Theatre Care Assistant - Whiston / St Helens Hospitals

We want talented and enthusiastic people from all backgrounds to join #TeamMWL, with us you can learn, grow and develop yourself and your career, realising your true ambitions and aspirations.

Whatever you’re looking for in your career, you’ll find it here at MWL.

Theatre Care Assistant - Whiston / St Helens Hospitals

NHS AfC: Band 3

Main area Theatres Grade NHS AfC: Band 3 Contract Permanent Hours

• Full time
• Part time

37.5 hours per week Job ref 409-7741633-2026

Site Whiston Hospital Town Prescot Salary £25,760 - £27,476 per annum (pro rata if part time) Salary period Yearly Closing 16/09/2026 23:59 Interview date 22/10/2026

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

We're hosting a recruitment event on 22nd October 2026 for Band 3 Theatre Care Assistants to join our team at Whiston Hospital and St Helens Hospital!

Candidates will be required to hold an NVQ Level 2 qualification/equivalent or demonstrable experience within a theatre setting at the time of application. This event is by invitation only and candidates must be able to attend in-person on the day.

Due to current service demands, we are only able to consider applicants who have relevant UK experience. Candidates must also be available to commence employment immediately or within a very short timeframe. We regret that we cannot progress applications that do not meet these essential requirements.

Main duties of the job

• Communicate with a range of people on a range of matters
• Develop own knowledge and skills and provide information to others to help their developments.
• Monitor and maintain Health, Safety and Security to self and others
• Maintain quality in own work and encourage others to do so.
• Support equality and value diversities.
• Monitor and maintain environments, buildings and items.
• Monitor patients vital signs as directed by qualified members of staff.
• Complete patient documentation and care plans, ensuring clinical pathways are followed.
• To provide assistance with patient care to all members of the theatre team.
• To assist direct patient care by monitoring vital signs in the recovery room, reporting back to the registered practitioner

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

Our services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Proposed Interview date: 22nd October 2026

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Person specification

Qualifications

• NVQ Level 2 or above in Healthcare or equivalent demonstrable experience within a Theatre setting
• GCSE Level or equivalent in English and Maths

Knowledge

• Knowledge of personal care
• Previous experience of working in a care assistant role
• Knowledge and understanding of the Theatre Care Assistant role and responsibilities
• Experience working in a Healthcare setting
• Experience working within a Surgical/Theatre Department

Skills

• Ability to communicate both verbally and written.
• Good numeracy and literacy skills.
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Able to accept direction and guidance in the role.
• Aware of own limitations.
• Basic IT skills
• Ability to work independently or within a multi-disciplinary team

Values

• We are kind
• We are open
• We are inclusive

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification.

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

eVisa Update

For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.

Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.

Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:

• Understand how to generate an eVisa share code

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Name Helen Birmingham Job title Operational Lead Email address helen.birmingham2@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk Telephone number 01514301388 Additional information

Pam Greenall

Operational Lead

pam.greenall@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk