Healthcare Assistant - IMEC

We have three main hospitals providing acute services to around 330,000 local residents. The organisation also provides specialist tertiary care for cardiac and haematology services, delivers community health services to over 445,000 residents including those in North Lancashire and hosts the National Artificial Eye Service across England. Plus, we provide urgent and emergency care services to an estimated 18 million people who visit the seaside resort each year. We employ over 7000 people from 68 different countries.

We welcome and encourage application from anyone with protected characteristics, as well as supporting reservists and Veterans who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career within the NHS. Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as: part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for inspirational and motivated Health Care Assistants to join our Trust within our Integrated Medicine and Emergency Care division at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals. The successful candidates will be supported by both our nursing and medical team and essential training for the role will be provided. You must be able to communicate effectively with a wide range of healthcare professionals and be enthusiastic and passionate about the delivery of high-quality care.

As a health care assistant within the team, your role will be assisting our patients with everyday tasks which involve maintaining a good oral intake, assisting with personal hygiene, and escorting patients to various procedures whilst also assisting both our medical and nursing teams to deliver treatment. In addition to providing essential nursing care, there will be a range of clinical skills you are expected to acquire to fulfil the role requirements, such as undertaking clinical observations and venepuncture (taking blood samples). All necessary training for acquiring these skills will be provided by the Trust.

Working alongside skilled health professionals who work within this multidisciplinary team, the department provides a fantastic place to learn and for you to develop your skills. We are looking to recruit a number of caring and enthusiastic healthcare assistants to join various wards across Blackpool Teaching Hospitals. You will need to have excellent communication skills, as our patients are often complex and require you to be patient and understanding. You will be required to liaise with the multi-disciplinary team to ensure patient needs are identified and communicated effectively so that safe decisions are made around patient care.

You will be expected to maintain high standards of nursing care under the supervision of a Registered Nurse and be personally responsible for your actions following the Trust's Policies and Procedures. You will be required to support the safe admission, transfer and discharges of patients and be pro-active in the timely support provided to patients at all times. You will be expected to maintain accurate written and/or electronic records ensuring all legal requirements are met.

You will be encouraged and supported to gain new skills and to be actively involved in change improvement and being a champion for an area of care that you feel interested in. You should also be committed to and have evidence of continuing professional development. You will need to be prepared to work flexibly to the needs of the service.

Please note this vacancy may close early if a high number of applicants apply. Please also read the attached Person Specification to ensure you have the relevant criteria for the post. Interviews for the position will be scheduled to take place at the beginning of December. These interviews will be face-to-face.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated on the west coast of Lancashire, with services covering the local authority areas of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. The Trust is part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) supporting a population of around 1.6 million people. The Trust provides services to the 440,000 residents of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre and North Lancashire. We are proud of the care we strive to provide, and we want to continue to build on this by the addition of passionate, kind and caring people to our teams. Using the latest pathways, evidence-based care and, using all the community therapy support networks available to us to give every patient the best opportunity to remain independent, safe and supported. We are looking for people who strongly align with our Trust values and share common goals.

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• Developing new roles and ways of working to ensure a flexible and innovative approach to staff.
  
• Real equality of opportunity.
  
• Continuous learning and development for staff.
  
• Achieving a work life balance.
  

We are committed to effective recruitment, retention and development for our employees, offering a great working environment, an attractive range of benefits and excellent opportunities for training and development. The Trust is accredited as a Disability Confident employer, which means we recognise our obligations to ensure people with disabilities are afforded equal opportunity to enter employment and progress if and where possible.

If the role you have applied for requires a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check we will administer this as part of your pre-employment checks. You will be required to repay the cost on appointment via salary deduction. The level of check required depends on the role. Current charges: Basic £25.50, Standard £25.50, Enhanced £53.50. You are encouraged to register for the DBS update service (annual fee £16). DBS checks remain free of charge for volunteer positions. Should you withdraw your application, you may be required to reimburse the cost of the DBS check. By submitting an application you confirm agreement to the above. The DBS Code of Practice can be accessed here. The Trust operates a strict non-smoking policy. Interviews are not typically reimbursed unless indicated in the advert.