Job responsibilities
To
support the practice nursing and administrative teams in the delivery of
clinical and administrative services, working as part of the practice
multi-disciplinary team, delivering care within their scope of practice to the
entitled patient population.
The Healthcare Assistant
will deliver and assist clinical staff in the provision of treatment,
preventative care, health promotion and patient education whilst also
supporting the administrative team on an as-required basis.
All
staff at Whitwick Road Surgery have a duty to conform to the following:
Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion
A
good attitude and positive action towards Equality Diversity
& Inclusion
(ED&I) creates an environment where all individuals can 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
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 they treat our patients
and their colleagues with dignity and respect.
Safety,
Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)
This
organisation is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities for staff
to maintain their health, wellbeing, and safety.
The
post holder is to manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility,
ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients and
monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards
and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures,
and guidelines.
All
personnel have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for
themselves, their 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
Coronavirus Act 2020
Other
statutory legislation which may be brought to the post holders attention
Confidentiality
The
organisation 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.
It
is essential that, if the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our
patients is to be retained, all staff must protect patient information and
provide a confidential service.
Quality
and Continuous Improvement (CI)
To
preserve and improve the quality of this organisations outputs, 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 organisation to
look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice and to
discuss, highlight and work with the team to create opportunities to improve
patient care.
Whitwick
Road Surgery continually strives to improve work processes which deliver
healthcare 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.
Staff
should interpret national strategies and policies into local implementation
strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice. All
staff are to contribute to investigations and root cause analyses whilst
participating in serious incident investigations and multidisciplinary case
reviews.
Induction
At
Whitwick Road Surgery you will be required to complete the induction programme,
and the practice management team will support you throughout the process.
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 in and
complete mandatory training as directed by the Practice Manager. It is an expectation for this post holder to
assess their own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate
The
post holder will undertake mentorship for team members and disseminate learning
and information gained to other team members to share good practice and inform
others about current and future developments (e.g., courses and conferences).
The post holder will provide an educational role to patients, carers, families,
and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning.
Collaborative
working
All
staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working and understand
their own role and scope and identify how this may develop over time. Staff are
to prioritise their own workload and ensure effective time-management
strategies are embedded within the culture of the team.
Teamwork
is essential in multidisciplinary environments and the post holder is to work
as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring
the mechanisms to develop new ways of working and work effectively with others
to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery
Effective
communication is essential, and all staff must ensure they communicate in a
manner which enables the sharing of information in an appropriate manner.
All
staff should delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of
safe practice and assessment of competence. Plans and outcomes by which to
measure success should be agreed.
Managing
information
All
staff should use technology and appropriate software as an aid to management in
the planning, implementation and monitoring of care and presenting and
communicating information.
Data
should be reviewed and processed using accurate SNOMED to ensure easy and
accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes.
Service
delivery
Staff
will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding
policy and procedure.
The
post holder must adhere to the information contained within the organisations
policies and regional directives, ensuring protocols are always adhered to.
Security
The
security of the organisation is the responsibility of all personnel. The post
holder must ensure they always remain vigilant and report any suspicious
activity immediately to their line manager.
Under
no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks with anyone
and are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured. Likewise,
password controls are to be maintained, and passwords are not to be shared.
Professional
conduct
All
staff are required to dress appropriately for their role.
Leave
All
personnel are entitled to take leave. Line managers are to ensure all their
staff are afforded the opportunity to take a minimum of 5 weeks leave each year
and should be encouraged to take all their leave entitlement.
Public holidays will be calculated on a
pro-rated basis dependent on the number of hours worked.
The
following are the core responsibilities of the Healthcare Assistant. There may
be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent
upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
- Undertake
new patient health checks
- Support
the practice nurse with health promotion programmes, including NHS health
checks
- Carry
out baseline observations such as pulse oximetry, blood pressure, temperature
and pulse rate, recording findings accurately
- Facilitate
routine and 24-hour BP monitoring, advising patients accordingly
- Undertake
wound care, dressings and other clinical tasks as required
- Support
the practice nurse with the management of chronic disease clinics
- Carry
out BMI checks as directed
- Ear
irrigation
- Act
as a chaperone as required
- Undertake
venepuncture
- Anticoagulation
monitoring
- Administer
flu vaccinations and others under PSDs
- Carry out ECGs as requested
- Learning
disability health checks (part one)
- Ensure
specimens are recorded and ready for onward transportation
- Provide
support during minor operations as required
- Ensure
all clinical rooms are adequately stocked and prepared for each session;
ordering additional stock as required
- Ensure
fridges are cleaned routinely in accordance with extant guidance and
temperature checks
- Ensure
clinical waste is removed from clinical areas and sharps bins replaced in
accordance with the organisations IPC policy
- COSHH
folder management
- Deliver
opportunistic health promotion where appropriate