Healthcare Assistant Community Team

NHS; Lichfield; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading local healthcare charity in Lichfield is seeking a Community Health Care Assistant to provide quality care for palliative and end-of-life patients in their homes. The candidate will assist with personal care, clinical interventions, and emotional support, working under the supervision of a Registered Health Care Professional. Candidates should hold a Level 3 qualification in Health and Social Care and demonstrate good communication skills. The role involves maintaining patient dignity and confidentiality, ensuring high-quality care standards at all times.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Knowledge of health and safety issues.
• Competent in Clinical Observations for HCAs.
• Previous experience in healthcare/domiciliary care.

Responsibilities

• Provide direct patient care according to the care plan.
• Assist patients with daily living activities.
• Maintain patient records and documents to a high standard.

Skills

Good communication/organisational skills

Ability to work on own initiative

Sensitivity and empathy

Venepuncture

Vital signs assessment

Education

RQF Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care

NVQ Level 3 in health and social care

Job description

Overview

To providequality, holistic care to palliative and end of life patients in their own homeas well as supporting their family and carers. Our service offers support 7days a week, 365 days a year to enable patients to remain in their own home ifthis is their preference. The role is integrated into St Giles communityservices provision.

Main duties of the job

This rolerequires the post holder to have a flexible approach to ensure the holisticneeds of the patient and their carers` are met. The support that you would berequired to provide includes personal care visits, clinical interventions andobservations as well as emotional support for our patients and their carers`and respite sits.

The CommunityHealth Care assistant is expected to undertake care to meet the needs of thepatients under the supervision and delegation of an appropriate RegisteredHealth Care Professional, working within the Hospices policies and procedures.

The post holderwill usually work in the community but will be required to support delivery ofcare on our in-patient unit dependent on team pressures at our Whittington siteor other hospice locations.

The post holder will hold a Level 3 Health andSocial Care Qualification (NVQ, Apprenticeship, Diploma)

About us

St Giles Hospice is a registered charity founded in 1983 by the Reverend Paul Brothwell, originally to improve the care of local people dying with cancer.

We now support patients, and their loved ones, living with a terminal illness.Our dedicated team provides individually-tailored care, free of charge, either at the hospice or in patients own homes across our communities.

We spend close to £10 million a year providing our specialist services. With just 18% of this funded by the Government, we rely heavily on donations and income generation from the local community.

Job responsibilities

The role entails but is not limited to:

• Providingdirect patient care in accordance with the District Nurse care plan and/orinstructed by an appropriate healthcare professional. Liaising with other health careprofessionals involved in the patients care is therefore an integral part ofthis role
• To workwithin the integrated St Giles Community team to facilitate early dischargefrom hospital or hospice
• To workwithin the integrated team St Giles Community Team to prevent unnecessaryadmission to hospital
• Assistpatients to maintain all aspects of daily living activities in accordancewith individual programmes of care, ensuring physical care is delivered withdignity and respect for the individual, always ensuring their safety
• Ensurepatient held records are completed for each visit on SystmOne, maintaining High standards of record keeping ensuringaccurate, clear, and contemporaneous documentation is made as close to theevent as possible
• Ensuring clinical records are factually correct and reflectprecisely what was done or observed
• Communicateany change in the patients general appearance and condition as appropriateto a registered nurse to contribute to care plans for patients
• Monitoring,recording, and reporting a patient's vital signs and other physicalindicators to assess their overall health status
• Clinical duties will also include: (competenciesin bold are required at taking up the post, training can be provided inothers)
• Demonstratedexterity, co-ordination when undertaking treatment of patients whereaccuracy is important e.g. taking blood sugars and venepuncture (this listisnt exhaustive)
• Providingsupport and guidance to family and carers to enable them to gain knowledge tocare for the patient and to access relevant services, as they approach end-oflife
• Maintainexcellent communication with patients, relatives and members of the MDTregarding all aspects of care demonstrating a variety of communicationsskills in accordance with the client group
• Respectingthe persons home as a working environment (classed as a no smoking area)
• Toprioritise patient visits based on location and urgency to ensure allpatients receive expected visits in a timely manner
• MaintainingIT competency to make full use of mobile phones, e-mail, the internet andon-line training
• Accessingpatient information via SystmOne to ensure up-to-date knowledge of thepatients needs
• Alwaysprotecting the patients dignity and right to confidentiality
• Ensuringcompliance with the Data Protection Act, Freedom of information Act andensure patient confidentiality
• Thepost holder will have the skills to undertake or assist with patients inemergency situations by providing basic life support.
• Contributeto the reduction of healthcare acquired infection by ensuring a high standardof infection control practice in the light of research, current best evidenceand legislation
• In theabsence of the Clinical Lead or deputy clinical lead, take responsibility forrelevant administration and co-ordination of visits and deal with any issuesor concerns that may occur and escalate as appropriate
• Exercisingresponsibility by accessing and accepting opportunities for debrief sessions,peer support or clinical supervision
• Supervise,where appropriate, less experienced Healthcare Assistants to maintain Corecompetencies
• Ensuringregular communication and liaison with line manager as part of delivering anappropriate and high quality service including attendance at team meetings
• Be aware of the health, safety andwellbeing of self, staff, patients and all others on hospice property andcomply with the St Giles Hospice Health and Safety Policy
• To attend all mandatory training and othereducation and training programmes to maintain competencies of relevantprocedures and for self-development as required. Learn new skills associatedwith the role deemed necessary by the Clinical Lead
• Utilise educational opportunities tofacilitate learning in the clinical environment. Participate in education andtraining activities as required
• Be aware of, and comply with all manner ofSt Giles Hospice policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines alongsideobserving a personal duty of care when using equipment or handling patientsvaluables
• Undertake other duties as may be required,and which are consistent with the responsibilities of the post

Just so you know:

We may review applications before the applicationreview date, however, if you apply after the application review date, yourapplication may not be considered. We will accept applications until we havesuccessfully filled the role, this may be earlier than the closing date.

If you have not heard within 14 days of theapplication close date, then please consider that your application has beenunsuccessful at this time.

As part of your application your data will bemanaged in line with St Giles Hospice Privacy Policy and kept for 6 months. Ifyou would like to see this in full, please visit https://www.stgileshospice.com/privacy-policy/

Person Specification

Qualifications

• RQF (Regulated Qualifications Framework) Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care or
• QCF Level 3 in health and social care or
• NVQ Level 3 in health and social care)

Experience

• Knowledge of health and safety issues
• Competent in the Key Aspects of Clinical Observations for HCAs
• Knowledge of health care terminology
• Previous experience in primary care
• Previous experience in healthcare/domiciliary care

Other Requirements

• Valid driving licence
• Eligibility to work in the UK
• Please note that St Giles Hospice does not hold a sponsorship licence and is therefore unable to accept sponsorship requests

Personal Attributes

• Confidence to work alone and as part of a team
• Willingness to work unsocial hours across hospice departments
• Flexible approach
• Sensitive, caring and empathetic
• Team player
• Able to work under pressure

Skills

• Good communication/organisational skills
• Ability to work on own initiative
• Venepuncture (or work towards)
• Vital signs assessment
• Maintaining accurate and detailed patient records.
• Ability to Know when and how to escalate concerns
• Standard computer skills with ability to use common software applications

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.

£25,263.19 to £26,651.49 a yearpro rata for part time hrs (+ enhancements where applicable)