Now Hiring: Health Care Assistant in London (Visa Sponsorship Offered)

Job description

Job responsibilities

School Healthcare Assistant will provide a mixture of general and specific care to a group of children in primary, secondary schools and other community settings under the guidance and supervision of a School Health Nurse or Henry Programme Lead.

The post holder will be expected to become proficient and competent in their area of practice by undertaking competency assessments specific to the area of clinical practice. The School Healthcare Assistant will promote optimum independence and individualised child focussed care that will support the delivery of the healthy child programme and Healthy weight Programme (Henry).

The post holder will be responsible for supporting the Henry Programme School entry screening programme, including the National Child Measuring Programme (NCMP) and undertake vision and audiology screening using the School Screener Computer Software. Training will be provided and competency based assessment will be required.

The post holder may be required to provide support to the immunisation team; this will include the completion of appropriate paperwork for all school based immunisation programmes and with administration of the childhood flu vaccine programme.

The post holders role will support the School Health Childrens 5-19 year Team in general to deliver against key performance indicators and maintain quality of the service.

Key Result Areas & Performance:

The School Healthcare Assistant (Childrens 5-19)

• To contribute to the on-going assessment of a child by completing the appropriate paperwork for allocated children, recording and reporting all clinical and behavioural information to the school nurse for action and planning purposes.
• To undertake, and report back on delegated clinical activities that have previously been signed competent for example- undertake the measuring of children ie height and weight for NCMP in schools, complete the hearing and vision assessments in primary schools and refer on appropriately for follow up, provide health promotion advice and guidance to school children, parents and teachers.
• To enable children and parents to make most effective use of resources within the service by ensuring they receive up-to-date information, responding to any questions constructively.
• To pass on and seek assistance from other colleagues, promptly, any questions that you are unable to resolve.
• Support 5-19 year teams in the delivery of the healthy child programme.
• Be competent in using the School Health computer based Screener software system for Vision and Audiology screening for school and lateral entry children.
• Undertake height and weight assessment in line with NCMP requirements for reception and year 6 children. Collation of data in line with KPI and NCMP requirements.
• To use clinical judgement and skills to report any identified concerns or changes in childrens health and wellbeing status, including safeguarding concerns immediately to the relevant school health nurse.
• To collect data from children/ parents for recognised outcome measure and document for school health nurses to interpret, this will include data collected from all screening and NCMP programme delivery.
• Support the leadership of the team in using mobile working (laptops) via the RIO RECORD KEEPING system .Ensure team members are inputting data and recording progress notes in line ROCAIP and demonstrate this at your one to one meetings with team managers.
• Providing community healthcare for children in Lewisham in school and community
• To plan and implement straightforward tasks and work guided by standard operating procedures and protocols and undertake roles/duties as delegated by team leader.
• To undertake a variety of clinical intervention tasks after achieving appropriate competencies delegated by a nurse.
• Support qualified school health nurses co-ordination of immunisation clinics.

Workforce

• Support the team and team leader in delivering the core school health nursing service within the corporate caseload.
• Assess, implement and prioritise planned programmes of health promotion for the well -being of the school- aged child, based on community profiling and local and nationally identified need.
• Contribute to the implementation of health promotion programmes guided by the team leader in a variety of settings. In accordance with the national and local agenda.
• To be conversant with the Lewisham Healthcare NHS trust Safeguarding of Children Policy.
• Participate and contribute to clients annual review meetings and parents evenings in schools.
• Maybe required to contribute to the public health agenda and participate in the implementation of immunisation programmes. Including HPV, DPT, Men ACWY and childhood flu vaccines.
• Provide a high quality standard of service from within school health nursing through evidence based practice.
• Have an understanding of the Special Education needs code of practice and Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 and the relevance of these to the school age population.
• To work with community, statutory, partnership and voluntary agencies
• Participate in safeguarding supervision and experiential learning groups
• Work in partnership with other professionals in Education, Community Paediatrics and Health and Social Care, to provide a cohesive service to support all children with special needs/circumstances.
• Be a competent computer user in the work place using the RIO electronic record keeping system. Engage in ongoing development of the service using RIO to record client information in accordance with trusts guidance and protocols.
• To prioritise and frequently use high levels of concentration in the screening of children and data inputting.

Financial

• A personal duty of care in relation to own equipment, and the safe use of equipment for vision and audiology screening, and height and weight measurement.
• Ordering and maintaining stock
• To contribute to own personal development, identify training needs; attend mandatory training in line with the job requirements.
• Develop skills for working with safeguarding /child protection cases.
• To participate in the Trust appraisal process.

Partnerships

Communications and Relationships

School Healthcare Assistant (Childrens 5-19) is expected:

• To communicate effectively with all parents, children, colleagues and the Multi-disciplinary team at all times.
• To use appropriate communication that takes account of the wellbeing of the individual.
• To observe and report any changes in a childs condition to a school health nurse
• To maintain accurate and legible electronic child health record in accordance with the Trust standards, using the ROCAIP template.
• To have computer skills to enable access to trust and national databases, emails and electronic record keeping, reporting programs, and maintaining confidentiality.
• To have the ability to interpret sensitive information and communicate with a sympathetic and empathic approach to families.
• To be able to motivate and persuade children/ parents through effective communication skills, utilising verbal and non-verbal skills. Communication will be tailored to the childs/ parents level of comprehension or cognition for example, using interpreters.
• To lead group sessions (with minimal support/supervision) for children/ parents following training, answering varied but related questions and providing appropriate written information Weight management advise, hearing and vision guidance.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Level 3 qualification in a Health-related subject, for example NVQ, A-Level, City and Guilds
• NVQ Level 2 in a Health-related subject and agreement to undertake NVQ Level 3 when a training place is available