Healthcare Support Worker

Job Overview

Are you compassionate, caring and communicative? Would you like to be the best you can be or grow your career in a world-class teaching hospital? Have you been considering a change of occupation and looking for secure and rewarding employment?

We believe our Healthcare Support Worker (HCSW) role offers this opportunity and our tailored training programme supports you whether you have experience OR if you are new to care.

University Hospital Southampton (UHS) is one of the largest acute teaching trusts in England and provides a wide range of healthcare services to some 1.9 million people living in Southampton and South Hampshire. Our Healthcare Assistants help our nurses and doctors at UHS, by offering the highest standards of personal care and support to our patients.

As a Healthcare Support Worker, you’ll work under the guidance of a Registered Nurse or healthcare professional on one of our busy adult or child wards or outpatient areas. You will help our nurses and doctors at UHS, by offering the highest standards of personal care and support to our patients.

Main duties of the job

As a Healthcare Support Worker, you’ll work under the guidance of a Registered Nurse or healthcare professional on one of our busy adult or child wards or outpatient areas. You will help our nurses and doctors at UHS, by offering the highest standards of personal care and support to our patients.

Here at UHS, we recogni

se that Healthcare Support Workers from different employment backgrounds can bring a breadth of knowledge and new ideas. We will allocate you to the area within the hospital where we have vacancies and where we feel best meets your skills and our needs following our interview process. Previous healthcare experience is desirable but NOT essential.

Applicants that have applied and been unsuccessful in the last 6 months, do not need to re-apply or submit another application.

If you are looking to start your journey within healthcare, then we would love to hear from you. We offer continuous training and development opportunities to help you reach your potential. You’ll start your career with us by following a 1-week full-time and in-depth induction that will enable you to complete your Care Certificate, find your feet within the hospital, and quickly embed yourself as part of our team.

Working for our organisation

Benefits

A Healthcare Support Worker at UHS is not just a job, it’s a career opportunity that can start your exciting journey within healthcare. Our HCSW’s receive top industry training and development, with a tailored career programme and amazing links to support nursing or higher healthcare apprenticeships. We lead the way in benefits too – our HCSWs receive:

• A minimum of 35 days paid holiday

A one-week intensive induction to set you up for success in your new role

Guaranteed contracted hours

Access to extra shifts and overtime pay for those who want it

A dedicated mentoring team, who will help with emotional, personal, and professional support

A central hospital location with great transport links and reduced fares for UHS staff

Continued professional development

A generous pension scheme and life insurance

Access to national and local NHS discounts including popular high street and online retailers

Onsite subsidised restaurants, cafes and high-street shops

Financial awards through our refer a friend scheme

An internal mover process which allows you to transfer wards every six months if you wish

Support with flexible working requests which are regularly reviewed against the service need

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

Your main day-to-day duties will include and :

• Washing and dressing patients and aiding in their personal hygiene
• Assisting patients to access and use toilet facilities

Serving meals and helping to feed patients

Helping patients to safely move around

Assisting with bed making, cleaning tasks, errands, or general duties

Collecting pathological specimens e.g., Urine, faeces, sputum

Making patients and their families feel comfortable

Development

After you have completed your 1-week foundation induction you will attend an extended induction consisting of 1 study day per month for 5 months (total 5 study days). During this time, with the support of your line manager you will be learning the additional skills necessary to be a Senior Healthcare Assistant such as:

• Taking physiological measurement
• Maintaining patients skin integrity
• Local specific skills such as cannulation, catheterisation and ecgs
  
  

Upon successful completion of this training and its associated competency document containing the core HCSW competencies as well as the additional competencies required for a Band 3, you will progress into a Band 3 Senior Healthcare Support Worker role.

Our remote HCSW interviews currently occur on Wednesdays over MS Teams.

Our fantastic staff can teach you the required skills if you share our values, are ready to learn and:

• Be able to work a variety of shifts as part of your work roster. You will cover some mornings (shifts could start from 7am ending around 3pm), short days & long days (shifts are generally 8 – 12 hours long and occur between 7am and 8pm), evenings (till around 8pm) and nights (from around 7pm to 7am the next day)

Be available to work any day from Monday to Sunday depending on your shift pattern, including bank holidays

Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Are happy to carry out a variety of tasks (detailed below) - including personal hygiene care to patients of all ages and backgrounds.

We considering Full-Time applications, you MUST be able to work a variety of shifts and days of the week as UHS operates a 24 hours a day service, 365 days of the year.

Unfortunately, we cannot currently offer set shifts e.g. nights only.

Please read the attached person specification and job description as this will support you in your application, and then apply via the link. If your application is successful, we will contact you to arrange a screening telephone call to discuss next steps.

If you’re the kind of person who believes in putting patients first, is always looking to improve and are a team player, then we’d love to hear from you!

Please note: This vacancy does not meet the Home Office threshold for sponsorship and requires candidates to complete a 9-month training period. We are therefore unable to accept applications from candidates who do not have the right to work in the UK or where candidates do not have at least 9 months remaining on their visa from the start date of the new role.

Person specification

Qualifications, Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• Completed care certificate or ability to complete within 6 months of appointment
• Capable of attaining NVQ level 3 in care with acute units corresponding to specialty or equivalent experience
• Completed secondary education
• Ability to move and handle patients and equipment
• Evidence of empathy, patience and dependability
• Ability to deal with a range of difficult situations
• Be able to take instruction / directions and work within the confines of the role
• Ability to cope with fluctuating demands and pressures of the role
• Requirement to be aware of and adhere to the care certificate standards; https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/care-certificate
• Capable of completing core HCSW competencies and additional specific competencies related to area of work within 12 months of appointment
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience in an acute hospital setting
• Previous experience in the volunteer sector
• Previous experience as a Teaching Assistant
• Previous experience as a Nursing Home Carer