Healthcare Assistant

**Healthcare Assistant - Blood Donation Mobile Team**

**Job Summary**

NHS Blood and Transplant collects over 7,000 blood donations every day providing vital blood and blood products that help to save and improve the lives of thousands of people every year. Our team provides a welcoming and special environment for our donors, ensuring they receive exceptional, first-class care. We save lives but we don’t work in hospitals. We collect blood from donors in Donor Centres and in our community.

As a Healthcare Assistant Blood Donation, you will have the opportunity to learn valuable skills and be an essential member of our team. You’ll play a vital role in saving and improving lives daily in an environment where every day is different.

We’ll provide an extensive induction and training programme, including the Skills for Health Care Certificate which is recognised as a foundation to healthcare support throughout the NHS.

**Main duties of the job**

Your responsibilities will include:

- Taking part in training to learn how to insert a needle into a donors arm to achieve a blood donation unit.
- Looking after our donors throughout their donation journey to ensure they have a positive experience and care.
- Ensuring all documentation from donors is recorded, keeping accurate records throughout the session.
- Encouraging donors to return by building relationships and delivering an exceptional customer experience.
- Ensuring the safe handling and management of blood products, needles and a range of equipment.

The normal hours for this role are up-to 75 hours per fortnight, up to 10.37 hours a day. The earliest start time would be 07.20 with a finish time of 17.30, if on a late shift you would be starting at 10.00 and finishing at 21.30. Weekend and bank holiday working will be required. You can expect to work some long hours, but you won’t be working more than 4 days a week or even the same days each week. We’ll let you know around 6-8 weeks in advance which days and hours you’ll be working.

**About You**

**Experience and Knowledge**
- Have experience of dealing with the public.
- Have experience of delivering a quality customer service.
- Be willing to learn new technology skills and undergo digital training.

**Qualifications and Training**
- Have a good standard of numeracy and literacy.
- Be willing to undertake development and training to upskill yourself including completion of the Skills for Health Care Certificate.
- Hold a valid full UK Driving Licence with no more than 6 penalty points.

Please view the attached recruitment profile which is a summary of the detailed Job Description and Person Specification for the full personal attributes we require for the role. You will need to demonstrate these throughout the recruitment process.

**About Us**

At NHS Blood and Transplant, we’re incredibly proud of the many talented people who come together every day to make our organisation the very best it can be. We have clearly defined values that are centred around offering exceptional care to our donors and their families. We take care of each other too and we focus on building our expertise so we can change lives, provide quality support and offer fulfilling careers.

It’s an opportunity to contribute to a unique team as part of a service that saves lives 365 days a year. We offer brilliant benefits including 27 days of holiday (plus bank holidays), a comprehensive induction and training programme, and competitive pension scheme.

Three small words, one big difference - **Caring, Expert** and **Quality**.

Together we'll save and improve more lives than ever

If you are shortlisted for this role, you will need to attend in person for a blood collection session tour so we can provide you with more in-depth understanding of this role. This will be followed by a face-to-face interview. I regret that we are unable to arrange virtual interviews or tours. Please also note that our travel policy does not allow for the payment of travel expenses.

This vacancy will close at 23:59 on 2nd October 2024