Healthcare Support Worker

Job summary

St Margaret's Ward - has a 28 beds and is a very busy ward. A High standard of care is expected to be given on the ward, to our patients.

We are a busy ward, and look after care of the elderly patients. The majority of our patients are most likely to have some form of dementia resulting in challenging behaviours.

We pride ourselves as working as a team. We are friendly welcoming and approachable.

Main duties of the job

• Work under the supervision of a registered nurse in implementing plans of care to ensure that patient's physical, social and psychological needs are met
• Ensure privacy and dignity of patients is maintained at all times
• Contribute to Productive Ward Initiative
• Minimise risk of harm to patients, staff and visitors by working according to risk management policies
• Participate in the orientation of new staff to their duties and the ward routine
• Assist in measurement of care by contributing to data collection for quality metrics
• Work to eliminate avoidable infection by working according to infection control policies
• Demonstrate consistent high standard of hand hygiene practice and promote standards to staff, visitors and patients
• Promote patent independence and recovery to enable reduction in unnecessary length of hospital stay
• Assist with admission and discharge procedures including the correct handling of patient's property
• Undertake and accurately record vital signs eg. Temperature, pulse, respiration and blood pressure
• Assist with collection, labelling and dispatching of specimens
• Accurately test urine and record results
• Accurately weigh, measure height and record body mass index of patients
• Assist with serving meals and beverages and assist patients in eating and drinking
• Assist patients to meet their personal and oral hygiene needs ensuring privacy and dignity is maintained
• Prevention of pressure ulcers
• Escorting patients
• Assisting in response to cardiac arrest

About us

We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 695,000 people.

Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference'.

We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.

NHSEI have always been clear that staff have a professional duty to get vaccinated and it remains our best line of defence against COVID-19. As such NHS organisation including Primary Care, are encouraged to continue engaging with and supporting their staff to inform their decisions in order to drive vaccine confidence, protect themselves, patients, and everyone else. NHSEI has producedCOVID-19 vaccine communication materials.