Healthcare Assistant | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Eastchurch; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 25,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization in Eastchurch is seeking a Healthcare Assistant to join their diverse team. This role requires assisting in high quality nursing care to patients in prison, including conducting observations, engaging with patients, and adhering to security protocols. Candidates must have healthcare experience and knowledge of basic medical procedures. The position offers a chance to make a significant impact on patient well-being.

Qualifications

• Applicants must have hospital or primary care experience.
• Must be competent in taking blood pressure, ECGs, and other observations.
• Knowledge of wound care is required.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the delivery of high quality nursing care to patients in prison.
• Engage actively with patients to promote health and well-being.
• Carry out clinical duties such as ECGs and basic wound care.

Skills

Competence in taking blood pressure

Experience in phlebotomy

Knowledge of wound care

Job description

Overview

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 has 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.

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.

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

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.

Responsibilities

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, including taking blood pressure, ECGs, 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.

• Clinical:
• To work as directed by a registered nurse, providing physical care to patients according to a written care plan. Typical duties include:
• Carrying out ECGs
• Phlebotomy
• Basic wound care
• NEWS2
• Assess patients using NEWS2
• Blood glucose monitoring
• Taking patients weight and other measurements
• Assisting in emergency call outs and instigating emergency procedures when appropriate
• Being second checker on medication rounds
• Ordering and maintaining stock
• Ensuring treatment rooms are clean, tidy and well stocked
• Appropriate escalation to registered healthcare professionals
• Using templates in SystmOne to document contemporaneously and accurately
• Maintaining patient confidentiality and security
• Adhering to all organisational and prison policies, procedures, and guidelines
• Ensuring good working relationships with patients, carers, relatives, other professionals and prison and healthcare staff
• Developing an understanding of and demonstrating use of clinical supervision to reflect upon and modify practice

• Custodial Responsibilities:
• Assume personal responsibility for the security of issued keys
• Understand and comply with prison orders, procedures, and instructions in your area of work
• Comply with all security requirements
• Respond to any situation or circumstance that might indicate a threat to security of the establishment or to the safety of an individual, completing Incident, Security, Injury, or other reports as appropriate
• Report breaches of order and discipline including reporting and recording untoward incidents according to local protocol
• Contribute to effective risk assessment and management procedures

• Communication:
• Routinely communicate effectively with patients and work to overcome barriers to understanding (e.g., patients with physical or mental health conditions or learning disabilities)
• Develop and maintain inter-disciplinary and inter-agency working with all relevant agencies and organisations as directed
• Develop and maintain close working partnerships with HMPS, Prison Governors and Heads of Prison Services, Forensic Services, Probation Services, Crown Prosecution Service, Police, and all other non-statutory agencies that are integral to prisoner/patient care and offender management
• Undertake other duties agreed in conjunction with registered staff, Integrated Primary Healthcare Services

Requirements and qualifications

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: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship 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, 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).

This advert closes on Thursday 25 Sep 2025