Healthcare Assistant | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Bristol; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization in Bristol is looking for a Healthcare Assistant to contribute to the delivery of high-quality nursing care within a prison environment. Responsibilities include taking vital signs, wound care, and providing holistic support to patients. Ideal candidates should have experience in hospital or primary care and be familiar with essential medical observations. This role offers a unique opportunity to make a real impact on patient health and wellbeing.

Qualifications

• Must have hospital/primary care experience.
• Competent at taking blood pressure, ECGs, and other observations.
• Knowledge of wound care is required.

Responsibilities

• Assist in delivering high-quality nursing care to patients in prison.
• Provide physical care according to a written care plan.
• Engage with patients in holistic, needs-led care.

Skills

Hospital/primary care experience

Competence in taking blood pressure

Ability to conduct ECGs

Wound care knowledge

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 and deliver care that is efficient and deeply centred on the patient.

Our healthcare team has a real impact on promoting health and well‑being for those in prison, and we pride ourselves on using skills and strategies that instil hope for patients’ future resettlement back into the community. We directly deliver mental health, physical health, pharmacy and clinical substance misuse care in an integrated model to provide responsive care that improves wellbeing and supports better outcomes.

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.

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 considers 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.

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community healthcare such as district nursing, 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 through new provider collaboratives.

We have over 1,300 staff members working in many settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes. We operate in 125 sites across the South of England, including London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, and Kent. We manage hospital sites such as Queen Mary’s, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital in Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. As the largest NHS provider of prison health services, we provide healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Kent and South London.

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’re Fair
• We Listen
• We Care

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

• Respond to the needs of patients in an honest, non‑judgemental, and open manner, respecting the rights of individuals and groups.
• Actively engage with patients in the provision of holistic, needs‑led care that considers their physical, psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual needs.
• Deliver health promotion activities and programmes (including patient self‑help programmes) in support of a registered healthcare professional.
• Assist patients to attain optimal physical health and assist with physical procedures alongside a registered healthcare professional.
• Contribute appropriately to risk assessment and individualised care planning.

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.

You will need to provide:

• Proof of right to work documentation
• Proof of ID, which must include one photographic ID
• Proof of address documentation
• Non‑UK passport holders will need correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home Office Share code.

Address History:

• 5 years address history will be needed.

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

Applicants who are UK passport holders who have lived abroad for 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 they 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).

This advert closes on Monday 8 Dec 2025.