Job summary
- Main area
- Heath Care Support Worker
- Grade
- Band 3
- Contract
- Permanent: Substantive
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 342-WTS150-0725
- Employer
- Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Fountain Way
- Town
- Salisbury
- Salary
- £24,937 - £26,598 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 14/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Band 3 Healthcare Support Worker - Salisbury
Band 3
Job overview
Are you looking to develop a career in mental health? We are looking to recruit compassionate, resilient and enthusiastic Healthcare Support Workers on our later life functional ward. Amblescroft North is a 20 bedded mixed gender in-patient unit that cares for individuals experiencing mental illness of a functional nature, over the age of 65 years; these illnesses range from psychosis to mood disorders to depression.
This is an active, enjoyable and rewarding role, applying person centred assessment for people experiencing changes in needs due to their illness. Working alongside colleagues from Medicine, Psychology, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Social Care, you will be developing a culture that puts the person's needs at the forefront of their care.
You will be learning on the job continually building new skills. There will also be developmental and learning opportunities that are accessible, which includes a comprehensive statutory and mandatory training programme. You will also receive training to complete the NHS Care Certificate and a Level 3 Healthcare apprenticeship.
The ward operates on a 24/7 shift basis and you will be required to work shifts including evenings, nights, weekends and Bank Holidays. You will qualify for unsocial enhancements in addition to your basic pay.
Main duties of the job
As a healthcare support worker the majority of your time will be spent engaging and getting know the service users on the ward. You will become able to recognise signs and symptoms of mental health illness and be a key member of the multi professional team which include Nurses, Doctors, Occupational Therapists. You will be able to support in collaborative care planning and implementation.
Although we are a mental health unit we give as much emphasis on physical health care and monitoring. The healthcare support worker role is fundamental in ensuring that daily well being needs and care needs are met.
Successful applicants will also be required to undertake and complete a Reducing Restrictive Intervention course. This enables staff to begin building the skills to support service users in peaks of distress whilst maintaining a safe and therapeutic environment for all.
We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care. We are committed to supporting employees and staff wellbeing and development is important to the team at Beechlydene.
You will be learning on the job and continually building new skills. There will also be developmental and learning opportunity that are accessible, which include a comprehensive statutory and mandatory training programme and a comprehensive induction programme. You will also receive training to complete the NHS Care Certificate and a Level 3 Healthcare apprenticeship.
Working for our organisation
We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.
We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.
Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.
At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- To deliver high quality care and recovery interventions for service users within designated clinical areas, in collaboration with, and under the indirect supervision of, registered care staff. These may include:
- Supporting individuals with fluids and nutrition, physical
wellbeing and personal care - Assisting service users with financial or accommodation issues
- Escorting or accompanying service users for planned periods of
leave on hospital grounds and in the community to facilitate
social inclusion
- Supporting individuals with fluids and nutrition, physical
- Encouraging service users to talk about their experiences in one-to-one or group discussions.
- To help maintain a clean, well-organised, safe and therapeutic environment that meets the needs of service users, carers and colleagues and to support registered care staff to perform standardised environmental assessments to monitor and improve the care setting.
- To deliver psychosocially-informed one to one and group interventions and activities aiming to positively impact service users’ cognitive and emotional wellbeing.
- To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
- To assume lead or link roles on core practice initiatives and priorities (e.g. Essence of Care, Safewards and Carer Engagement) under the supervision of registered staff.
- To integrate areas of personal interest with clinical practice to enhance the diversity of the team’s provision of care.
- To practise planned care and to directly participate in the development of recovery-focused interventions that address service users’ and carers’ needs and preferences.
- To proactively review, record and assess the on-going impacts of such interventions.
- To participate in the on-going care planning, CPA and risk assessment processes in collaboration with service users, their carers, and other members of the care team and to contribute to all aspects of clinical record keeping.
- To maintain a basic working understanding of both the Mental Health Act (1983) and Mental Capacity Act (2005) and any other relevant legislation, as required by mandatory and statutory training (MaST).
- To adhere to AWP’s Code of Conduct for unregistered practitioners; promoting and embedding it through the delivery of peer support and supervision to junior, temporary and newly appointed Health Care Support Workers.
- To observe and record interactions with service users and carers both verbally and in writing via clinical records and staff handovers.
- To deliver a wide range of fundamental care interventions using evidence based clinical tools.
- To monitor and improve physical health and personal wellbeing and to model a high standard of dignity, respect and candour.
- To engage in reflective practice to maintain and promote ongoing clinical practice.
- To promote and enhance a positive learning culture, being proactive in the induction, orientation and support of junior, temporary and newly appointed Health Care Support Workers, seeking to embed core care values into practice.
Person specification
Experience and skills
Essential criteria
- An understanding of how mental health issues can affect the lives of individuals, their families and their community, and experience of using a range of evidence-based approaches to reduce the impact of such issues.
- Experience of working in a busy team, and an ability to use initiative at times of pressure.
- Experience working with later life service users with comorbidities
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Possession of, or the ability and willingness to work towards, an appropriate Level 3 vocational qualification (e.g. Level 3 Diploma in Mental Health or Health and Social Care)
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to work with a degree of autonomy, whilst also taking direction from senior colleagues.
- Ability to communicate in written and verbal English to a high standard, and basic numeracy skills.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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Applicant requirements
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.
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Charlotte Taylor
- Job title
- Interim Ward Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01722 820329
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