Health Care Assistants - Trauma And Orthopaedics
At NNUH it is our privilege to provide healthcare to over one million people across Norfolk and surrounding areas. Our vision is to ‘provide the best care for every patient’, and if this inspires you and you share our values, we really want you to join our team.
NNUH is currently the busiest Trauma Unit in the East of England caring for almost 850 trauma patients annually many with complex care needs. We are enhancing our urgent and emergency care specialist services for patients with significant injuries as a result of trauma and have an ambition to become a Major Trauma Centre.
Our values support our vision and guide the behaviour of everything we do, these are:
People-focused
We look after the needs of our patients, carers and colleagues, to provide a safe and caring experience for all.
Respect
We act with care, compassion and kindness and value others’ diverse needs.
Integrity
We take an honest, open and ethical approach to everything we do.
Dedication
We work as one team and support each other to maintain the highest professional standards.
Excellence
We continuously learn and improve to achieve the best outcomes for our patients and our hospital.
Wish you were here? So do we.
We want all our staff to achieve a balance between work and personal life and understand how important flexible working can be. We welcome applications on a full or part time basis, various shift patterns and hybrid working, where roles allow.
At the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH), we know the benefits diversity can bring to our organisation such as creativity, innovation and compassion. All of which have a direct impact towards our staff and patient experience.We are committed to being a Hospital for All – being equitable and inclusive, and a place where all feel a sense of belonging. We therefore particularly encourage and welcome applications from candidates who are underrepresented in NNUH’s workforce.
These include people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, people with diverse abilities and people within the LGBT+ community.
Job overview
Join #TeamNNUH and our amazing Trauma & Orthopaedic team as we recruit for Healthcare Assistants on Gateley, Cringleford and the new Norfolk & Norwich Orthopaedic Centre Wards!
We are looking for Health Care Assistants to join our busy hospital in our Trauma & Orthopaedic wards as we continue to grow and expand our teams. With significant investment and expansion planned for Trauma & Orthopaedics it is an exciting time to join the wards!
You don't need any healthcare experience to join us as a Healthcare Assistant, and this role is the perfect entry point into the NHS.
As a Healthcare Assistant, you can expect no two days to be the same. You will support patients through their treatment, sharing their experiences and making a real difference in their journey back to health as part of a tight-knit team of healthcare professionals.
With the ongoing support of your team, and our outstanding training and development, you'll be able to take your career anywhere you want – whether that's having more responsibility or even becoming a team leader or registered health professional.
Hear from our Health Care Assistants talking about their role, and what being a Health Care Assistant means to them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6W-HYJwC04
Main duties of the job
Supporting You
As a Health Care Assistant, you will be supported through your Care Certificate Programme, requiring completion of set modules, with help from our dedicated Clinical Educator and Practice Development teams. Upon completion of the certificate, you will also have the opportunity to pick up additional bank shifts.
We are passionate about staff development and will support you in your career as a Health Care Assistant and beyond. Opportunities arise for you to progress to a Senior Health Care Assistant (working towards NVQ Level 3), and our HCAs have also gone on to become Assistant Practitioners.
Our Health Care Assistants have the exciting opportunity to apply to join the Trainee Nursing Associate (TNA) programme, a two-year course, resulting in Nursing Associate registration and making you eligible to train as a Registered Nurse via a shortened nursing degree or Registered Nurse degree apprenticeship (RNDA).The TNA course acts as a stepping stone to becoming a Nurse, and we are proud to offer this opportunity to our Health Care Assistants.
Working for our organisation
Join us at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and be part of a workforce of over 10,000 staff!
The NNUH is one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK, providing first-class acute care for around one million people, living in Norfolk and surrounding areas. We are a teaching and research hospital, at the forefront of innovation, home to state-of-the-art facilities, such as the Quadram Institute.We are pleased to work closely with the University of East Anglia, providing teaching opportunities for our staff and placement opportunities for their students. We attract some of the best and leading professionals from across the country and are proud that our workforce represents 94 countries from across the world.
We are a friendly, collaborative hospital, working with local services and home to N&N Hospitals Charity
We can offer you the full range of NHS benefits/discounts and in addition:
- Flexible working hours
- Fast Track Staff Physiotherapy Service
- Multi Faith prayer room
- Discounted gym memberships
- Excellent pension scheme and annual leave entitlement
- Wagestream - access up to 40% of your pay as you earn it
- Free Park & Ride service direct to NNUH site
- Free 24-hours confidential counselling support
- On-site Nursery
- On-site cafes offering staff discounts
- Support in career development
- Flexible staff bank
- Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars, Cycle to Work scheme and home electronics
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The role of the Health Care Assistant will include...
Healthcare Assistants carry out many care duties directly with patients, relatives, and carers. You will be working in a hands-on, fast-paced environment where communication is vital – nowhere else will a compassionate nature have such an impact.What matters most in this role is that you have a passion for helping others and enjoy working as part of a dedicated and passionate team.
The kind of duties you can expect to be involved in after training (which we will provide) under the direction of a qualified professional practitioner can include the following:
- measuring and recording clinical observations
- helping patients to wash and dress
- if required assisting patients to eat and drink
- making and changing beds
If you have experience working in a fast paced, demanding role and you’re looking for a new challenge, we would love to hear from you!
When applying please use this section to explain why you are interested in a role at NNUH and how your experience is relevant or transferable to the position and why you wish to pursue a career as a Health Care Assistant.
We have permanent roles available with full and part-time hours. You do not need experience, but you must have the qualities and skills suited to caring for acutely unwell people in a rewarding but sometimes challenging clinical setting. You must be able to work some weekends, nights and public holidays.
We are not able to offer contracts for nights only or weekends only however we can offer a degree of flexibility. Rotas cover a full 24 hours, 7 days a week and involve a mixture of working long days and night shifts. Day shifts start at 07:00 and finish at 19:30.Night shifts start at 19:00 and finish at 07:30.
Working night and weekend shifts attracts unsocial hours payments. For information on pay enhancements for unsocial hours please visit this link https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/unsocial-hours-payments
We offer FREE Park and Ride from Costessey (Monday to Friday)and have discounted bus tickets available for First Bus and Konectbus.
Person specification
Qualifications/Training and Professional Development
Essential criteria- General Education to GCSE Level in Maths and English Grade A-D (or equivalent knowledge))
- Care Certificate
- NVQ Level 2
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of working effectively as part of a team
- Previous health/social care support worker experience
Skills, abilities and knowledge
Essential criteria- Demonstrates a patient focused approach
- Is committed to providing the best possible care to patients
- Clear and effective reading and writing in the English language
- Basic computer/IT skills
Attitude, aptitude
Essential criteria- Caring and compassionate with excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Flexible, adaptable and responsible to change
- Able to prioritise own workload and manage time effectively
- Able to work well in a team
- Effective role model, demonstrating NNUH’s PRIDE values of People focus, Respect, Integrity, Dedication and Excellence
The Job Description, which includes a Person Specification, provides a full outline of responsibilities and requirements for this role. Please use your supporting statement to demonstrate how you meet the person specification.
Visa and Immigration
If you are wishing to apply for this role and would require sponsorship (this includes if you are already in a sponsored post and looking to change employer), you can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for this post by assessing your circumstances against criteria specified on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/your-job.
Travelling to work
Staff parking is available onsite; however, this is limited during core working hours. We have more capacity in the evening and at weekends and can usually provide spaces during those hours.
We look to allocate these spaces fairly. Our Travel Office have a set of criteria that staff must meet in order to qualify. If you qualify for a space, you may be placed on a waiting list if we are at full capacity.
The NNUH is served by a number of public buses, and we offer generously discounted monthly passes with First Bus & Konect.
The Costessey Park and Ride runs regularly each day from 06:30 (from P&R) to 20:45 (from NNUH) and this service is free for NHS staff. There is a regular Thickthorn P&R service as well which is free. Applications to the Travel Office are required for this service.We also have a discounted service from the airport P&R if you purchase a bundle. Please see Konect website for further details.
The NNUH host multiple bicycle racks and a salary sacrifice scheme. We also benefit from a Beryl station onsite.
If you work at another Trust site, please discuss travel and parking arrangements at interview.
DBS
If this post involves working with children or adults the application form will ask for information regarding previous convictions as you will be required to undertake a Criminal Record and Barring Check known as a DBS check.
If you are a new employee or registering with the Staff Bank you will need to meet the cost of this unless your salary is less than point 9 of Afc
NHS Service
Should you be appointed to the post we will need to establish any previous NHS service via the ESR IAT and we will accept the submission of your application as your agreement to this.
UK Registration
You will need to have current UK professional registration where this is a requirement of the role.
Application
Following candidate feedback and to reduce our dependency on paper, all our communication with you regarding your application will be by email so could you please check your e-mails (and Spam) regularly.
We value equality in our team and recruit from all sections of the community. We recognise there is a wealth of talent among people who have a disability and if you meet the minimum criteria detailed in the person specification and have a disability, you may wish to be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme by indicating this in the relevant section on your application.
We look forward to receiving your application and if you do not hear within the next four weeks this will usually mean that you have not been short-listed. However, if you wish to confirm this please contact the person indicated on the advert.
Flexibility
Whilst every effort will be made to recruit to the post as it is advertised, there may be occasions where we consider alternative working patterns, such as part time working, or contract types, such as secondments, depending on circumstances.Should you wish to work in a different working pattern to that stated in our advertisement, please indicate this in the supporting statement to your application.
Useful Information
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