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Job summary

Main area
Offender Healthcare
Grade
Band 4
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
277-7634772-BRIS
Employer
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
HMP Bristol
Town
Bristol
Salary
£27,485 - £30,162 pa
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
10/12/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Healthcare Assistant

Band 4

Job overview

Are you ready to unlock your potential within a challenging, creative and fast paced work environment? Do you want to work with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past?

This is an excellent opportunity for an experience Healthcare Assistant to join our team of diverse, talented healthcare professionals to deliver care that is not only efficient but deeply centred on the patient.

Our healthcare team have a real impact on promoting health and well-being to those in prison and we pride ourselves on using skills and strategies that instil hope for patient’s future resettlement back into the community. We directly deliver Mental Health, Physical Health, Pharmacy and Clinical Substance Misuse in an integrated healthcare delivery model to provide effective and responsive care to improve wellbeing and support better outcomes in the future.

Important Sponsorship Information for this post: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post.

Main duties of the job

As a Senior HCA within our primary care team you will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of high quality primary care which will include assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating care. You will supervise Healthcare Assistant’s and provide direct line management, supervision and training to the team.

You will take a lead on offender-focused health promotion activities and programmes, set up and support clinics for patients, and be responsible for driving up performance and compliance data.

You will be working and acting as a key member of the team, supporting each patient in achievement of their planned outcomes, undertaking risk assessments for the people in your care and escalating risks to senior staff where necessary.

Working for our organisation

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

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • To work as directed by a registered nurse.To work within the primary care service, identifying high risk patients to engage in health promotion activities to encourage harm reduction.

  • To provide physical care to patients in accordance with their care plan

  • To support the delivery of national screening programmes.

  • To support and deliver clinics as instructed within the establishments clinic timetable

  • Participate in planning and liaison activities for patients.

  • Inform a registered nurse as soon as possible when any change in a patient’s condition is noticed.

  • Support patients in change due to admission, discharge, death or personal loss and in adapting to their new environment.

  • Report any complaints or requests for information from patients immediately to the senior nurse on duty to enable prompt response.

  • Report all risks to the senior nursing staff.

  • Assist in the general running of the department by undertaking housekeeping and clerical duties as appropriate.

  • Participate in appraisal and training of self to develop a personal development plan and strive to achieve the set objectives,

  • Undertake any other duties commensurate to the grade and as requested by the line manager.

  • Attend staff meetings, updates and attend mandatory training as required.

  • Work closely with Management to ensure that the Prison Health Agenda is supported at all levels in the Practice.

  • Actively engaging with offenders 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. Responding to the needs of people sensitively with regard for age, culture, race, gender, ethnicity, religion and disability, especially regarding privacy and dignity   

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

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

  • Contributing appropriately to risk assessment and individualised care planning.

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ: 

All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting in order to work in a Prison Setting. This will be completed as part of the pre-employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team.   

 

You will need to provide:  

Proof of right to work documentation  

Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographic ID 

Proof of address documentation  

Non-UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code.  

 

Address History:  

5 years address history will be needed.   

Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously.  

Applicants who are UK Passport holders who have lived abroad for a period of more than six months during the last three years will need to provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check in English from the countries resided in or visited. 

 

In order to assist you in obtaining a Police Certificate, guidance can be sought from:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants 

If the country you have resided in is not listed here, you can obtain the necessary information by contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission for that Country. Their contact details can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en). 

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Foundation Degree, HNC, vocational qualification level three or equivalent experience to undergraduate Diploma level equivalency

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Care experience
  • Experience of facilitating /planning /supporting groups in a healthcare setting i.e., health improvement/ smoking cessation/ activities
  • Physical skills to support working in a prison setting i.e., providing patient care, carrying out tests/observations
  • Experience of being able to work within policy frameworks in a regulated patient care setting
Desirable criteria
  • Prison/Secure experience

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Participate in any audits, research projects
  • Assessing risk

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Veteran AwareNo smoking policyAge positiveInvestors in People: GoldImproving working livesArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Step into healthPride In Veterans

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Grace Loughlin
Job title
Primary Care Clinical Lead
Email address
[email protected]
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