Job summary
Employer heading
Nursing Assistant – Secure Care Division - MALE ONLY
Band 3
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Job overview
This vacancy is for full time, part time or bank only positions.
Are you caring, compassionate, flexible and have excellent communication skills? If yes, we have career opportunities available for you.
NVQ in Health and Social Care and/or experience of working in a care environment is essential.
DUE TO A GENUINE OCCUPATIONAL NEED, THIS ROLE IS BEING ADVERTISED FOR MALE APPLICANTS ONLY
Since the 1st November 2021 a Recruitment & Retention premia has been introduced to attract and retain staff working within the Secure Care Division in High, Medium and Low Secure Services and further support our “Grow Our Own Strategy”. For our nursing assistants this will be a premia of £600 or £4034* for those allocated to our High Secure Hospital.
We are looking for nursing assistants who can deliver care, compassion, and empathy to our patients, improving the quality of services within a secure forensic environment.
The division is responsible for specialised secure mental health and learning disability services, in low, medium, and high secure settings for service users with a primary classification of mental illness, personality disorders, learning disabilities and autism. Working across the division as part of a multi-disciplinary team, you will contribute to the delivery of high standards of care and treatment to a complex group of service users.
*Allocations will be determined by the service; the R&R will reflect the premia for each specific clinical area.
Main duties of the job
Ashworth Hospital – High Secure:
Ashworth Hospital is one of three high secure hospitals in the country. Ashworth provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment & care for patients with a mental illness & have been assessed as presenting a grave & immediate danger to others. Patients remain in the high secure service until they are safe & well enough to move to conditions of lower security or return to prison.
Rowan View – Medium Secure:
Rowan View provides specialist Learning Disability & Mental Health services over 8 wards. Opening in 2020 this state-of-the-art hospital provides care & treatment to men and women. Whilst relational security & the capacity to work in an individualized and therapeutic way are central to the treatment offer.
Rathbone Hospital and Hollins Park (Warrington) – Low Secure:
Our Low Secure Units provides mental health rehabilitation for men and women with mental health problems. The services monitor, manage, & reduce risk, whilst balancing therapy & security with the aim of helping prepare service users to lead a more independent life in the community.
Aspen Wood – Low Secure:
Aspen Wood is a new 40 bed specialist learning disability unit which opened to service users in March 2024. The site provides care for those who need the lowest level of security appropriate for them.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. To coordinate the assessment and delivery of a planned programme of care with guidance and indirect supervision from a qualified practitioner and to contribute to formal assessment and delivery of an individuals plan of care.
2. To assist with activities of daily living, social, recreational and occupational activities as agreed in the service user care plan.
3. To report general observations and provide feedback to a qualified practitioner both verbally
and in written formats, if required. This should include any concerns arising from the service user physical or mental health.
4. To contribute to effective running of the service by providing and receiving information to/from other departments or services. Ensure this information is provided in the most effective way i.e. telephone, fax or in writing.
5. To assist service users with self-administration of oral medication and ensure any concerns / issues about medication are reported back to a qualified practitioner.
6. To use a variety of verbal and non-verbal skills to overcome communication barriers
presented by service users due to their mental health needs.
7. To contribute to maintaining a safe environment for service user in the community (where appropriate).
8. To carry out specific duties that contributes to the assessment of service users as requested by a qualified practitioner.
9. To develop and maintain links with other agencies and services, both statutory and voluntary (where appropriate).
10. To use skills and techniques, to de-escalate situations where service users become physically or verbally aggressive.
11. To carry out observations and inform the Registered Nurse of any concerns. e.g. temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, diet and fluid intake, weight as requested by a qualified practitioner.
12. To contribute to the development of risk management plans for service users by reporting, to the qualified practitioner any issues or concerns regarding service users behaviour / action towards themselves or others.
13. Respond to the changing needs of service users.
14. Control the assessments of implemented individual service users care plans.
15. To undertake and understand the support of observations as per policy tbc (Levels 1- 4)
16. To carry out escorts with service users on and off the hospital site.
17. To support qualified nurses in the administration of medicines by acting as a witness.
18. Provide advice and guidance related health promotion to the service user.
19. Plan social and therapeutic work with service user using a range off therapeutic approaches.
20. Participate in presenting multi disciplinary reviews, daily reviews and handovers.
21. Undertake surveys and audits.
22. Assist in the collection of data from a variety of resource.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Care Certificate
- H & SC Level 2
Desirable criteria
- Phlebotomy trained
- Physical Health competency basic passport
- MEWS
- Level 2 Smoking Cessation
KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE:
Essential criteria
- Able to communicate effectively.
- Understanding of issues of confidentiality.
- Ability to work as a member of a team.
- Ability to demonstrate a non-judgmental attitude.
- Ability to work on own initiative under the supervision of a qualified practitioner.
- Willing to work towards Level 3 Health Care
- Experience working in a care setting
Desirable criteria
- Good standard of education.
- Qualification in craft, domestic skills, leisure or health equivalent to City & Guild Part 1, or 2 year experience working in a health setting.
- Experience of individuals with mental health problems or personal lived experience of mental health problems.
Values
Essential criteria
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discrete
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to provide support and guidance to junior staff
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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Lara Mills-Jones
- Job title
- Project Co-ordinator
- Email address
- [email protected]
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