Health Care Assistant

Job description

Job responsibilities

Bedford Street Surgery and Furzton Medical Centre Health Care Assistant Job Description & Person Specification

Job Title

Health Care Assistant

Line Manager

Practice Manager

Accountable to

Partners

Hours per week

Job Summary

To be responsible for the delivery of nursing services, working as part of the practice multidisciplinary team, delivering care within their scope of practice to the entitled patient population. The heath care assistant will be responsible for a number of clinical areas such as health promotion, health prevention which will include phlebotomy, health checks wound care, vaccinations and patient reviews, as well as supporting the management team in the reviewing of clinical policy and procedure.

Mission Statement

Bedford street surgery strive to deliver the Right Care first time offering a safe , effective ,caring and diverse service to our patients and staff .

Generic Responsibilities

All staff at Bedford Street have a duty to conform to the following:

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

A good attitude and positive action towards ED&I creates and environment where all individuals are able to achieve their full potential. Creating such an environment is important for three reasons: it improves operational effectiveness, it is morally the right thing to do, and it is required by law.

Patients and their families have the right to be treated fairly and be routinely involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.

Staff at Bedford Street have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression. Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued and equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that you treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.

Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)

This practice is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities to for staff to maintain their health, well-being and safety. You have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for you, your team and others, and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. All personnel are to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Environmental Protection Act 1990, Environment Act 1995, Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999 and other statutory legislation.

Confidentiality

This practice is committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters, pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect all staff will respect their privacy and maintain confidentiality at all times. It is essential that if, the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained that all staff protect patient information and provide a confidential service.

Quality & Continuous Improvement (CI)

To preserve and improve the quality of our output, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work. The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice.

This practice continually strives to improve work processes which deliver health care with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone counts and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.

Induction Training

On arrival at the practice all personnel are to complete a practice induction programme; this is managed by the Practice Manager.

Learning and Development

The effective use of training and development is fundamental in ensuring that all staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude and competences to perform their role. All staff will be required to partake and complete mandatory training as directed by the training coordinator, as well as participating in the practice training programme. Staff will also be permitted (subject to approval) to undertake external training courses which will enhance their knowledge and skills, progress their career and ultimately, enable them to improve processes and service delivery.

Collaborative Working

All staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working. Teamwork is essential in multidisciplinary environments. Effective communication is essential and all staff must ensure they communicate in a manner which enables the sharing of information in an appropriate manner.

Service Delivery

Staff at must adhere to the information contained with practice policies and regional directives, ensuring protocols are adhered to at all times. Staff will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding policy and procedure.

Security

The security of the practice is the responsibility of all personnel. Staff must ensure they remain vigilant at all times and report any suspicious activity immediately to their line manager. Under no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks to anyone and are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured.

Professional Conduct

At Bedford Street staff are required to dress appropriately for their role. Administrative staff will be provided with a uniform whilst clinical staff must dress in accordance with their role.

Primary Responsibilities

The following are the core responsibilities of the practice nurse. There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:

a. Develop, implement and embed health promotion and well-being programmes

b. Support the clinical team in the development of individual treatment plans for chronic disease patients.

c. Identify, manage and support patients as risk of developing long-term conditions, preventing adverse effects on the patients health.

d. Provide routine nursing care to patients as required in accordance with clinical based evidence, NICE and the NSF

e. Provide wound care (ulcer /Doppler etc.) to patients.

f. Undertake health checks, ecg recording, phlebotomy, vaccinations, and spirometry.

g.Sterilising, cleansing and maintenance of surgical equipment.

h.Vaccine/cold chain storage, monitoring and recording.

i. Surgical equipment re-stocking and stock rotation

j. Clearing and re-stocking consulting rooms and delegating to other staff members when absent from either site.

k. Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum twice annually)

l. Participate in seasonal clinics e.g Flu, support in pcn targets and practice Qof.

m. Refer patients directly to other services as appropriate.

n. Support in the opportunistic

o. Maintain accurate clinical records in conjunction with extant legislation.

p. Ensure read codes are used effectively.

q. Chaperone patients where necessary

r. Assist GPs with minor surgery when required.

s. Prioritise health issues and intervene appropriately.

t. Support the team in dealing with clinical emergencies.

u. Liaise with external services / agencies to ensure the patient is supported appropriately (vulnerable patients etc.)

v. Understand practice and local policies for substance abuse and addictive behaviour, referring patients appropriately.

w. Deliver opportunistic health promotion where appropriate

Secondary Responsibilities

In addition to the primary responsibilities, the practice nurse may be requested to:

a. Monitor and ensure the safe storage, rotation and disposal of medicaments

b. Contribute to the implementation of an effective training programme for staff and students within the practice

c. Provide clinical supervision for the nursing team

d. Participate in local initiatives to enhance service delivery and patient care

e. Support and participate in shared learning within the practice

f. Continually review clinical practices, responding to national policies and initiatives where appropriate

g. Be aware of and contribute to the planning and implementation of CCG patient pathway initiatives

h. Participate in the review of significant and near-miss events applying a structured approach i.e. root cause analysis (RCA).

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualified with the Care Certificate or equivalent
• Must have undertaken phlebotomy training
• Must have previous experience of phlebotomy and primary care ( or similar nhs setting )

Desirable

• Systm one experience

Experience

Essential

• Experience within a primary care setting
• Experienced phlebotomist

Desirable

• Experience of working in a gp practice
• Experience of undertaking wound care

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Bedford Street Surgery

Address

4 Bedford Street

Bletchley

Milton Keynes

Buckinghamshire

MK7 8PT

Employer's website

https://www.bedfordstreetsurgery.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)