Job summary
Would you like to become a Band 3 Healthcare Support Worker at Meadows, an inpatient ward for Older People (Epsom)

The Meadows is a single storey building in the grounds of the Noble Park housing development in the former West Park Hospital site in Epsom.

This is a 24/7 hospital service with 24 beds available for the care of people aged over 65 years who have dementia or organic mental ill-health (i.e. decreased function due to medical or physical disease, rather than a psychiatric illness).

There are three single sex wards, each with eight beds:

• One ward is for people with mental ill-health (functional, e.g. bipolar or depression)
• Two wards are for people with dementia.

We are a multidisciplinary team including occupational therapists and psychology support.

As a band 3 Healthcare Support Worker, you will be contributing to meaningful care plans and risk management plans and deliver low intensity therapeutic interventions.

Main duties of the job
Helping the persons to meet personal care needs, washing and dress

Supporting the person to eat and serving their meals, actively check food and fluid input, encouraging additional food or fluids where inadequate

Taking people in care on the ward to the toilet

Spending time talking to the people accessing services, answering their questions as far as possible and making sure they are comfortable

Helping person(s) to get out of bed and move around

Supporting persons in care to change position in bed

Escorting person in care to various appointments as scheduled to include ECT clinic

Undertaking nursing tasks under the direction of a qualified nurse, such as recording a person's temperature, breathing, pulse and weight, basic wound care, blood sugar monitoring, stoma care, catheter care, reporting variances in a patient's condition immediately to a relevant professional, responding to medical emergencies.

The ability to review and reflect on your own practice through regular participation in professional supervision and appraisal.

Using equipment such as hoists to facilitate safe transfers, responding to falls risks and actual falls, following the FALLs protocol.

About us
Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is the leading provider of health and social care services for people of all ages with mental ill-health and learning disabilities in Surrey and North East Hampshire. We also provide social care services for people with a learning disability in Croydon and ASD and ADHD assessment services in Hampshire.

We actively seek to engage people who use our services and our communities in improving the mental wellbeing of the local population. We work closely with other NHS and voluntary sector organisations who provide services and support people who use services and carers.

Surrey is a beautiful county lying just 30 minutes away from Central London and from the South Coast.

Our historic market towns and bustling districts are enveloped in wonderful countryside, and our excellent road and rail networks bring the rest of the country within easy reach.

For international travel, both Gatwick and Heathrow airports are nearby.

Please note that we reserve the right to close posts as soon as sufficient applications are received.

We look forward to receiving your application!

Job responsibilities
Please see the attached job description for further information regards to job role and responsibilities.

Qualifications
Essential

• NVQ 3 in Health & Social Care or Level 3 qualification in Health related topic
• Level 2 qualification in health and social care or related topic plus proven experience in a paid care role

Experience
Essential

• Demonstrable experience working in a care/support role with people who are experiencing a mental health crisis
• Significant experience of providing a patient-centred service, in a busy environment

Desirable

• Experience of working within older adult mental health
• Experience working within an MDT

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.

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