Specialist Screening Healthcare Assistant

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Long Cross; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS healthcare provider in the United Kingdom is seeking a compassionate Specialist Screening Healthcare Assistant to join their team at HMP Guys Marsh. The role involves ensuring high-quality health screening and assessments for individuals in custody, contributing to improved health outcomes and rehabilitation. Candidates should possess strong interpersonal skills and be sensitive to the needs of vulnerable populations. This position plays a crucial role in bridging health inequalities and supporting integrated healthcare within the prison system. Join a dedicated team committed to making a positive difference.

Qualifications

• Compassionate and knowledgeable Healthcare Assistant.
• Ability to undertake risk assessments and support qualified staff.
• Experience with NHS Health Checks and risk management.

Responsibilities

• Ensure delivery of high-quality primary care and screening.
• Lead and oversee all screening programmes within the prison.
• Support patients in achieving planned healthcare outcomes.

Job description

Role 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? We are currently recruiting for a compassionate, knowledgeable and motivated Specialist Screening Healthcare Assistant to join our friendly team at HMP Guys Marsh. Screening within prisons plays a vital role in safeguarding the health of individuals in custody and the wider community. Early identification of infectious diseases, mental health conditions, and chronic illnesses enables timely intervention, reduces transmission risk, and supports rehabilitation. Our healthcare team have 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 patients 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. Healthcare assistants in specialist screening roles are essential in ensuring vulnerable populations receive equitable access to care. Their work helps bridge gaps in health inequalities, promotes public health, and contributes to safer prison environments. Effective screening not only improves individual outcomes but also supports continuity of care upon release, reinforcing the importance of integrated healthcare within the criminal justice system.

Key duties

• Ensuring the delivery of high quality primary care which will include physically screening for the following pathways: NHS Health Checks, BBV & Sexual Health.
• Undertaking risk assessments for the people in your care, seeing them holistically, being sensitive to their needs and escalating the risk to senior prison staff where necessary.
• To lead on and have oversight of all screening programmes within the prison estate.
• To support qualified staff in all activities relating to the delivery of high‑quality patient‑centred care.
• Work and act as a key member of the team, supporting each patient in the achievement of their planned outcomes.
• Setting up and supporting clinics.
• Running reports on SystmOne.
• Attending performance meetings, showcasing improvements and challenges.
• Work around the prison establishment to improve attendance and uptake of screening programmes.

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. We are proud of the care we provide and our people. 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:

Our values

• We’re Kind
• We’re Fair
• We Listen
• We Care