Healthcare Assistant
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 15,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.6 billion.
We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.
We’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country, supporting people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.
Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts each day, delivering high standards of healthcare.
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients.We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.
Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency.Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.
Job overview
We are looking to recruit Healthcare Assistants to join our Staff Bank. In return we can offer valuable work opportunities/experience, opportunity to apply for NHS substantive employment, comprehensive training, NHS Pension contributions and accrued holiday pay.
We are unable to offer sponsorship for this post.
Main duties of the job
Our bank service aims to supply appropriately skilled staff to cover temporary shortages across both acute and community settings. Joining the bank provides an excellent opportunity for those who wish to gain insight and experience into diverse areas and specialities while providing you with the flexibility to choose your own working hours – we welcome those who can work up to full time hours.
We are looking for dedicated individuals to become part of our team of valued bank staff where you will play a crucial role in our ongoing service delivery within our outstanding organisation.
Working for our organisation
We are committed to improving the working lives of our staff and maintaining a healthy and efficient work force while providing excellent care to our patients. Listed below is a summary of the Trust terms and conditions of registration to the Staff Bank, and staff benefits available.
- All posts are subject to NHS pre-employment checks including occupational health clearance and DBS (where appropriate).
- All pay progression is conditional upon a positive outcome at annual appraisal.
- All successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay. You will be required to sign a DBS payment form which will be issued to you as part of your recruitment process.
- All new employees will be required to attend the Trust induction programme and complete appropriate mandatory training requirements.
- The Trust operates a no smoking policy.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To provide effective and efficient Healthcare Assistant support to various departments throughout the Trust as required ensuring that a high quality of patient care is delivered.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Level 3 qualification in Health and Social Care or equivalent level qualification and/or equivalent relevant experience
- GCSEs in English and Maths at Grades 3-1 (or D-E or Level 1 Functional/Key Skills) / GCSEs in English and Maths at Grades 9-4 (or A*-C or Level 2 Functional/Key Skills)
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Ability to maintain and improve knowledge, skills and competence to ensure high standards of patient care.
- Ability to carry out routine elements of assessment to enhance the patient / client journey, following an initial assessment by a registered practitioner.
- Ability to meet basic care needs of patients, washing dressing, assistance with feeding etc.
- Understanding of confidentiality
- Understanding of basic safeguarding
Skills
Essential criteria- Basic IT skills
- Ability to be responsible for own development, identifying training needs, set personal objectives and attend appropriate training as agreed by line manager.
- Ability to initiate emergency action when required e.g. Cardiac arrest, Fire.
- Venepuncture skills
Experience
Essential criteria- Ability to plan, prioritise own and delegated work tasks and activities.
- Experience/previous work in a health care setting
- Previous NHS experience
Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form
All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment.Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.
Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.
Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.