Health Care Assistant – Medicine Division

Our Medicine Division at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is looking for Health Care Assistants to join our busy ward teams. Are you a hard working team player, with a passion for caring for others?

This is the ideal role for someone with NHS and/or care giving experience. Although experience as a Health Care Assistant is not essential you must have experience in a customer facing role or a position which requires you to work compassionately.

Your role as a Health Care Assistant will be-

• To accurately and promptly carry out the instructions of the Registered Nurse
• To provide and deliver a high standard of individualist personal care to each patient
• To adhere to Trust infection control procedures demonstrating an understanding of cross infection.
• To accurately document all care delivered to patients, countersigned by a Registered Nurse maintaining confidentiality at all times

The Medicine Division is the one of the largest within the hospital, with wards for the following specialties:

• Older People’s Medicine – this service is set across 5 wards, Earsham, Loddon, Elsing, Brundall and Dunston, providing care for our older patients, from hip fracture care, Dementia care, short stay with rapid assessment and discharge, and treatment of acute conditions.
• Cardiology – based on Kilverstone ward, caring for patients with conditions including Acute Coronary Syndromes (heart attack and angina), Heart Failure and Arrhythmias.
• Gastroenterology – based on Guist and Kimberley Ward, caring for patients triaged with acute medical conditions under gastroenterology.
• Respiratory – our Respiratory service is set across 2 wards, Hethel and Gunthorpe, specialising in acute respiratory medicine, and providing Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV) for the treatment of Type 2 respiratory failure.
• Oncology and Haematology – based on Mulbarton Ward, caring for patients who are receiving treatment under an Oncologist, Haematologist or a palliative care Consultant.
• Renal/Dialysis – our Renal Ward is Langley, managing acute Renal failure and other Renal-related problems.
• Diabetes & Endocrinology – based on Mattishall Ward, managing patients with acute and chronic diabetes and other endocrine disorders.
• Acute Medical Unit (AMU) – AMU is set across three units, AMU H, AMU I and AMU K/SDEC, receiving patients directly from GPs and the Emergency Department. AMU see around 20,000 emergency admissions each year.
• Neuroscience/Stroke Unit – this service is set across two ward areas, Heydon and Ingham, diagnosing and treating neurological conditions, such as epilepsy, stroke, headaches, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Motor Neurone Disease.

At NNUH, we are passionate about staff development and will support you in your career as a Health Care Assistant and beyond. Opportunities arise for you to progress to a Senior Health Care Assistant (working towards NVQ Level 3), and our HCAs have also gone onto become Assistant Practitioners. Our Health Care Assistants have the exciting opportunity to apply to join the Trainee Nursing Associate (TNA) programme, a two-year course, resulting in Nursing Associate registration and making you eligible to train as a Registered Nurse via a shortened nursing degree or Registered Nurse degree apprenticeship (RNDA). The TNA course acts as a stepping stone to becoming a Nurse, and we are proud to offer this opportunity to our Health Care Assistants.

As a Health Care Assistant, you will be supported through your Care Certificate Programme, requiring completion of set modules, with help from our dedicated Clinical Educator and Practice Development teams. Upon completion of the certificate, you will also have the opportunity to pick up additional bank shifts in areas of interest, in which you can gain further experience across different specialities.

When applying for this position please use your supporting statement to confirm the area you’d like to work in and why. Please also use this section to explain why you are interested in a role at NNUH and how your experience is relevant or transferable to the position and why you wish to pursue a career as a Health Care Assistant.

If you have experience working in a fast paced, demanding role and you’re looking for a new challenge, we would love to hear from you!

Information On Hours/working Pattern

In post, you will be expected to work as part of a full rota with set shifts. We are not able to offer contracts for nights only or weekends only however we can offer a degree of flexibility. Rotas cover a full 24 hours, 7 days a week and involve a mixture of working long days and night shifts. Day shifts start at 07:00 and finish at 19:30. Night shifts start at 19:00 and finish at 07:30. When applying for this position please declare at the start of your supporting information that you are happy to work as part of a full rota as outlined above.

Information On Induction/Training

If successful, you will have a 2 week (full time) induction course. 1 week classroom based and 1 week shadowing on the wards. We typically host 1-2 training courses per month but they have limited spaces. We will do our best to book you on the earliest available training course but please do bear in mind there is sometimes a 1-2 month wait for a training course/start date during busy periods.

• Full and Part Time Hours Available!*

Open for applications: 8th March 2022

Close for applications: 17th March 2022

Interview date: Saturday 26th March 2022

For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Jo Self

Recruitment Advisor

Tel: 01603 287578

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]