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Job summary

Main area
Adult Mental Health Services
Grade
Band 3
Contract
Permanent: Substantive
Hours
37.5 hours per week (Full Time 37.5 hours per week)
Job ref
342-WTS207-0824
Employer
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Fountain Way
Town
Salisbury
Salary
£22,816 - £24,336 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
08/09/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust logo

Band 3 Healthcare Support Worker - Fountain Way, Salisbury

Band 3


Job overview

Are you looking to develop a career in mental health?

We are looking to recruit compassionate, resilient and enthusiastic Healthcare Support Workers within our 21 bedded acute ward, we provide care and support for working age adults providing assessment and treatment for various mental health illnesses and disorders. 

This is an opportunity for you to develop a rewarding career where you can make a difference to help change the lives of our service user group for the better.

This can be a challenging, yet rewarding environment where as a team we strive to help our service users to overcome a variety of complex needs.

You will be able to learn and understand how to care for service users that are in mental health crisis by promoting choice and independence in the least restrictive way possible. 

You will be learning on the job and continually building new skills. There will also be developmental and learning opportunity that are accessible, which include a comprehensive statutory and mandatory training programme and a comprehensive induction programme. You will also receive training to complete the NHS Care Certificate and a Level 3 Healthcare apprenticeship.

Main duties of the job

Main Duties of the Job

As a healthcare support worker, the majority of your time will be spent engaging and getting know the service users on the ward. You will learn to recognise the signs and symptoms of mental health illness and as a key member of the multi professional team which include Nurses, Doctors, Occupational Therapists.  You will be able to support in collaborative care planning and implementation and support with risk safety assessment and management. 

Mental health and physical health are interconnected and we focus on improving physical health care for people with mental health illness. As healthcare support workers, your role will include monitoring and supporting with physical health care needs. The role of healthcare support workers is vital to ensure that daily well being and care needs are met, alongside monitoring of clinical vital signs. 

Successful applicants will also be required to undertake and complete a ‘Reducing Restrictive Interventions’ course. This enables staff to begin building the skills to de-escalate service users in peaks of distress whilst maintaining a safe and therapeutic environment for all.  

The ward operates on a 24/7 shift basis and you will be required to work shifts including evenings, nights, weekends and Bank Holidays and will qualify for unsocial enhancements in addition to your basic pay.

Working for our organisation

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. 

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.  

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • To deliver high quality care and recovery interventions for service users within designated clinical areas, in collaboration with, and under the indirect supervision of, registered care staff. These may include: 
    • Supporting individuals with fluids and nutrition, physical 
      wellbeing and personal care
    • Assisting service users with financial or accommodation issues
    • Escorting or accompanying service users for planned periods of 
      leave on hospital grounds and in the community to facilitate
      social inclusion
  • Encouraging service users to talk about their experiences in one-to-one or group discussions.
  • To help maintain a clean, well-organised, safe and therapeutic environment that meets the needs of service users, carers and colleagues and to support registered care staff to perform standardised environmental assessments to monitor and improve the care setting.
  • To deliver psychosocially-informed one to one and group interventions and activities aiming to positively impact service users’ cognitive and emotional wellbeing.
  • To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
  • To assume lead or link roles on core practice initiatives and priorities (e.g. Essence of Care, Safewards and Carer Engagement) under the supervision of registered staff.
  • To integrate areas of personal interest with clinical practice to enhance the diversity of the team’s provision of care.
  • To practise planned care and to directly participate in the development of recovery-focused interventions that address service users’ and carers’ needs and preferences.
  • To proactively review, record and assess the on-going impacts of such interventions. 
  • To participate in the on-going care planning, CPA and risk assessment processes in collaboration with service users, their carers, and other members of the care team and to contribute to all aspects of clinical record keeping.
  • To maintain a basic working understanding of both the Mental Health Act (1983) and Mental Capacity Act (2005) and any other relevant legislation, as required by mandatory and statutory training (MaST). 
  • To adhere to AWP’s Code of Conduct for unregistered practitioners; promoting and embedding it through the delivery of peer support and supervision to junior, temporary and newly appointed Health Care Support Workers.
  • To observe and record interactions with service users and carers both verbally and in writing via clinical records and staff handovers.
  • To deliver a wide range of fundamental care interventions using evidence based clinical tools.
  • To monitor and improve physical health and personal wellbeing and to model a high standard of dignity, respect and candour.
  • To engage in reflective practice to maintain and promote ongoing clinical practice.
  • To promote and enhance a positive learning culture, being proactive in the induction, orientation and support of junior, temporary and newly appointed Health Care Support Workers, seeking to embed core care values into practice.

Sponsorship

If you are a candidate wishing to apply, and you would require a skilled worker sponsorship,  you can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for the role by assessing your circumstances against the current criteria on the Government website below. 

Health and Care Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Person specification

Experience and skills

Essential criteria
  • An understanding of how mental health issues can affect the lives of individuals, their families and their community, and experience of using a range of evidence-based approaches to reduce the impact of such issues.
  • Experience of working in a busy team, and an ability to use initiative at times of pressure.

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Possession of, or the ability and willingness to work towards, an appropriate Level 3 vocational qualification (e.g. Level 3 Diploma in Mental Health or Health and Social Care)

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Ability to work with a degree of autonomy, whilst also taking direction from senior colleagues.
  • Ability to communicate in written and verbal English to a high standard, and basic numeracy skills.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion is the leading employer network covering all aspects of equality and inclusion in the workplace.Positive about disabled peopleThe Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion is the leading employer network covering all aspects of equality and inclusion in the workplace.Mindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerInclusive Top 50 LogoThe Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei) is the UK's leading employer network covering all aspects of equality and inclusion issues in the workplace.Armed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Libby Stephens
Job title
Ward Manager
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01722 548651
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