Health Care Assistant

You will need to be an accurate, methodical person and be able to work under pressure as the practice is extremely busy.

Hours required - Mon 8am - 6pm, Wednesday 8am-6pm = 19hours per week

We offer a welcoming environment, 25 days annual leave (pro rata) plus bank holidays, access to the NHS pension Scheme.

Salary will be in line with qualifications and experience

Just outside the Ashford area, the surgery is a busy teaching practice providing medical services to approximately 7340 patients and operates from renovated premises with an onsite dispensary. We use the Emis Web clinical system, have a CQC rating of Good, achieve high QOF points and have a long serving experienced workforce

**Job summary**:
Working under the direct supervision of the senior practice nurse and strictly in accordance with specific practice guidelines and protocols, the healthcare assistant will assist the practice clinical team in the provision and delivery of prescribed programmes of patient care.

**Job Purpose**
- To be part of the Surgery clinical team providing high-quality and forward-thinking nursing care to meet the holistic healthcare needs of a practice population.
- To work to agreed practice standards and protocols.
- To ensure that specific equipment and resources are available and in good order to enable the Practice, Doctors and Nurses and others are able to perform their work.
- To deliver specific aspects of patient care.

**Primary Duties and Areas of Responsibility**

The Health Care Assistant works under the supervision of a registered practice nurse and is accountable to the practice nurse manager for their actions in undertaking delegated work. However, this is guided by standard operating procedures and requires the individual to use a degree of initiative. The Health Care Assistant also provides support for other members of the primary healthcare team and contributes towards the coordination of team activities.
- Undertake the collection and processing of pathological specimens including blood samples, urine samples and swabs etc.
- Participates in programs for the management of long-term conditions such as Diabetic checks (bloods, height, weight, calculating BMI, BP, foot check, alcohol consumption and smoking status)
- Hypertension screening and monitoring
- Assists patients where appropriate, to encourages self-care and self-management of self-limiting conditions through health promotion.
- Refers to primary healthcare team, as appropriate.
- Works within all relevant practice policies and procedural guidelines, eg infection control and chaperoning.

**Direct Patient care related duties.**
- Application of ambulatory monitors
- BP and ECG
- Performing 12 lead ECGs
- Undertaking new patient Health Checks
- Chaperoning patients where required
- Doing simple dressings, removal of sutures and clips
- Phlebotomy
- Undertaking influenza vaccination under PSD
- Administering vitamin B12 injections under PSD
- Assisting with minor ops
- Assisting with contraceptive coil and implant fitting
- Working with external service providers such as telederm triage
- Ear irrigation

**Resource & Equipment Management**
- Ensuring that adequate supplies of specific consumables are available
- Ensuring that the vaccine refrigerators are in good working order. This includes taking daily temperature readings
- Ensuring that all Consulting rooms and Treatment room are adequately stocked
- Be familiar with emergency equipment - its maintenance and use
- Check all single use instruments monthly to check in date, rotate stock as appropriate
- Sterilising, cleansing and maintenance of surgical equipment
- Vaccine/cold chain storage, monitoring and recording
- Surgical equipment and vaccine re-stocking and stock rotation
- Preparing and maintaining environments and equipment before, during and after patient care interventions, including assisting GPs during the performance of minor operations/ coil fits

**Confidentiality**
- In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
- In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
- Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data

**Health & Safety**

The post-holder will implement and lead on a full range