Band 3 Health Care Support Worker - Devizes

Job overview

We are looking to recruit compassionate, resilient and enthusiastic Healthcare Support Workers within our 4 bedded place of safety. Bluebell Unit offers a place of safety to adults and children brought in by police on S135 or S136 of the Mental Health Act. Bluebell is a 24 hour, fast paced and dynamic service catering to the specific needs of a wide variety of presentations and personalities whilst in crisis.

Main duties of the job

This is an exciting opportunity for you to develop a rewarding career where you can make a real difference to help change the lives of our service user group for the better.

This can be a challenging yet rewarding environment where as a team we strive to help our service users to overcome a variety of complex needs.

You will be able to learn and understand how to care for service users that are in mental health crisis by promoting choice and independence in the least restrictive way possible.

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 facilitating social inclusion. - 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 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, Safe wards 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 carer’s, 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.

Essential criteria

Maximum score 4

• 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.

Desirable criteria

Maximum score 2

• Experience within Mental Health

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Maximum score 2

• 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

Maximum score 4

• 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.