Patient Care Assistant in Swindon

Location: Eastcott Veterinary Hospital

Job type: Fixed term (6 months), full-time

Hours: 40 hours per week, 1:8 Saturdays

Your role and responsibilities:

• The role of a Patient Care Assistant is to support the nursing and wider practice team in achieving the highest standards of care.
• The Patient Care Assistant role will involve working in a variety of areas within the practice to support the team.
• It will be necessary to accept instruction from a variety of people including Management, Veterinary Surgeons and Registered Veterinary Nurses.
• Working enthusiastically within the team you will help maintain a happy, efficient, and effective working environment.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Assist with patient handling and restraint.
• Ensuring that all handling and restraint is carried out in a 'patient friendly' approach to ensure no unnecessary stress or discomfort to the patient.
• Involvement with handling medications and preparing these for dispensing.
• Prepare and maintain patient accommodation considering the condition and welfare of the patient, environmental enrichment and additional supporting aids as necessary.
• Cleaning and disinfection of patient accommodation and all necessary areas of the practice.
• In-patient care to include exercising, feeding, and grooming of hospitalized patients.
• Assisting with laboratory diagnostic techniques to include preparation and maintenance of equipment, processing samples and packaging for external laboratories.
• Assisting with diagnostic imaging to include maintenance and preparation of equipment and patient preparation and positioning.
• Cleaning, packaging and sterilization of sterile supplies.
• Maintenance of theatre to include preparation of the environment and equipment and cleaning.
• Assist the Veterinary Surgeons, Registered and Student Veterinary Nurses, Reception staff and any other team member who requires support, where and when required.
• Attend and contribute to practice meetings and events.

We encourage and support career development including training to be a Veterinary Nurse.

The successful candidate will have a minimum of 5 GCSEs grades A-C or equivalent and will have experience of handling animals. An animal care qualification would be desirable but not essential.

We would love to hear from individuals who are keen to learn new skills to the full in a supportive environment. This role is for a 40-hour week that does include weekends.

Benefits:

• 5 weeks holiday + bank holidays + Birthday Leave
• RCVS & VDS fees paid
• External CPD funded
• Extensive free online Linnaeus CPD program
• Career progression opportunities
• Staff discount schemes
• Life Assurance
• Enhanced sickness pay
• Enhanced equal family leave
• Recruitment referral reward scheme
• E-car salary sacrifice scheme
• Employer contribution pension scheme
• Wellness program including: Employee assistance program, Eyecare voucher scheme, Free annual Flu jab, Cycle to work scheme

About us:

We are a tier 3, ISFM gold status, multidisciplinary veterinary hospital that prides itself on providing high standards of care to both referral and primary care patients. Eastcott Veterinary Referrals is situated in Swindon. In 2020 we completed a major extension and refurbishment which means it's a great time to join our dynamic and motivated team that has benefited from the support of the Linnaeus Group and Mars Petcare.

This investment in our state-of-the-art facilities has allowed us to provide the best care to our patients, and the opportunity to perform the most up-to-date and innovative procedures. We encourage our staff to undertake further professional and personal development and provide a friendly and supportive environment in which our teams can flourish and enjoy their work.

Eastcott Veterinary Referrals is part of Linnaeus and Mars Veterinary Health, the largest family-owned veterinary company in the world. Being privately owned, we can truly be driven by our purpose, to create a better world, and think long-term as opposed to being focused solely on short-term profits.

At Linnaeus, A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS starts with a better world for our people. Our Associates are over 6000 strong and empowered to speak up, step up and deliver quality services. You'll have access to a huge network of specialists, worldwide development opportunities and an easily accessible, comprehensive wellbeing package that prioritises your physical and mental health, allowing you to focus on what you do best – care for pets.

We are committed to fostering a culture that is inclusive and diverse, we care about you and want you to be authentic, with everything you need to perform at your best. We are all individual but two important things bring us together: a commitment to excellence and our passion to achieve our purpose.

All applications with the relevant skills and qualifications will be carefully considered. If you need any support in completing your application or simply want to find out more about Eastcott Veterinary Referrals, Linnaeus or the role, please contact our Talent Acquisition team.

Salary Value: £26,437 per annum;