Healthcare Assistant/Trainee

Job summary

The Intensive Support Team supports people with learning disabilities who have experienced physical and emotional trauma and may have additional mental health needs, sensory processing difficulties and/or communication needs. In addition, the services supporting them in the community may be struggling to meet their challenging needs.

The team has 3 workstreams Home Support, Wraparound and Provider. This advert is for the Wraparound support stream (please note that this is a community post but there is an expectation that all staff will be trained to PAT Level 2 - restraint trained to support the Wraparound workstream - please consider before applying).

The multi-disciplinary IST is highly skilled, passionate and completely person-centred, comprising of Nursing, Occupational Therapist, Psychologist, Psychiatry and Consultant Practitioner. We have bases in both Durham and Teesside. The team's overall aim is to provide dynamic support to people living in the community and prevent an admission to hospital / placement breakdown.

Main duties of the job

In an IST setting, the HCA's role often involves working with individuals in an acute mental health crisis or those with complex need / behaviours that challenge. The IST service delivery model is based on a partnership agreement between Durham County Council (DCC) and Tees Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust, (Bluebell Apartment at Hawthorn House and other settings located with Durham locality).

The role of the HCA is to primarily provide hands-on patient care and performs a range of delegated clinical duties with minimal supervision such as assisting with service user flow and coordination, responsible for recording service users' observations, reporting change, and contributing to the multidisciplinary teams' care plans.

The aim is to provide rapid assessment and support in the community or a specific setting to prevent placement breakdown or hospital admission.

The Intensive Support Team are looking to recruit Band 3 Health Care Assistants to work with adults with learning disabilities (ALD) across Durham, as part of our new Intensive Support Team.

The IST is proud to value themselves as a person-centred service, that works closely with the patient and family towards understanding and supporting the need of the individual in the least restrictive way. This role requires 7 days 24/7 (12-hour shifts), working flexibly, responding to new demands and acting calmly in stressful situations.

About us

Are you a caring, resilient and motivated individual who wants to make a real difference to the lives of people with a learning disability. The successful applicant needs significant experience of working with adults with learning disabilities, mental health difficulties and/or complex needs. We wish to recruit individuals who are flexible, enthusiastic and have a positive caring attitude towards our client group. The role will be varied and will include all aspects of care from implementing care plan delivery systems to promoting choice and client's independence.

The role is to support rapid assessment within the community in intensively working alongside external providers to improve quality of care and outcomes. A partnership agreement is in place between Durham County Council (DCC) and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust. Currently one of the providers that the IST is working intensively alongside is Hawthorn House (Bluebell Apartments) to prevent placement breakdown/hospital admission. Additional training will be sought in accessing electronic patient records to support the service users' journey whilst residing at Bluebell Apartments.

If you are passionate about supporting vulnerable people and preventing placement breakdown or hospital admission, apply today to joint our dedicated team. If you want to find out more, please do get in touch.