Health Care Assistant in Thornbury

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic Health Care Assistant to join our supportive team. We are a good humoured, forward looking, and nurturing practice who are looking for a similarly minded Health Care Assistant to join our team. We value fairness in workload and strive to achieve a positive work/life balance and develop resilience across our practice team, despite the current pressure on primary care. We pride ourselves on a team approach to continued service improvement and encourage all to share their experiences, knowledge, and skills.

Main duties of the job:

We are seeking a reliable enthusiastic Health Care Assistant to join our GP Surgery on a One Year Fixed term contract. This role offers an excellent opportunity to work within a busy primary care setting, supporting the clinical team in delivering high quality care to our patient population and contributing to the effective day-to-day running of our practice.

About us:

With a growing practice population of 9100 patients, we are within an easy commute from the centre of Bristol, and proximity to the M5 means we are just a short drive to some of the most picturesque parts of the British countryside. The team at Severn View Family Practice is warm, welcoming, loyal, and supportive. We are a teaching practice and welcome GP Trainees, GP retainers, Foundation Drs, Medical Students, and Nurse Students, as well as prescribing paramedics and pharmacists, over the course of the year. We are a forward-thinking practice, taking an active part in driving innovation in close collaboration with our neighbouring 4 practices, as the Severnvale PCN.

Practice profile:

• PMS practice in South Gloucestershire
• Growing list of 9100 patients
• Use Emis web and Ardens with high QOF achievement
• A training and teaching Practice
• 3 Partners and 4 salaried GPs
• 2 Advanced Nurse Practitioners
• 2 Advanced Clinical Practitioners
• Pharmacy hub within our PCN
• Physiotherapist, Social Prescribers work alongside Clinicians.

The successful candidate will value family medicine, continuity of care and proactive development, work well within a team, flexibility to work effectively within a busy team as well as independently and have good communication skills.

Job responsibilities:

Main Duties:

The delivery of all duties will be independent on the qualifications and training that the job holder has or acquires during their employment. All tasks are to be taken in line with the relevant current practice procedures, protocols, and patient group/specific directions and national guidelines.

Clinical Responsibilities:

• Under the supervision of the Practice Nurse and tissue Viability lead nurse, assess and treat wounds including leg ulcers needing compression therapy, to be able to measure legs for compression hosiery.
• To carry out stitch/suture/clip removal in accordance with practice protocol.
• To carry out Blood Pressure monitoring, Weight monitoring, Urinalysis and ECGs as required, with an understanding of QOF targets.
• To review patients with Hypertension and follow Severn View Family Practice protocol in the management of Hypertension.
• To provide lifestyle advice to patients making any necessary referrals within the Practice.
• To undertake urine analysis in-house as required and ensure that specimens are labelled and bagged ready for collection with the necessary paperwork completed.
• To undertake ear, nose and throat swabs as directed by GP, Practice Nurse(s) or the Hospital.
• Administer B12 injections, flu vaccinations, pneumonia vaccinations and shingles using Patient Specific Directives (if training and competencies are achieved).
• Assist in raising awareness of health and wellbeing by helping in patient health promotion and screening initiatives.
• Give accurate, appropriate information and advice to patients within own competence.
• Ear Irrigation, ability to recognize normal ear and report any change prior to irrigation. (if training and competencies achieved).
• Support the GP/Nurse with chaperoning duties.
• Undertake Doppler Assessment. This is desirable, not essential.
• To carry out NHS Health Checks, maintain the appropriate records.
• To complete Medical Pre-Examinations, as per the documentation, e.g., Height, weight Blood pressure etc.
• To undertake Nail Clippings as directed by GP/Nurse.
• To be competent as phlebotomy and gain experience in both adult and children.
• To ensure that clinical areas and consulting rooms are appropriately stocked with clinical items and equipment.
• To monitor the maintenance of equipment and report any faults.
• Adhere to local policies including cold chain and monitor and record fridge temperatures daily.
• Maintain records comprehensively in a clear and legible form.
• To maintain a safe and effective level of practice and to bring any deficits in training to the attention of the Lead Nurse/Practice Manager.
• To assist in seasonal and special projects as requested e.g. flu campaign.
• To be responsible for the display of Health Promotion materials.
• To undertake training as required by the Practice.
• To always act in a professional manner and adhere to practice policies, protocols and guidelines.
• To attend meetings where required, as might result in benefit to the Practice and the extended team.

This list is not exhaustive as dependent on experience and previous training.

Person Specification:

Personal Quality and Ability:

• Ability to provide quality care
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to work as part of a team

Knowledge of Emis.

Qualifications:

• GCSE grade A to C in English and Maths
• Good Standard of Education
• Qualified to NVQ level 2 in Health and Social Care
• Qualified in Phlebotomy

Experience:

• Experience of working within a nursing team
• Experience of dealing with vulnerable patients
• Experience of working in General Practice Surgery/Primary care

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.