Support worker - Children's hospital at Home Team

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust; Dartford; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS trust in Dartford is seeking a dynamic Support Worker to join the Children's Hospital at Home team. This role involves facilitating early discharge and preventing hospital admissions for children. You will assist in patient care, manage records, and support nursing tasks. The position offers flexible working arrangements and is part of a supportive team environment dedicated to quality patient care.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Career development opportunities

Health and wellbeing support

Qualifications

• Experience in a healthcare setting preferred.
• Ability to work under pressure and manage time effectively.
• Compassionate and caring approach to patient care.

Responsibilities

• Answer office phone and manage post.
• Maintain patient records and documentation.
• Assist with nursing tasks as required.
• Liaise with families and process referrals.

Skills

Communication skills

Teamwork

Organizational skills

Education

Relevant healthcare qualification

Job description

Overview

We are seeking a dynamic and committed Support Worker to join the Children\'s Hospital at Home team (CHAHT) covering 7 days a week including bank holidays. CHAHT is an acute service to facilitate early discharge and prevent hospital admissions for children and young people so they can be cared for within their own home environment for administration of IV/IM antibiotics and review of acute episodes of illness. The team is based at Darent Valley Hospital and works closely with the Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU) and Paediatric Inpatient team to ensure appropriate referrals are received and facilitate the smooth transition of care from the hospital to the community.

Responsibilities

• Answer the office telephone, referring on as appropriate and sorting and distributing the post on a daily basis.
• Report any phone call concerns to the duty CHAHT nurse.
• Update daily patient census on the computer.
• Check all medical records daily to ensure they are correctly and securely filed and that there are sufficient history sheets in each set of notes.
• Using the PAS system, enter patients for admission, transfer and discharge and book follow-up appointments; photocopy notes as required.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date documentation both manually and electronically; file paperwork in patient\'s notes.
• Check the CHAHT diary daily for outstanding jobs.
• Ensure sufficient supplies of stationery, pathology specimen bottles and other supplies on the ward by ordering them regularly as directed by the nurse in charge (NIC).
• Process referrals to other Children\'s Community Nursing Teams as directed by NIC.
• Comply with hygiene and infection control principles, including cleaning, checking and stocking equipment and tidying storage areas as directed by the NIC.
• Be aware of the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of the child and family and endeavour to meet these as part of the team.
• Process new CHAHT referrals and electronic discharge notice copies as directed by NIC.
• Liaise with families on Willow/PAU to gather essential information for CHAHT visits as directed by NIC.
• Assist CHAHT nursing team with nursing tasks as required.
• Be aware of the location of emergency and resuscitation equipment and procedures on ward.
• Take drug cards and prescriptions to Pharmacy and liaise with Pharmacy regarding collection of items; collect sealed items from the Pharmacy when required for the CHAHT nursing team.
• Provide data collection support for clinical audits and other wards/departments within the Trust.
• As required by service demands, undertake duties in other Paediatric areas of the Trust.
• Report to the nurse in charge or Senior Nurse any concerns relating to patient care, the environment, staffing or anything that may affect the service to children and their families.
• Provide assistance to newly appointed staff, as guided by a registered nurse.

Education and Development

• Participate in a system of individual performance review.
• Attend annual updates on fire, moving and handling, child protection, paediatric resuscitation and other topics as directed.
• Attend/ensure attendance at department training sessions as required for professional/personal/service development.

Values and Working Arrangements

Our staff are our most valuable asset. We are committed to making staff feel appreciated, supported and included in the Trust\'s successes. Our mission is to be an outstanding place to work, providing the very best care for our patients and excellent career opportunities for our staff. Everything we do is guided by our core values and behaviours, identified by our staff and embedded throughout the organisation.

Flexible Working

Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Speak to us about how we might accommodate a flexible working arrangement.

About the Trust

We have the highest CQC rating of all Acute NHS Trusts in Kent and Medway (Good). The CQC highlighted that managers promoted a positive culture that supported, valued staff and created a sense of common purpose based upon shared values. The Trust is a great place to work, stay, develop a career and enjoy a healthy work-life balance. We are committed to health and wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion, and access to education and career development. We are part of Guy\'s and St Thomas\'s (GSTT) Healthcare Alliance, enabling opportunities to work across numerous specialties. The Trust provides services at Darent Valley Hospital and Queen Mary\'s Hospital for a local population of over 500,000.

Note for Applicants

If you would like to be part of our innovative and forward-thinking team putting patients at the centre of all we do, we invite you to join our family. This vacancy may close earlier than stated to aid efficient processing of applications. If you have not heard within 21 days of the closing date, please assume you have not been shortlisted. Car parking permits are limited and allocated subject to eligibility criteria and space availability. Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust is a smoke-free organisation.