Healthcare Assistant

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Shaftesbury; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Shaftesbury is seeking a Healthcare Assistant to deliver compassionate care to patients in a prison setting. The ideal candidate will have NVQ Level 3 or equivalent experience, and be competent in taking vital observations, including blood pressures and ECGs. This role includes engaging with patients through holistic care practices and health promotion activities. The position requires a commitment to improving health outcomes for individuals in a challenging environment.

Qualifications

• Experience of working in a primary care setting - hospital, secure units/prisons, etc.
• Competent at taking blood pressure, ECGs and other observations.
• Wound care experience/knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the delivery of high-quality nursing care to patients in prison.
• Provide physical care according to a written care plan.
• Engage with patients to provide holistic, needs-led care.
• Promote health through delivery of health promotion activities.

Skills

Ability to assess risk and care plans effectively

Education

NVQ Level 3 or equivalent experience

Job description

Are you ready to unlock your potential within a challenging, creative and fast paced work environment? Do you want to work with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past?

This is an excellent opportunity for a healthcare assistant to join our team of diverse, talented healthcare professionals to deliver care that is not only efficient but deeply centred on the patient.

Our healthcare team have a real impact on promoting health and well‑being to those in prison and we pride ourselves on using skills and strategies that instil hope for patient’s future resettlement back into the community. We directly deliver Mental Health, Physical Health, Pharmacy and Clinical Substance Misuse in an integrated healthcare delivery model to provide effective and responsive care to improve wellbeing and support better outcomes in the future.

Applicants are required to have hospital/primary care experience and be competent at taking blood pressure, ECGs and other observations. Knowledge of wound care is also a requirement for this post.

Important Sponsorship Information for this post: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post

Main duties of the job

As a Healthcare Assistant you will assist in the delivery of high quality nursing care to patients in prison with the support of a registered nurse.

You will be providing physical care to patients according to a written care plan. This will include taking blood pressures, ECG's, other observations and wound care.

You will be actively engaging with patients in the provision of holistic, needs‑led care which will consider the physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual needs of the individual.

You will be promoting health and well‑being through the delivery of health promotion activities and programmes, responding to patients needs and assisting patients to attain optimal physical health.

About us

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes. We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We’re Kind
• We Listen
• We Care

Job responsibilities

Key Task and Responsibilities

• Responding to the needs of patients in an honest, non‑judgemental, and open manner, which respects the rights of individuals and groups
• Actively engaging with patients in the provision of holistic, needs‑led care which considers the physical, psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of individuals and groups
• Delivery of health promotion activities and programmes (including patient self‑help programmes) in support of a registered healthcare professional
• Assisting patients to attain optimal physical health and assisting with physical procedures alongside a registered healthcare professional
• Contributing appropriately to risk assessment and individualised care planning.
• To work as directed by a registered nurse, providing physical care to patients according to a written care plan
• IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ:

Sponsorship is not available for this post.

All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting in order to work in a Prison Setting. This will be completed as part of the pre‑employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team.

Proof of right to work documentation

Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographic ID

Proof of address documentation

Non‑UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code.

Address History:

5 years address history will be needed.

Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously.

Applicants who are UK Passport holders who have lived abroad for a period of more than six months during the last three years will need to provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check in English from the countries resided in or visited.

In order to assist you in obtaining a Police Certificate, guidance can be sought from:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants

If the country you have resided in is not listed here, you can obtain the necessary information by contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission for that Country. Their contact details can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en).

Person Specification

Qualifications

• NVQ Level 3 or equivalent experience

Experience

• Experience of working in a primary care setting - hospital, secure units/prisons, etc
• Competent at taking blood pressure, ECGs and other observations
• Wound care experience/knowledge

Skills

• Ability to assess risk and care plans effectively

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.