Job responsibilities
JOB TITLE: HEALTHCARE ASSISTANT / Assistant Practicioner
REPORTS TO: SENIOR PRACTICE NURSE (Clinically)
PRACTICE
MANAGER (Administratively)
HOURS:
Job
summary:
Working under the direct
supervision of the senior practice nurse and strictly in accordance with
specific practice guidelines and protocols, the healthcare assistant will
assist the practice clinical team in the provision and delivery of prescribed
programmes of patient care.
Duties
and responsibilities:
New patient health checks
ECG recording
Phlebotomy
Spirometry
Assisting the nursing team with patient
wound assessment and care
Vaccinations and injections where qualified
/ authorised eg Influenza and B12
Processing and management of laboratory
samples requested by GPs/nurses
Maintain and clean equipment used by the nurses and GPs according to
the practice Infection Control Policy
Vaccine/cold chain storage, monitoring and
recording
Surgical equipment and vaccine re-stocking
and stock rotation
Infection Prevention Control / Undertake housekeeping duties, including
general tidiness and cleanliness of treatment and GP rooms.
Maintain accurate records, ensuring the senior nurse on duty is advised
of potential problems or errors
Assisting GPs during the performance of
minor operations
Helping to raise awareness of health and
well-being and how it can be promoted
o
Adult Health Checks
o
Smoking Cessation
Chaperoning duties
Obtaining specimens e.g. urine, testing, as instructed and completing
appropriate laboratory forms
Confidentiality
In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us
with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health
and other matters. They do so in
confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy
and act appropriately
In the performance of the duties outlined in this job
description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information
relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare
workers. They may also have access to
information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such
information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues,
other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged
to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures
relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data
Health & Safety
The post-holder
will implement and lead on a full range of promotion and management their own
and others health and safety and infection control as defined in the practice
Health & Safety policy, the practice Health & Safety manual, and the
practice Infection Control policy and published procedures. This will include
(but will not be limited to):
Using personal security systems within the workplace
according to practice guidelines
Awareness of national standards of infection control and
cleanliness and regulatory / contractual / professional requirements, and good
practice guidelines
Responsible for the correct and safe management of the
specimens process, including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct
and clean containers, storage and transport arrangements
Management and maintenance of Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE) for the practice, including provision, ordering, availability
and ongoing correct usage by staff
Responsible for hand hygiene across the practice
Ownership of infection control and clinically based
patient care protocols, and implementation of those protocols across the
practice
Active observation of current working practices across
the practice in relation to infection control, cleanliness and related
activities, ensuring that procedures are followed and weaknesses / training
needs are identified, escalating issues as appropriate
Identifying the risks involved in work activities and
undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks across clinical
and patient process
Making effective use of training to update knowledge and
skills, and initiate and manage the training of others across the full range of
infection control and patient processes
Monitoring practice facilities and equipment in relation
to infection control, ensuring that provision of hand cleansing facilities,
wipes etc are sufficient to ensure a good clinical working environment. Lack of
facilities to be escalated as appropriate.
Safe management of sharps procedures including training,
use, storage and disposal
Using appropriate infection control procedures,
maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile, and safe way, free from
hazards. Initiation of remedial / corrective action where needed or escalation
to responsible management
Actively identifying, reporting, and correction of health
and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas
generally clean, sterile, identifying issues and hazards / risks in relation to
other work areas within the business, and assuming responsibility in the
maintenance of general standards of cleanliness across the business in
consultation (where appropriate) with other sector managers
Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum
twice annually)
Routine management of own team / team areas, and
maintenance of work space standards
Waste management including collection, handling,
segregation, container management, storage and collection
Spillage control procedures, management and training
Decontamination control procedures, management and
training, and equipment maintenance
Maintenance of sterile environments
Demonstrate due regard for safeguarding and promoting the
welfare of children.
Equality and diversity
The post-holder will support the equality, diversity
and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:
- Acting in a way that
recognizes the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way
that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current
legislation
- Respecting the
privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
- Behaving in a manner
that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects
their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.
Personal/Professional development
The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented
by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include:
- Participation in an
annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for
maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development
- Taking responsibility
for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and
activities to others who are undertaking similar work
Quality
The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice,
and will:
- Alert other team
members to issues of quality and risk
- Assess own
performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or
under supervision
- Contribute to the
effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and
making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance
- Work effectively with
individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
- Effectively manage
own time, workload and resources
Communication:
The
post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within
the team and will strive to:
- Communicate
effectively with other team members
- Communicate
effectively with patients and carers
- Recognize peoples
needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly
Contribution to the
Implementation of Services:
The post-holder will:
- Apply practice
policies, standards and guidance
- Discuss with other
members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect
own work
- Participate in audit
where appropriate