Healthcare Assistant

We are looking for three Healthcare Assistants to join our Healthcare team in HMP Elmley. Each of these roles will be based within different teams (Primary Care Team, Inpatient Team and Substance Misuse Team) which can be discussed at interview stage.

Our Kent Prisons healthcare services are underpinned using our ‘health and wellbeing’ model. It has evolved over the past 5 years, where it was originally implemented at the Greenwich cluster.

There are core principles, however, how these are achieved are bespoke to the local healthcare and prison team during the model implementation:

• Patient focused with health promotion at the heart of our care
• Designing services which meet the unique needs of the prison
• The right staff, right place, right time ensuring experienced professionals are on hand to lead and support patients when needed
• A no exclusions model that ensures everyone with mental health needs is managed within the step care model
• Being highly supportive of clinical and prison staff with training, support enabling the team to work smarter and as part of an effective multi-disciplinary team

The 6 prisons are located across 3 estates, Isle of Sheppey, Rochester & Maidstone, with the Sheppey prisons being with a few minutes’ walk from each other and East Sutton Park approximately 7 miles from Maidstone.

To assist in the delivery of high quality nursing care to patients in Kent Prisons in support of a registered nurse.

Is able to work unsupervised for significant periods.

To undertake an extended role e.g patient focused health promotion activities and programmes.

To work as part of the Integrated Healthcare Service, providing a range of quality services to HMP Rochester.

Oxleas – About Us

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We’re Kind
• We’re Fair
• We Listen
• We Care

Responding to the needs of patients in an honest, non judgemental and open manner, which respects the rights of individuals and groups.

Actively engaging with patients in the provision of holistic, needs-led care which takes into account the physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual needs of individuals and groups.

Demonstrates a commitment to equal opportunities for all people.

Demonstrates a knowledge of the term ‘professional boundaries’ and how to applying this to working with patients, offenders and others.

Responding to the needs of people sensitively with regard for age, culture, race, gender, ethnicity, religion and disability, especially regarding patient privacy and dignity

Understanding the need for promoting health & well-being and the delivery of health promotion activities and programmes (including patient self-help programmes) in support of a registered nurse.

Understanding the need for and assisting patients to attain optimal physical health and assisting with physical procedures in support of a registered nurse.

Demonstrating good verbal and non-verbal communication skills

Contributing appropriately to risk assessment and individualised care planning