Healthcare Assistant - Paediatrics

at  Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Child and Adolescent Unit has a rare vacancy for a Paediatric Health Care Assistant. We have a large team of staff who provide nursing care to children and young people age 0-16 years with medical, surgical and mental health problems.
We have a large unit that comprises of an assessment unit, inpatient area, day case surgery and medical tests.
We are looking for an enthusiastic individual to join our team. General overview of the role include but are not exhaustive to : -
Assisting in the care of children and young people age 0-16 years with medical, surgical and mental health problems.
Escorting children to theatre who are having operations.
Supervising children and young people with mental health conditions.
General housekeeping duties.
Serving meals to children and assisting with feeding.
Supporting family centred care.
These duties are carried out after training (which we will provide), under the direction of a professionally qualified practitioner and can include the following tasks:
Helping children to wash or shower and dress
Serving food and, if necessary, helping patients to eat, supervising children with eating disorders, feeding babies.
Making and changing beds, general housekeeping duties.
Talking with children and parents to help them feel less lonely or anxious
Distracting children during procedures such as blood collection
Performing observations and early warning scores and escalating when necessary.
Documentation of patient care such as fluid balance , observations
Keeping the bed statement up to date
It’s really important to consider that some aspects of working with children and young people can be distressing and challenging, staff need resilience and a non-judgemental attitude.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (MCHFT) provides good quality, safe and effective healthcare to the people of Cheshire and beyond. The Trust, which manages Leighton Hospital in Crewe, Victoria Infirmary in Northwich, and Elmhurst Intermediate Care Centre in Winsford, was established as an NHS Trust in April 1991 and became a Foundation Trust in April 2008.
We employ almost 5,000 members of staff, provide around 540 hospital beds, with a range of services including accident and emergency, maternity, outpatients, therapies, and children’s health.
The Trust is also part of Central Cheshire Integrated Care Partnership (CCICP), a unique local health partnership that provides a range of community services for people across South Cheshire and Vale Royal.
During the Coronavirus pandemic, the Trust was recognised nationally for its ‘Be Safe Be EquiPPEd’ campaign, which aimed to make the Trust as safe as possible for staff and patients, through supporting the correct use of PPE.
The results in the 2020 national NHS Staff Survey showed improvements in all elements of the safety culture theme, with 92% of respondents feeling their role made a difference to our patients. We were also recognised nationally for our workforce health and wellbeing initiatives.
At Mid Cheshire, we value our staff and appreciate that in order to give our patients the best quality, compassionate care, we also need to look after our colleagues.
Healthcare work is very rewarding. You are making a positive difference to the lives of others when they are at their most vulnerable. Other benefits include:
We will recognise your previous qualifications and experience within your starting salary
You’ll have access to high quality training and national qualifications e.g. the care certificate
All Healthcare Assistants receive generous shift pay enhancements for nights, weekends and bank holidays which significantly increases basic pay rates
Holiday pay starts at 27 days’ annual leave per year (increasing to 33 after 10 years), plus bank holidays
You will have access to a gold standard pension scheme
You will have access to NHS discounts across hundreds of shops, restaurants & services (Morrisons, Nando’s etc.)
Excellent career development opportunities are available e.g. access to Nurse training and apprenticeships
Paid leave when you’re sick after the first 6 months at work and access to all occupational health services (fast track physio referral scheme, counselling services etc)
Generous occupational maternity, paternity and adoption pay
Job Description
Participate in the delivery of patient care, following agreed plans, policies, procedures, and clinical guidelines, carrying out tasks and activities relevant for the job role/place of work
Work collaboratively within the multidisciplinary team/agencies to ensure that patient needs are met
Involve patients, relatives/carers in the delivery of care, providing reassurance and support to assist their understanding and co-operation
Prepare the clinical area for safe practice by ensuring that cleanliness is maintained, materials and equipment are ready for use, including clearing away afterwards
Recognise and respond appropriately to urgent and emergency situations
Provide routine information to enable the effectiveness of care to be evaluated and records maintained
Contribute to the recording and storing of information, ensuring it is securely held, accurate, complete and legible and can be retrieved promptly when required
Promote the individual needs of the patient, by acknowledging preferences, rights and choices, respecting privacy and dignity, and by promoting anti-discriminatory practice, alerting senior staff if patient care appears to be disrespectful or discriminatory
Establish and maintain effective communication, maintaining confidentiality of information
Contribute to the effective management of risk, by accurate recording and reporting and correct maintenance of records and documentation
Ensure compliance with Trust policies, procedures and clinical guidelines, alerting senior staff if practice of self and others appear to contravene policy, or if concerned about any aspect of patient care
Contribute to the development of services from the patients perspective, making suggestions for change and improvements, including taking part in patient and public involvement activities
Contribute to the effective and efficient use of resources by ensuring that supplies are available, alerting senior staff when supplies are short, and by making suggestions to reduce wast

Please refer the Job description for details