Job overview

We are looking for new colleagues, with a passion for helping people, to join us as a Healthcare Support Workers in our team based at Fountain Way, Salisbury.

Ashdown is a 6-bedded male, Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit that cares for individuals with the highest level of mental health needs that currently require intensive nursing support and a safe environment.  

Health Care Support Workers on Ashdown work as an integral part of a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals to ensure that the clinical, environmental and social needs of our service users are met. Our role is to work collaboratively with individuals to empower them in their recovery and enable them to move through the care pathway. Experience of having worked in a health care setting is desirable but not essential.

Working closely with our multi disciplinary teams, supporting service users, you will receive training to complete the NHS Care Certificate and a Level 3 Healthcare apprenticeship.

The ward operates on a 24/7 shift basis and you will be required to work shifts including evenings, nights, weekends and Bank Holidays and will qualify for unsocial enhancements in addition to your basic pay.

Main duties of the job

To deliver high quality care and recovery interventions for service users within designated clinical areas.

Supporting individuals with fluids and nutrition, physical wellbeing, and personal care.

Assisting service users with financial or accommodation issues.

Escorting or accompanying service users for planned periods of leave on hospital grounds and in the community facilitating social inclusion.

Encouraging service users to talk about their experiences in one-to-one or group discussions.

To help maintain a clean, well-organised, safe and therapeutic environment.

To deliver psychosocially-informed one-to-one and group interventions aiming to positively impact service users’ cognitive and emotional wellbeing.

To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team. 

To practice planned care, and to directly participate in the development of recovery-focused interventions that address service users’ and carers’ needs and preferences.

To proactively review, record and assess the on-going impacts of such
interventions.

To participate in the on-going care planning, CPA and risk assessment processes in collaboration with service users, their carers, and other members of the care team and to contribute to all aspects of clinical record keeping. 

To maintain a basic working understanding of both the Mental Health Act (1983) and Mental Capacity Act (2005).

Working for our organisation

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust) a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. 

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.  

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP as diversity makes us stronger.

As an NHS employee you will have access to a wide range of benefits and discounts, including the NHS pension scheme and a generous annual leave entitlement. Best of all you will have the reward of doing a job that really matters, with colleagues who care.