Health Care Assistant - HMP Send and HMP Coldingley - Bisley, Woking

Looking for a rewarding role where you can make a real difference every day? We are looking for a compassionate and motivated Health Care Assistant to join our integrated healthcare team based across HMP Send and HMP Coldingley in Surrey, working full time, 35 hours per week. This is a rewarding opportunity to support individuals with complex drug and alcohol needs while making a genuine difference within a custodial healthcare setting.

Working alongside Registered Nurses and a multidisciplinary team, you will deliver high-quality nursing care and psychosocial interventions tailored to individual recovery journeys. From clinical assessments and harm reduction support to 1:1 sessions and group work, you will play a vital role in helping clients improve their health, wellbeing and long-term outcomes.

What You Will Be Doing:

• Delivering person-centred care and recovery-focused interventions
• Supporting clinical assessments, care planning and health promotion
• Running structured 1:1 sessions and group work programmes
• Supporting clients with harm reduction and behaviour change strategies
• Monitoring physical and mental wellbeing within a prison healthcare setting
• Maintaining accurate clinical records and care plans on SystemOne
• Working closely with internal and external agencies to support continuity of care

What We Are Looking For:

• Experience working within healthcare, substance misuse or mental health services
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Understanding of safeguarding, confidentiality and professional boundaries
• Confidence managing a caseload and prioritising workload effectively
• Aware of the unique challenges and safety requirements within a custodial environment

This is an opportunity to be part of a supportive and purpose-driven team where your work genuinely changes lives. You will receive ongoing support, training and development while contributing to safer communities and better outcomes for vulnerable individuals.

If you are passionate about recovery, rehabilitation and delivering outstanding care, we would love to hear from you.

About Us: We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.

We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally, the wellbeing of the employees who work for us is also important. Joining us as an employee, we will offer you the following benefits:

• Flexible working
• Training and development opportunities
• Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
• Season Ticket Loan Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Crisis Loan Scheme
• Electric Car Scheme
• 3 x Wellbeing Days (pro rata'd for part-time employees)
• Access to Blue Light Card
• 25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays
• Contributory Pension Scheme - Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years of service and up to 9% thereafter
• Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary)
• Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)

Please note that we may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.

Diversity at Forward Trust: The Forward Trust commits to providing opportunities to everyone. We want to ensure we have a diverse team with a range of lived and professional experiences. This includes those with Lived Experience of addiction, offending, or homelessness. When we recruit, we welcome applications from everyone. This is inclusive of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and/or belief, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity and socio-economic background. Where operationally possible, we will consider flexible working requests and make reasonable adjustments for all roles.

To find out more about Forward's commitment to being an inclusive employer and our current EDI strategy, please click here.

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage, please let us know.

Employee Screening and Eligibility to Work: Dependent on the role, you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service Check, details of which will be shared with you at interview. If successful in your application, you will be required to provide eligibility to work evidence in line with the Eligibility to Work in the UK requirements.

Our Commitment to Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk. Forward Trust follows safer recruitment practices and supports a culture of openness and accountability.