nurse.

8. Demonstrating knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the MHA, MCA and DOLS and other legislation applicable to the practice area and how they are implemented in practice.

9.Contributing to an effective communication process with appropriate and accurate information to patients, carers, family, friends and colleagues. Engaging and listening carefully and actively, and responding using appropriate language and accessible communication methods and skills. Developing communication skills to enable and support difficult conversations, acknowledging cultural differences and professional boundaries.

10.Demonstrating effective clinical communication and documentation: effective verbal and written handover of relevant and objective information, ability to determine key information, ability to recognize and describe effectively symptoms of mental illness, distress or of a deteriorating patient, and ability to escalate issues of concerns effectively and in a timely manner.

Person Specification

Education & Qualifications

• Care Certificate
• English and Mathematics basic qualifications (eg GCSE at grade C or above) or equivalent
• Level 2/3 Health and Social care qualification / working towards qualification

Experience

• At least one year as a Healthcare Support Worker, or equivalent level of experience.

Skills and Abilities

• Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems and ability to cope with behaviour which may be challenging at times.
• Able to provide quality care that is responsive to service user's needs, without close supervision, and acting on own initiative, within protocols, policies and care plans.
• Communications skills - receiving and conveying information accurately with staff and with service users and able to keep accurate records.
• Resilient: able to respond appropriately to potential difficult interpersonal situations or demands of the role including distress and agitation.
• Approachable and Self-aware and demonstrate an ability to self-reflect
• Training and experience in specialist skills such as ECG, Vital Signs, Phlebotomy
• Experience in facilitating groups

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.

South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust

£29,651 to £31,312 a yearper annum inclusive of outer London HCAS