Healthcare Assistant (Ellis) | South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust

South West London and St Georges Mental Health Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 24,000; Full time

Job summary

A mental health service provider in the City of London is seeking a Band 3 Healthcare Assistant to join their team. The role involves maintaining high standards of care, assisting senior staff, and actively engaging in patient activities. Ideal candidates should be compassionate, motivated, and possess good communication skills. This position provides ongoing support and supervision to ensure the best patient care.

Benefits

Flexible working

Career development

Variety of benefits

Qualifications

• Demonstrate some experience providing care either on a professional or informal basis.
• Caring and compassionate personality.
• Team player with problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and develop high standards of care for patients.
• Assist senior trained staff in day-to-day duties.
• Provide practical assistance to patients in daily living tasks.
• Contribute to effective communication with nursing staff.
• Be actively involved in day-to-day routine and activities.

Skills

Good communication skills

Compassionate

Motivated

Friendly

Approachable

Job description

Ellis Ward is an 20 bed mixed gender, adult inpatient mental health ward. We provide an inpatient service, including assessment and/or treatment, for people who are in the acute phase of their mental health problems. Our patients have a variety of complex needs including bipolar affective disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, psychotic episodes, depression and personality disorder. The service is open to referrals and admissions 24hours a day 365 days a year.

The team includes dedicated mentalhealth professionals comprised of mental health nurses, health care assistants, an occupational therapist and an activity co‑ordinator as well as psychiatrists. The team has a culture of supporting new and existing staff, seeking to establish in them a solid foundation of knowledge of acute mental health treatment, as well as an understanding of what it takes to fulfil this role safely. The Trust is committed to ensuring every practitioner participates in clinical supervision and has a programme of development.

Our team is dynamic and rolls with adversity. If you are able to think abstractly, problem‑solve effectively and manage your time appropriately you would be a welcome addition to our team. If you are caring, compassionate and committed to making a difference in the lives of others, then this is an exciting opportunity to consider. We are looking for talented and motivated people to join our team in an exciting opportunity as a Band 3 Healthcare Assistant.

We are seeking individuals who are friendly, approachable, compassionate and motivated with good communication skills. Our aim is to recruit the best Healthcare Assistants so that we can support you to develop and provide the best patient care. Candidates should demonstrate some experience providing care either on a professional or informal basis. You will receive ongoing support from your peers, ward/team manager and matron. You will also receive individual supervision as well as support in reflective practice groups.

As a Healthcare Assistant, you will be:

• Maintaining and developing a high standard of care for our patients/residents by being aware of their individual needs and care programmes.
• Assisting the senior trained staff in their day‑to‑day duties and clinical related tasks.
• Contributing towards effective communication, by reporting to the nurse in charge any information given by the patient/resident or relative of any incident or observation which may affect our patients physical/mental well‑being.
• Providing practical assistance to our patients/residents in carrying out everyday living tasks whilst encouraging them to develop their daily living skills and realize their potential to live as independently as they find possible.
• Being actively involved with the day‑to‑day routine in individual and group activities.
• Practicing within a legal framework encompassing statutory, organisational policy and guidelines.

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 ‘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 as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.

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 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.

About our locations:

Tolworth Hospital, Surbiton

Working under the guidance of a Registered Nurse/ Senior Health Care Support Worker/ Assistant Practitioner/Nurse Associate, 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.

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

Supporting junior staff and leading on providing hands‑on care to service users including:

• Undertaking 1-1 engagement with service users in an honest, open and non‑judgemental way.
• Recognising and valuing service users as individuals, acknowledging the importance of maintaining the service user’s respect and dignity at all times and ensuring that the care provided respects equality and diversity.
• Escalating any concerns to a Registered Nurse.
• 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 fulfil the personal parameters to the relevant professional (Band 4 or Registered Nurse).
• Implementing the principles of ‘recovery’: encouraging and supporting service users to engage with healthy lifestyles, facilitating psychosocial activities and other activities of their interest.
• Escortung service users, as required, in line with Trust policies.
• 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.
• Advocating for service users’ needs and rights within Trust policy.

This advert closes on Wednesday 22 Oct 2025.