Healthcare Assistant | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

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

Job summary

A leading NHS healthcare provider in the UK is seeking a Healthcare Assistant to deliver efficient, patient-centered care in a challenging environment. Responsibilities include working with a registered nurse to provide physical care, conducting health assessments, and maintaining patient confidentiality. The ideal candidate should have experience in hospital or primary care settings with specific skills in taking blood pressure and ECGs. This role is vital in supporting health and well-being in a secure environment.

Qualifications

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

Responsibilities

• Provide physical care to patients per care plans.
• Assist with emergency procedures when necessary.
• Ensure treatment rooms are clean and stocked.

Skills

Taking blood pressure

ECGs

Wound care knowledge

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. We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. 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.

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 also emphasise delivering holistic, needs-led care and engaging with patients to support health promotion and optimal physical health.

Responsibilities

Clinical responsibilities

• To work as directed by a registered nurse, providing physical care to patients according to a written care plan.
• Carry out ECGs, phlebotomy, basic wound care, NEWS2 and blood glucose monitoring.
• Assess patients using NEWS2 and take patients’ weight and other measurements.
• Assist in emergency call outs and instigate emergency procedures when appropriate.
• Be second checker on medication rounds; order and maintain stock; ensure treatment rooms are clean, tidy and well stocked.
• Escalate appropriately to registered healthcare professionals; document contemporaneously and accurately using templates in SystmOne.
• Maintain patient confidentiality and security; adhere to organisational and prison policies, procedures, and guidelines.
• 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 and comply with prison orders, procedures and instructions.
• Respond to situations that may threaten security or safety and complete appropriate reports.
• Contribute to effective risk assessment and management procedures.

Communication

• Routinely communicate effectively with patients and develop inter-disciplinary and inter-agency working with 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 other non-statutory agencies integral to prisoner/patient care and offender management.
• Undertake other duties agreed with registered staff within Integrated Primary Healthcare Services.

Qualifications and requirements

• Applicants must have hospital/primary care experience and be competent at taking blood pressure, ECGs and other observations.
• Knowledge of wound care is required for this post.
• Willingness to undertake National Security Vetting to work in a Prison Setting (pre-employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team).
• Proof of right to work, proof of ID (including one photographic ID), proof of address, and country-appropriate identity and police checks as required.
• 5 years of address history; for non-UK passport holders, an English police certificate may be required; for UK passport holders who have lived abroad for more than six months in the last three years, an overseas police check or certificate of good conduct may be required.

Additional information

• Important Sponsorship Information: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post.
• This advert closes on Wednesday 1 Oct 2025.