Health Care Assistant

JOB DESCRIPTION

HEALTH CARE ASISTANT

MAIN PURPOSE

To assist medical personnel in the care of practice patients to include treatment, preventative care, screening and patient education. The post will also include some administrative duties.

A uniform and name badge must be worn at all times, which will be supplied by the practice.

They will act as a focal point of communication between patients, doctors, nurses and other members of the primary health care team

GENERAL

As part of the nursing team the HCSW will be employed to undertake nursing and administrative duties as deemed suitable by the Partners. Full training will be given prior to any patient contact. The HCSW will always work along side another member of the nursing team and there will always be a doctor available to refer to. The role involves the use of the computer and keyboard skills along with the ability to organise and prioritise a varied workload are necessary.

To maintain a safe and effective level of practice and to bring any deficits in training to the attention of the nurse manager so these can be addressed.

They will be required to act in a professional manner at all times and adhere to practice policies, protocols and guidelines.

1. Training

• Training will initially be provided in house and the HCSW will be part of the internal nurse-training programme. Training requirements will be monitored by yearly appraisal. Personal development will be encouraged and supported by the practice. It’s the individual’s responsibility to remain up to date with recent developments.
• If NVQ level 3 in Care is not held it will be necessary to attend college to study towards this qualification.

2. Accountability

Although accountable to the partners of the practice through the practice manager as an employee, they are ultimately responsible for their own practice and must ensure that limitations are always acknowledged. Full training will be provided for any clinical procedures.

3. Administration

All records need to kept clearly and legibly. Claims are an important part of practice income and are a priority, needing to be made correctly and accurately. A great deal of this work will be done on the computer.

4. Meetings

It will be necessary to attend various Practice meetings as requested. The only reason for not attending will be annual, study or sick leave.

5. Liaison

As well as the nursing team, the nursing assistant will work closely with reception and dispensary staff and will be expected to communicate and liase with the all other members of the Practice team.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Nursing

• New patient registration checks, including completing any necessary paperwork and making any necessary claims to the Health Authority and referrals within the Practice
• BP monitoring
• Urinalysis
• Phlebotomy
• Assist with childhood and adolescent immunisations maintaining any Child

Health and Practice records including completing any necessary claims to the
Health Authority, reporting any problems to the Practice Administrator

• Provide lifestyle advice to patients making any necessary referrals within the

Practice

• Weight monitoring
• Ensure specimens are labelled and bagged ready for collection with the necessary paperwork completed
• Ensure clinical waste collection runs smoothly, reporting any problems to the

Nurse Manager

• Ensure sharps bins are ready for collection
• Restocking/maintenance of equipment
• Restocking of clinical areas and consulting rooms

2. Administration and professional responsibilities

Participate in the administrative and professional responsibilities of the practice team

• Ensure accurate and legible notes of all consultations and treatments are recorded in the patients notes
• Ensure the clinical computer system is kept up to date with accurate details recorded
• Ensure appropriate items of service claims are made accurately, reporting any problems to the practice administrator
• Ensure accurate completion of all necessary documentation associated with patient health care and registration with the practice
• Ensure collection and maintenance of statistical information required for regular and ad hoc reports
• Attend and participate in practice meetings as required
• Cover reception if needed
• Assist in formulation of practice philosophy, strategy and policy
• Restocking and maintenance of clinical areas and consulting rooms
• To create and send recall letters for clinics
• To assist in seasonal and special projects as requested e.g. flu campaign
• Ordering and display of Health Promotion materials

3. Management of medical records

• Ensure that records are accurately assembled in advance of each consulting session
• Ensure that records are available in the instances of urgent consultation
• Retrieve and re-file records as requested, ensuring that strict alphabetical order is adhered to
• Ensure correspondence, reports, results etc are filed in correct records
• Ensure records are kept neat and tidy and in good repair with all necessary information recorded correctly on the outer cover

4. Management of appointment system

• Ensure total familiarity with all appointment systems including regular and incidental variations
• Book appointments and recalls ensuring sufficient information is recorded to enable retrieval of the medical record
• Monitor flow of patients into the waiting room ensuring the appointment system accurately reflects the arrival of patients
• Monitor effectiveness of the system and report any problems or variations to the Senior Receptionist

5. Any other delegated duties considered appropriate to the post

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE POST

• An understanding, acceptance and adherence to the need for strict confidentiality
• An ability to use own judgement, resourcefulness, common sense and local knowledge, to respond to patients’ enquiries and requests while adhering to practice limitations
• An understanding and acceptance of ones capabilities and awareness of own limitations
• Ability to work without direct supervision and determine own workload priorities
• Basic keyboard and computer skills
• Flexibility of working hours
• Good communication skills

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: £11.00-£11.50 per hour

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Work Location: One location

Application deadline: 22/01/2023
Reference ID: 2255
Expected start date: 01/02/2023