Senior Health Care Assistant

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 3 Senior Health Care Assistant.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Health-care Assistant to join our dynamic and friendly team in the Main Haemodialysis Unit. The department is located in Brighton and is the hub for renal services in Sussex. We are open Monday to Saturday- 06:30-22:30 and dialyses 220 patients per week.

You will work within a specialised area, providing high quality care to patients with acute and chronic renal failure and therefore will be expected to take on extended roles associated with the specialism. You will be an excellent communicator and be required to work closely with members of the multidisciplinary team.

Previous healthcare experience is essential and an existing NVQ level 3 would be desirable.   Due to the specialised nature of the unit an informal visit is highly recommended.

Main duties of the job

Role Summary: Contribute to implementing and progressing of a range of patient treatment and care programmes mainly Haemodialysis as delegated by a registered healthcare practitioner, and report back on progress. This may involve: making minor modifications to the care/treatment plan haemodialysis within prescribed parameters, supervision of individual/group patient therapy sessions, timetabling/running patient activities (eg. outpatient clinics).  Participate as an active member of the healthcare team: organising own day-to-day work tasks (with support available), participating in ongoing training and development, and maintaining skills necessary for the role, contributing to the smooth and efficient running of the service. Provide day-to-day supervision and co-ordination of junior staff.  Carry out daily practice in line with our Trust values: Communication, Kindness and  Understanding, Fairness and Transparency, Working Together, Excellence.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Adhere to Unit protocols and policies (eg administrate intravenous device intraluminal locks, cannulate). To accurately monitor and record a patients vital signs, reporting abnormalities to nursing or medical staff. To be actively involved in the assessment, planning, implementing and  evaluation of a patient. To have a good understanding of aseptic technique. To procure and safely send off clinical specimens as requested by the nurse of doctor. To assist medical staff with procedures. To have a basic understanding of renal disease and the importance of dietary and fluid  requirements of individual patients. Inform the nurse in charge of any potential hazard, accident, incident or patient problem that occurs. To have a basic understanding of the haemodialysis process and associated machinery. To be able to initiate/terminate haemodialysis treatments. To  be able to trouble shoot complications of dialysis eg clotted lines, intra-dialytic hypotension, with appropriate nursing supervision. To update patient records using renal database such as CV5 and Diamant system