Healthcare Assistant

Job overview

Health Care Assistant - Recruitment Event

Department: Children’s Services

Band 2/3 (starting salary £24,465 - £26,598 per annum)

Opportunities to start at Band 2 and progress to Band 3

**Please be advised you must have an NHS Care Certificate to be Band 3. You will be Band 2 until you pass this and your probation**

Hours: 37.5 hours per week over a variety of shifts.

(All MKUH roles will be considered for flexible working)

Welcome to the Children’s Nursing Team at MKUH.

We are looking for a motivated, caring and dedicated individual to join our established Children’s Nursing teams on Ward 4 (Paediatric Assessment Unit) and Ward 5 (Acute Children’s Ward)

You will work collaboratively with the wider multi-disciplinary team helping to deliver family centred care for a cohort of babies, children and young people requiring admission to an acute hospital setting.

You will require patience, understanding, creativity and most of all a sense of fun to ensure that our patients cope well with their treatments and time in hospital.

We also work very closely with Neonatal Unit and our Children’s Emergency Department, helping to staff these areas if needed.

If this role interests you, and would want an informal visit please contact:

Philippa (Pip) Cullen- Prince, Ward 5 Manager

Email: [email protected]

OR

Wadzanai (Elizabeth) Muchopa, Ward 4 Manager

Email: [email protected]

Interview date: 22nd December 2025

This role can not be sponsored.

Main duties of the job

We offer support for educational needs to ensure competence and continued development through access to both courses (relevant to the role) and day to day supervised ‘learning on the job’.

Further training available includes: Basic Life Support and various skills training sessions such as venepuncture.

Children services at MKUH consist of the following:

Ward 4: Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU)            Ward 4 is open 24 hours a day, has 16 PAU beds that flexes capacity to meet the ever-changing needs of our children. We offer access to expert, evidence based and family centred assessment, treatment, and care.

Paediatric Day Surgery Unit:

6 bedded area open Monday to Friday, specific for day surgery cases, including dental, urology ENT, T&O and ophthalmology. Provides care to children all ages, from pre-op assessment, supporting children and families from admission to discharge.

Ward 5:

Ward 5 is a 22 bedded acute paediatric inpatient ward caring for acutely unwell babies, children and young people across a range of specialities.

Milton Mouse Unit:

Paediatric Outpatients:

Delivers specialist consultant and nurse led clinics for children that require long, and short term follow up of care.

Paediatric Day Care Unit

Provides planned infusions, transfusions and ongoing care to children and young people who do not require an overnight stay.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We care We communicate We collaborate We contribute

''NHS Survey, 2024''94% feel that their role makes a difference to patience and service users.

Patient Care

• Establish and maintain an open and sensitive communicative manner with children, relatives and staff.
• Display friendly, helpful and respectful attention to everyone.
• Assist visitors to the department as necessary.
• Report any complaints or untoward incidents to the nurse in charge of the shift.
• Answer the telephone, take accurate messages and relay as necessary.
• Accompany children and parents to other departments when requested by nurse in charge, i.e. X-ray Department.

Domestic/Environmental

• Assist the staff to keep the ward environment clean and tidy.  To include the cleaning and re-stocking of cupboards, sluice, clean utility room, storerooms, treatment rooms.
• Maintain a safe environment by ensuring visitor beds are safely packed up during the day and access to the bedspace is free from hazards.
• Report any faulty equipment, to EBME and inform the nurse in charge of the shift      promptly.
• Record temperature of fridges daily in kitchen, drug room, and cubicles where appropriate and take action if temperature outside limits.

General Duties

• Undertake tasks as may be required within scope of practice and skillset.
• Deal with urgent dispatches of specimens as necessary.
• Perform tasks as may be considered relevant by senior sister / Nurse in charge.
• Contribute to the effective use of resources.
• Use the relevant hospital IT systems and attend regular hospital IT training

Personnel

• Demonstrate a professional approach to patients, relatives and colleagues
• Comply with all Trust policies and procedures
• Develop appropriate nursing skills for the provision of care.
• Highlight any identified training needs to senior sister or paediatric practice facilitator.

Patient Care

• Escort/chaperone parents and children as directed by nursing or medical staff.
• Maintain children’s position and safety in bed or chair, using manual handling equipment (once trained).
• Help children to mobilise within the constraints of their illness, using appropriate mobility aids (once trained).
• Carry out toileting needs at the right time and maintain privacy at all times.

Summary of key duties:

• Keeping departments tidy and ensuring equipment is clean and stocked, ready to use.
• Taking basic observations and updating patient records
• 1:1 care/supervision for unaccompanied children, children who require mental health support and those with additional needs.
• Support with feeding and nutritional needs, including assisting with meals bottle feeding and breastfeeding support for mothers.
• Assist with personal cares
• Making sure patients are comfortable
• Helping patients move around
• Helping to serve meals Please refer to the job description for further details.