Health Care Assistant in Harlow

The healthcare assistant will deliver safe, high-quality primary care services to our patients and assist the nursing and clinical team in the provision of treatment, preventative care, health promotion and patient education, working as part of the practice multidisciplinary team, delivering care within their scope of practice to our patients.

Main duties of the job:

• Maintain agreed standards of safety and hygiene within the treatment room and consulting rooms.
• Weight, height, waist circumference and Body Mass Index measurement of legs for compression hosiery.
• Process and management of laboratory samples requested by clinical team.
• Undertake vaccine/cold chain storage, monitoring and recording.
• Prepare and maintain environments and equipment before, during and after patient care interventions.
• Venepuncture, wound care/dressings, ABPM, ECGs, Urinalysis, NHS health checks, etc.
• Routine blood pressures/blood glucose.
• Flu, pneumococcal, shingles vaccinations, B12 injections.
• Long Term Condition (LTC) clinic reviews.
• Assist clinicians in carrying out minor clinical procedures including cleaning and maintenance of medical equipment.
• Assist the nursing team in their clinical and administrative duties when necessary.

About us:

Lister Medical Centre is based in Harlow, Essex. We are a well-established, friendly teaching practice, and our dedicated team includes 8 GPs, 4 Emergency Care Practitioners, 3 Practice Nurses, 2 Nursing Associates, 2 Physician Associates, 4 HCAs and 17 admin/support staff. We have been providing a full range of GP services for over 30 years and have a patient list size of over 21,000 patients. As a teaching practice, we have Foundation Doctors and Students from Cambridge University based with us. We are situated in a purpose-built health centre close to local amenities.

Please note: We are unable to offer sponsorship.

Job responsibilities:

• Carry out baseline observations such as pulse oximetry, blood pressure, temperature and pulse rate, height, weight, waist circumference and Body Mass Index, measurement of legs for compression hosiery, 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 and health promotion programmes.
• Record of blood pressure.
• Record of peak flow.
• Record information both manually and on computer system.
• Undertake other clinical activities identified by the practice nurse or doctor in accordance with agreed written protocols.
• Act as chaperone support if required by doctors.
• Venepuncture, wound care/dressings, ABPM, ECGs, Urinalysis, routine blood pressure, blood glucose, urine dips etc.
• Assist Minor Ops.
• Undertake new patient and NHS Health Checks.
• FeNo testing and ABPI (doppler) tests.

Administration:

• Complete LTC clinics.
• Administer flu, shingles, pneumococcal vaccinations and B12 injections.
• Ensure specimens are recorded and ready for onward transportation.
• Ensure all clinical rooms are adequately stocked and prepared for each session.
• Ensure fridges are cleaned routinely in accordance with extant guidance.
• Ensure clinical waste is removed from clinical areas and sharps bins replaced in accordance with the organisations IPC policy.
• Deliver opportunistic health promotion where appropriate.
• Process and manage laboratory samples requested by clinical team.
• Undertake vaccine/cold chain storage, monitoring and recording.
• Prepare and maintain environments and equipment before, during and after patient care interventions.
• Assist the nursing staff in screening programmes.
• Maintain, store and retrieve records - computerised.
• Receive and transmit information by telephone to agreed practice standard with particular attention to confidentiality.
• Ensure infection control measures are upheld in line with practice guidelines.
• Prepare clinical areas, including instrument preparation for specific clinical sessions.
• Maintain stock levels of equipment and materials according to the needs of the practice in conjunction with the Health Care Support Workers.
• In discussion with the nursing team, be responsible for supplying health promotion materials in the waiting area and consulting rooms.

Person Specification:

Experience:

• Experience of working with the general public, healthcare setting or a primary care environment.
• You will be expected to be able to provide a range of GP care including: Measurement of height and weight, calculation of BMI, Urinalysis, Recording of blood pressure, Recording of peak flow, recording information both manually and on computer system, Maintaining equipment, Undertaking other clinical activities - Identified by the practice nurse or doctor in accordance with agreed written protocols, Act as chaperone support if required by doctors, ECG, Venepuncture, wound care/dressing, Undertake mental health/new patient health checks.
• Experience of patient and customer facing roles.
• Infection control experience.
• Experience of working in SystmOne.
• Ability to organise and prioritise workload to achieve deadlines.
• Ability to investigate complex patient queries and anomalies when required.
• Ability to monitor and process accurate patient data.
• Commitment to equalities and the promotion of diversity in all aspects of working.
• Being open to innovative thinking and assist in developing new ways of working/systems as required.
• Advanced communication skills, ability to respond to potential emergency situations.
• To adhere to the practice core values and to ensure patients, colleagues and other partners are treated with dignity and respect.
• To display compassion and empathy for patients putting them at the centre of their care.

Qualifications:

• Experience of primary care/GP practices.
• Good standard of general education with a minimum GCSE grade C in English and maths, or equivalent.
• Healthcare qualification (level 3 or 4) or working towards gaining equivalent level NVQ in health care.
• Previous completion of the HCA care certificate.

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.