Healthcare Assistant

We would like the successful candidates to undertake a wide variety of HCA duties which will include:

This is not an exhaustive list of duties and may be subject to change depending upon patient needs. Full training will be provided if required.

The successful candidate must possess the ability to work within the MDT as well as being able to work independently and manage their own caseload.

Role: Health Care Assistant

Name

Location: Bewick Crescent Surgery

Responsible to: Nurse Manager

Provide patient care and services such as blood sampling, ECG monitoring, blood pressures etc.

Key contact for patients when visiting the surgery with efficient communication with the clinical nursing and GP teams essential. Support clinics where required e.g. Diabetic and Rheumatology, Diabetic foot checks, Complete NHS health checks

Venepuncture taking blood samples from patients using vaccutainer system. Specialised techniques e.g. butterfly using alternate areas on body, supporting clinics including diabetes, NHS Checks and GPs requests.

Blood Pressures taking blood pressures on patients using electronic equipment.Following practice protocols, taking appropriate action with either follow up monitoring, or GP referrals. Set up home blood pressure monitoring and process results.

ECGs performing heart tracings on patients, down loading information onto computer system and extracting an A4 printout for GPs attention, taking appropriate action according to results i.e.; urgent attention, GP appointment, routine monitoring. Liaise with manufacturer for reporting equipment faults and system issues. Action when necessary.

Including setting up and fitting of 24 hour ECGs and process results.

Diabetic foot care checks Screen diabetic patients for vascular and neuropathy assessments providing foot care advice when necessary. Refer onwards as required.

Urine testing urine specimens for anomalies, i.e. protein, glucose, blood, nitrites etc taking correct action. Labelling and sending samples to laboratory for appropriate testing requirements using the ICE system.

Chaperoning - at GPs request, attending patient examinations, consoling and reassuring patients when necessary.

Smoking cessatior first point of contact for patients wishing to quit smoking. Refer to the appropriate smoking cessation service.

Update patient records using the correct read codes after every consultation. Always check demographic data as per protocols. Use templates wherever available for data entry.

Vaccinations: Administer B12, pneumococcal and flu vaccinations as required.

NHS checks: first point of contact for patient. Collate family history, take required measurements, monitor BP and take relevant bloods. Refer to GP when required.

Minor Operations Clinic: support the clinician in performing the minor operations clinic by setting up room, equipment and ensuring relevant injections are there for the patients attending.

Ear Irrigation: checking patients ear, and irrigating with water to remove wax, ensuring ear drums are intact and informing the patient of risks and aftercare.

E-mail: Read them daily and take necessary action on any message received.

Tasks and notifications: Read daily and take necessary action on any tasks or briefings.

GP Team Net: check daily. Acknowledge items when required. Update training record & upload certificates.

Standard worksheets/station logs: check your workstation log daily for updates; update/create worksheets as appropriate. Maintain the current standard of work sheets.

Receive and make calls as required. Divert calls and take messages as appropriate, create a task for all messages to nurses, GPs and Practice/Assistant Practice Manager. Do not use paper. Log all dialogue with patients in Systmone.

Deal with all telephone calls including appointments, divert as necessary.

Ensure your training records are kept up to date transition to GPTN.

Ensure all surgery policy documents are the most recent version and remove old versions from all work stations.

Attend meetings and training events as required.

Remove room name plate from door when not in use. Ensure the name plate follows you to avoid patient confusion.

Skills Required

Bewick Crescent Surgery is a well known large GP practice located within Newton Aycliffe. It provides care to a practice population of approximately 13,500 patients. The wider practice team consists of 4 GP partners and 5 salaried GP's as well as the nursing and admin teams. The nursing team has 2 advanced nurse practitioners and 1 nurse practitioner, 4 practice nurses, 2 nursing associates and 4 healthcare assistants.

We provide a supportive and caring team environment which radiates throughout the whole practice team. We believe in working hard to meet the needs of our patient population, and like to go the extra mile to achieve this where possible.

You will entitled to 5 weeks holiday + bank holidays pro rata to hours worked.

Salary is dependent upon skills and experience. There is the option to join or remain part of the NHS Pension scheme.

Annual mandatory training as well as paid training courses depending upon business needs.

The successful candidate will undergo a DBS check which the surgery will pay for.

Experience