Specialist Screening Healthcare Assistant | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Shaftesbury; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the UK is seeking a compassionate Specialist Screening Healthcare Assistant to work at HMP Guys Marsh. You will play a vital role in safeguarding the health of individuals in custody, performing screenings, and providing essential health support. This position demands effective communication, a commitment to health promotion, and the ability to support vulnerable populations within a prison setting. Join a dedicated team focused on improving lives and offering integrated healthcare services.

Qualifications

• Experience in delivering healthcare services in challenging environments.
• Willingness to support health education and promotion.
• Commitment to equal opportunities and sensitivity to diverse needs.

Responsibilities

• Provide physical care to patients according to care plans.
• Support national screening and vaccination programs.
• Communicate effectively with patients and multi-disciplinary teams.

Skills

Compassionate

Knowledgeable

Motivated

Effective communication

Education

Healthcare experience

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?

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.

Important Sponsorship Information for this post: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post.

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.

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:

• We’re Kind
• We’re Fair
• We Listen
• We Care
• To work as directed by a registered nurse.
• To provide care physical care to patients in accordance with their care plan
• Provide health education and promotion support to the prison population
• Be an advocate for the national screening and vaccination programmes within the NHS.
• To support the delivery of national screening programmes.
• Maintain oversight and links with: Bowel screenings, AAA and Diabetic eye screening teams.
• To support and deliver clinics as instructed within the establishments clinic timetable
• Participate in planning and liaison activities for patients.
• Inform a registered nurse as soon as possible when any change in a patient’s condition is noticed.
• Support patients in change due to admission, discharge, death or personal loss and in adapting to their new environment.
• Report any complaints or requests for information from patients immediately to the senior nurse on duty to enable prompt response.
• Report all risks to the senior nursing staff.
• Assist in the general running of the department by undertaking housekeeping and clerical duties as appropriate.
• Participate in appraisal and training of self to develop a personal development plan and strive to achieve the set objectives,
• Undertake any other duties commensurate to the grade and as requested by the line manager.
• Attend staff meetings, updates and attend mandatory training as required.
• Work closely with Management to ensure that the Prison Health Agenda is supported at all levels in the Practice.
• Actively engaging with offenders in the provision of holistic, needs-led care which takes into account the physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual needs of individuals and groups.
• Demonstrates a commitment to equal opportunities for all people. Responding to the needs of people sensitively with regard for age, culture, race, gender, ethnicity, religion and disability, especially regarding privacy and dignity
• Demonstrates a knowledge of the term ‘professional boundaries’ and how to apply this to working with patients, offenders and others.
• Understanding the need for promoting health & well-being and the delivery of health promotion activities and programmes (including self-help programmes) in support of a registered nurse.
• Contributing appropriately to risk assessment and individualised care planning

Communication

• Communicate effectively with patients and the multi-disciplinary team.
• Develop and maintain effective communications with all interested parties.
• Provides and receives sensitive information with potentially barriers to understanding

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.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ:

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

This advert closes on Monday 5 Jan 2026