You will assist in personal care for our patients, including washing, dressing, toileting and assisting with mobilising and feeding; as well as the maintenance of the patient environment in terms of cleanliness, tidiness and the restocking of supplies. We are looking for motivated Nursing Assistants to join our team within the Acute General Medicine wards at the John Radcliffe Hospital. AGM has built up a reputation for delivering excellent and compassionate care to some of Oxfordshire's most complex medical patients. Are you looking for a new challenge and an opportunity to enhance your skills? We are committed to supporting your continuing professional and career development, which will give you the opportunity to enhance your skills and undertake further training within the acute setting of Complex Medicine Units.
Responsibilities
* Assist registered members of staff to deliver a high standard of care to patients in the ward/clinical area demonstrating compassion, kindness and sensitivity.
* Work as part of the wider ward team in developing and maintaining services provided to patients and contribute to the safe, efficient, and smooth running of the ward/clinical area.
* Maintain the dignity and privacy of all patients and always respect their right to confidentiality.
* Complete and maintain a portfolio of clinical competencies, review progress with ward manager and team leader/supervisor at regular intervals through the appraisal process.
* Share learning, skills, and knowledge within the ward and with patients and carers to ensure best practice is maintained. Establish and maintain good relationships with patients, relatives and colleagues through effective verbal and non‑verbal communication, demonstrating empathy and ability to manage conflict or potentially challenging situations.
* Help patients and visitors orientate themselves to their surroundings when admitted to the ward, tailored to their specific needs.
* Answer telephone calls appropriately and efficiently, accurately relaying messages and attend to a patient in a professional and timely manner.
* Undertake a range of delegated and specific clinical skills for patients that demonstrates an enhanced level of competency/technical expertise.
* Perform, accurately record and report patient observations and escalates any concerns appropriately.
* Assist patients with their personal care needs, including maintaining hygiene, toileting and dressing, maintaining privacy and dignity at all times.
* Assist patients with their dietary needs, giving attention to special diets, supplements, enteral feeding regimes and cultural requirements. Record all food and fluid intake accurately and carry out a malnutrition universal screening tool (MUST) risk assessment accurately and appropriately.
* Actively encourage all patients to share the responsibility for maintenance of their health and promote healthy living.
* Assist the ward team to serve meals and drinks to patients as required.
* Assist patients to mobilise safely, using equipment and techniques as prescribed and recorded in the plan of care.
* Participate in the handover process to ensure continuity of care and accurately feedback to a registered practitioner the care given during the shift and any changes in the patient’s condition.
* Complete therapy competencies after attending enhanced training on therapeutic care.
* Promote a culture of ambulatory care by supporting patients to be as independent as possible, encouraging dressing, toileting and mobility from admission.
* Support patient‑centred rehabilitation to facilitate timely, safe discharge, reflecting individual choice and maximising independence.
* Assist in the provision of prescribed programmes of treatment e.g. rehab/therapy goals to patients under guidance and supervision.
* Liaise effectively by establishing and maintaining professional working relationships with other members of the inter‑disciplinary team, patients, carers and relatives, relaying information as required.
* Demonstrate time‑management skills and prioritise and organise own workload.
* Assess the patient’s needs in agreement with the registered nurse, using resources that underpin the assessment decision and reassess as necessary.
* Produce a plan of care under supervision that reflects needs of the patient and record the care given accurately and legibly meeting legal requirements with countersignature.
* Lead the proactive plan of care agreed with the registered nurse to ensure timely mobilisation, toileting, repositioning and provision of drink and snacks every 2 hours, working closely with and directing junior nursing assistants.
* Be familiar with the concept of nursing within a team, participate in team discussions, meetings, projects and audits.
* Maintain and monitor stock and equipment levels per local policy/guidelines.
* Undertake annual training via face‑to‑face teaching or e‑learning as required.
* Assist in maintaining a safe working environment for patients, visitors and colleagues.
* Adhere to all Trust and Directorate policies and risk assessments in the clinical area, escalating concerns as appropriate.
* Support monitoring of quality initiatives and evaluations within the clinical area, e.g. friends and family test.
* Be familiar with local quality standards of the ward/unit and understand how they fit into the organisation and its core values.
* Report all accidents, incidents and areas of concern to senior staff, ensuring relevant documentation is completed.
* Know the procedure for calling for emergency assistance following cardiac arrest or patient emergency.
* Ensure all faulty equipment is taken out of service, cleaned appropriately, labelled correctly and sent for repair.
* Ensure equipment is cleaned correctly (according to hospital policy) and stored appropriately.
* Help orientate and act as a buddy/assessor for new Nursing Assistants, taking responsibility for the development of others with support from the registered practitioner.
* Access and use the ward’s educational resources and Trust’s extensive library facilities.
* Participate and contribute to research and/or projects that enable development of staff and raise the profile of the unit.
* Acknowledge limitations to competence and not act outside of these.
* Develop, maintain and improve knowledge and skills required to carry out all agreed aspects of patient care competently, possibly through further training or accredited courses agreed with team leader and ward manager.
* Participate actively in personal development and career progression.
* Take responsibility for an area of interest such as a key resource link role within the clinical area.
* Demonstrate literacy and numeracy.
* Be willing to undertake self‑development activities to improve clinical effectiveness.
Qualifications
* Evidence of Level 2 Diploma or Apprenticeship in Health‑related subject or willingness to work towards it.
* Evidence of the Care Certificate and understanding of the Code of Conduct for Health Care Support Workers and Adult Social Care workers in England.
* Demonstrates awareness of importance of working as part of a team.
* Able to deliver a high standard of care for patients and always striving to improve through change and innovation.
* Able to undertake specific procedures involving physical skills and prolonged moderate physical exertion commensurate with practice area and level of competence.
Desirable Criteria
* Experience of NHS and/or health care requirements.
* Knowledge of personal care and related procedures.
* Flexible approach to shift patterns and unit needs, possibly working in different areas or across sites.
* Able to effectively and appropriately escalade concerns to reduce risk and promote patient safety.
* Demonstrates ability to question and challenge practice constructively so that standards of patient care are continually evaluated and improved.
About the Trust
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. The Trust comprises four hospitals – the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury. Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community. We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence and its focus is on compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence.
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