Community Healthcare Assistant

Job responsibilities

The post holder will need:

1. To work generically in provision of care, to patients under the supervision of a qualified practitioner, following a prescribed treatment/care plan in order to prevent admission to hospital.
2. Plan and prioritise own visits to delegated patients.
3. Ensure patient held records are completed for each visit, and that SystmOne inputting is completed on a daily basis.
4. Make basic judgements on patients response to prescribed treatment/care plans, and report findings to a qualified practitioner.
5. Liaise with other health care professionals as required.
6. Communicate with patients/carers by exchanging factual information, reassurance, tact and empathy.
7. Establish and maintain appropriate working relationships with colleagues, patients, carers and other health care professionals.
8. Demonstrate dexterity and coordination when undertaking treatment of patients where accuracy is important, e.g. taking blood glucose results, wound care, administration of medication such as insulin.
9. Be responsible for ensuring equipment is used safely, following relevant training, and that it is maintained appropriately.
10. Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of consent, and gain consent as appropriate following organisational policies.
11. Share responsibility of indirect patient contact tasks, such as, answering telephones, arranging appointments, processing referrals and inputting activity data.
12. Undertake health promotion / education as required, e.g. smoking cessation, falls etc.
13. May be exposed to bodily fluids, infected material and blood products, therefore must utilise universal precautions and adhere to infection control policies.
14. Attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary team meetings and other meetings where appropriate.
15. Attend in-house and competency training as required in development of current job role.
16. Work predominately independently on specified tasks, with regular clinical support and supervision by a qualified practitioner.
17. Be aware of limitations of own scope of practice and competency, and when to involve a more senior practitioner, both in daily practice and in emergency situations.
18. Acknowledge and recognise peoples expressed beliefs, preferences and choices.
19. Demonstrate an awareness of clinical governance and risk management, and apply to work situation.
20. To provide peer support to other assistants.
21. Actively contribute to team working and express ideas on improving services for users and the team.
22. Share responsibility for maintaining store cupboards, cleaning specialist equipment and general housekeeping tasks.

This job description is not exhaustive and may be amended from time to time in consultation with the post holder. The post holder will be required to undertake any other duties as may be required for the effective performance of the post.

Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ 2 or equivalent knowledge and experience
• Good general education, GCSE Grade 4/C or above in English and Maths or equivalent

Desirable

• NVQ 3
• Care Certificate

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working within a Healthcare setting

Desirable

• Experience of working in a community healthcare setting

Skills, abilities and knowledge

Essential

• Highly motivated
• Empathy & sensitivity
• Good observational & reporting skills
• Work flexibly to accommodate patient/service needs
• Have basic IT and standard keyboard skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Able to provide high standards of care
• Tact & diplomacy
• Ability to use own initiative
• Ability to manage stressful situations
• Be a team player
• Work flexibly to accommodate patient/service needs
• Overcome barriers to understanding, e.g. patients' with hearing or cognitive impairment.
• Be able to kneel, bend and stoop, and work in cramped environments
• Be able to manoeuvre limbs of around 5-6 kg
• Be able to manoeuvre patients using handling aids

Communication

Essential

• Ability to use own initiative
• Tact and diplomacy
• Empathy and sensitivity
• Awareness of need to escalate to senior staff

Personal and people development

Essential

• Ability to manage within stressful situations
• Ability to work within a team

Personal Attributes / Behaviours (linked to the Trust's Behaviour Framework)

Essential

• Able to identify with the Trust's commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults

Other

Essential

• Must hold full and valid and driving licence and have access to a vehicle
• The post holder will need to be passed fit to perform full duties of the post through occupational health with any reasonable aids and adaptations if necessary. Some roles require additional level of checks as part of the employment process, i.e. roles which come into contact with children, vulnerable adults or their families.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).