Healthcare Assistant | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

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

Job summary

A healthcare organization is seeking a Healthcare Assistant in Eastchurch to deliver quality care to patients within a prison environment. Your role involves assisting registered nurses and engaging in holistic care while promoting health and well-being. Applicants are expected to have experience in hospital or primary care, along with the skills for taking blood pressure and performing ECGs. This position offers a challenging environment where your contributions can truly make a difference.

Qualifications

• Hospital/primary care experience required.
• Competency in taking blood pressure and ECGs is essential.
• Knowledge of wound care is a requirement.

Responsibilities

• Assist registered nurses in delivering high-quality care to patients in prison.
• Engage with patients in holistic, needs-led care.
• Promote health and well-being through activities and programmes.

Skills

Taking blood pressure

ECGs

Wound care knowledge

Patient communication

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 has a real impact on promoting health and well‑being to those in prison. We pride ourselves on using skills and strategies that instill 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 well‑being 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.

Previous candidates need not apply.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the delivery of high‑quality nursing care to patients in prison with the support of a registered nurse.
• Provide physical care to patients according to a written care plan, including taking blood pressures, ECGs, other observations and wound care.
• Actively engage with patients in the provision of holistic, needs‑led care that considers the physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual needs of the individual.
• Promote 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.
• Carry out ECGs, phlebotomy, basic wound care, NEWS2 assessment, blood glucose monitoring, weight and other measurements.
• Assist in emergency call‑outs and instigate emergency procedures when appropriate.
• Be a second checker on medication rounds.
• Order and maintain stock, ensure treatment rooms are clean, tidy and well stocked.
• Escalate appropriately to registered healthcare professionals.
• Use appropriate templates in SystmOne to document contemporaneously and accurately.
• Maintain patient confidentiality and security.
• Adhere to all organisational and prison policies, procedures and guidelines.
• Ensure good working relationships with patients, carers, relatives, other professionals and prison and healthcare staff.
• Develop an understanding of and demonstrate 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 and Integrated Primary Healthcare Services.

National Security Vetting

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.

Required Documents

• Proof of right to work documentation.
• Proof of ID, including one photographic ID.
• Proof of address documentation.
• Non‑UK passport holders must have correct right‑to‑work documentation and a Home Office share code.
• Five years of address history (or a Police Certificate in English if UK passport holders have lived abroad for more than six months during the last three years).
• For non‑UK passport holders with less than five years of UK address history, a Police Certificate in English from their previous country of residence is required.

Application Deadline

This advert closes on Monday 22 Dec 2025.