Senior Healthcare Assistant

Kent Community Health Nhs Foundation Trust; Chestfield; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Senior Healthcare Assistant to support community-based care within the trust. The role emphasises patient-centered service, teamwork, and a professional approach to delivering high-quality care.

Applicants should bring NHS experience or a strong commitment to NHS values. The post is permanent, full-time, and based within the Kent community health services.

Qualifications

• Essential: QCF Level 3 healthcare qualification or equivalent experience.
• Essential: Functional Skills Level 2 in English and Maths.
• Essential: recent healthcare experience as a health care assistant or similar.

Responsibilities

• Drive if required to perform duties and travel to sites as needed.
• Support clinical teams to deliver high-quality patient care and maintain patient safety.

Skills

Communication skills

Customer focus

IT literacy

Education

QCF Level 3

Functional Skills Level 2

Healthcare experience

Job description

Job summary

Please note: at this stage, the role is open only to colleagues currently employed within Kent and Medway NHS Trusts, the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Medway Community Healthcare or working on the Staff Bank within these organisations. Nursing and AHP vacancies are also open to Student Nurses and Newly Qualified Nurses/AHPs. The NHS is changing. More emphasis on community-based care means there's never been a better time to join us. We are looking for an enthusiastic and organised Senior Healthcare Assistant to join our professional service. We're a close team but we're never exclusive, if you can bring a professional approach and fresh ideas we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

Could you use your skills and experience to support the NHS to deliver great patient care? Great patient care needs great people to support clinical teams. That's where you come in. We're always looking for enthusiastic, responsive, and adaptable people to join our outstanding trust. This role is an important one as you'll be using your knowledge, experience and expertise to provide support to our hard-working frontline NHS teams. We put patients first and we expect all of our colleagues to do the same, so although NHS experience isn't a requirement for this role you'll need to share our passion for delivering excellent patient care and keep that passion at the forefront of your professional activity at all times. The challenges come thick and fast in this role but you'll know that your input is contributing to the excellent experience our patients and service users have every day.

About us

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is currently undertaking a significant programme of transformation to align our community services to the new Neighbourhood Model of care delivery, there will be a period of consultation which may result in changes affecting some services, teams or roles. Depending on the area you are applying to work in, this could include potential changes to your role, work base, reporting arrangements, or terms and conditions of employment. Any changes would be subject to consultation and managed sensitively and in line with relevant employment processes. Please do contact the recruiting manager if you have any concerns about this so they can answer any questions you might have. Rated 'Outstanding' by CQC, we deliver high-quality care that improves the health of our communities. We are looking for people who share our values: Compassionate, Aspirational, Responsive and Excellent. We are proud to be an inclusive, welcoming organisation and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We use protected characteristic information for monitoring only and it is not seen by recruiting managers, except where applicants choose to be considered under our disability guaranteed interview scheme. We know life outside work matters. As a flexible working-friendly organisation, we welcome conversations about arrangements that help you thrive while supporting excellent care for our patients.

Details

Closing date: 08 November 2026 Pay scheme: Agenda for change Band: Band 3 Salary: £25,760 to £27,476 a year per annum pro rata Contract: Permanent Working pattern: Full-time Reference number: 846-8359796-UJ

Job responsibilities

As a community Trust, many of our roles require individuals to be able to drive to perform their duties. Where driving is a requirement of the role, you will be asked to confirm that you hold a full UK driving licence or a full driving licence issued by an EU country (not exchanged from a non-EU country) to proceed with your application. We are committed to supporting candidates with disabilities into employment. If you are unable to drive due to a disability, please contact the Recruitment Team via [e-mail], quoting the vacancy reference number, so we can support you further. The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this in your application. If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know. All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate. Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert. We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job. At KCHFT we strongly encourage colleagues in clinical and non-clinical roles who have direct or social contact with patients to be fully vaccinated. In this way we will be doing all we can to ensure your safety and that of your colleagues and the patients we serve. Find out more about the community difference here. Good luck! We can't wait to meet you and welcome you to #teamKCHFT, #cometocommunity.

Person Specification

Qualifications, training and experience

Essential

• You will have either: A Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) Level 3. This could be an NVQ Level 3 apprenticeship, BTEC or equivalent international qualification in healthcare or you will be able to demonstrate the equivalent level of experience.
• In addition you will also have Functional Skills at Level 2 (Literacy and numeracy/ GCSE grade A-C/ 4-9 or equivalent in English and Maths)
• You'll need to have recent experience of healthcare/ working as a health care assistant gained through education, work experience or previous employment.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• You'll need have sound communication skills in order to understand and communicate both verbally and in writing.
• You will need to have a customer focussed approach which is essential to provide patients, clients and their families with the best possible experience
• You will need to be able to be able to use IT systems and databases.
• You will have knowledge of up to date clinical practice by using up-to-date skills and adhering to evidence-based procedures and clinical effectiveness frameworks. You will fully understand the role and remit of a health care worker.
• You will need to be able to remain professional, work well under pressure and organise your own work in order to prioritise care delivery in line with trust policies and procedures.

Working environment

Essential

• Tact and sensitivity will be essential in this role. There will be times when you see distressing and emotional situations within your area. You may also be exposed to vulnerable, violent or aggressive patients.
• A full, valid UK driving licence or a full driving licence issued by an EU country (not exchanged from a non-EU country) and the ability to travel independently are essential for this role.
• We encourage a culture where colleagues can be open and transparent about their own practice, team working to create a culture of continuous improvement and sharing good practice to improve care.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017

skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here: Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

Employer details

Employer name: Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Rochester Healthy Living Centre, Rochester, ME1 2EL, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/

For questions about the job, contact:

Education Practitioner, Susannah Johnson, [e-mail]

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice.