Health Care Assistant - Support at Home

Job Title: Healthcare Assistant (Support at Home Service) 24 hours per week

Tenure: Permanent

Base: Workington Community Hospital/ Cleator Moor

Responsible to: Home Nursing Services Team Leader

Rate of pay: £15,290 (£23,892 FTE)

Rate of Pay £12.21 per hour with a day shift uplift of £2.16 per hour

and a night shift uplift of £3.73 per hour

Hours: 24 hours per week (including weekends and Bank Holidays)

JOB SUMMARY:

Hospice at Home West Cumbria provides an expert and comprehensive service to enhance the experience of patients requiring palliative and end of life care. The services provide quality care in the delivery of home nursing, family and bereavement support, and Lymphedema care, for patients, their families and carers across West Cumbria.

The role of the HCA is to work on a one-to-one basis with patients, families and carers in a home environment, largely without supervision. The role provides practical care (including personal care, food, nutrition and hydration support, catheter care, pressure care, simple dressings, and other activities of daily living), emotional, social and psychological support to individuals with palliative care needs, their families and carers.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE POST:

Key Responsibilities of the job

Provides care and support within palliative and end of life care best practice and regulatory requirements. Complies with changing policies and practices to ensure that essential standards of quality and safety are maintained.

• Undertakes continued assessment of the patient during the episode of care and recognises and responds to any change in the patient’s condition. This includes seeking additional advice and support from out of hour professionals in relation to direct patient care and management.
• At times may be required to support patients with oral medication administration as per MAR chart.
• Provides care and support in a way which maintains and respects the privacy, dignity, safety and lifestyle of the patient receiving care, with particular regard to assisting with personal care, food nutrition and hydration, practical and social support aligned to individualised care plans.
• To assist with ‘last offices’ as and when needed.
• Provides families and carers with emotional and psychological support, effectively communicating information to improve their end of life management and the bereavement experience of those important to them.
• Produces documentation of the care given which complies with documentation standards and is legible, traceable, permanent, contemporaneously recorded, original and accurate.
• Attends and participate in supervision and de-briefings for patients, families and carers alongside other health and social care professionals in order to learn from shared experience, continually strive to adopt best practice techniques, and for maintaining own resilience and wellbeing.
• Works as a member of the wider hospice and organisational teams and participates and supports the induction of new staff. Builds positive relationships internally and externally including peers and local health care professionals.

Personal Development:

· To be committed to personal and professional development and complete mandatory and statutory training as required.

· To set challenging goals through the appraisal process to ensure the effective delivery of personal objectives.

· To keep updated with current policies and procedures, as well as external trends and developments.

General

· To ensure that personal conduct, ways of working and work activities are always aligned to the Hospice’s purpose and values.

· In accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations, to ensure the maintenance of confidentiality in respect of staff, volunteer and client records and all privileged information relating to the services of the Charity, its patients, staff and volunteers and particularly of the area for which directly responsible.

· To promote and foster the Hospice’s reputation and standing within the community and with private, statutory and voluntary sector agencies and organisations.

· To adhere to the Health and Safety policy and report all accidents, incidents or near misses promptly and when requested to co-operate with any investigations undertaken.

· To be aware of obligations and to abide by the spirit and nature of the Equal Opportunities policy to avoid direct and indirect discrimination.

· To undertake any other duties which may be reasonably required.

PERSON SPECIFICATION - Essential (E)/ Desirable (D)

Practical Knowledge and Qualifications

• NVQ Level 2 – Health and Social Care (E)
• NVQ Level 3 – Health and Social Care (D)
• Skills for Life Certificate (D)

Skills and Competencies

• Ability to communicate and transfer information effectively with patients, families, carers and other health care professionals (E)
• Ability to work alone without direct supervision for the provision of personal care, clinical care, including catheter care, pressure care, simple dressings and other activities of daily living (E)
• IT skills with a working knowledge of Office applications and a willingness to develop competencies within organisational and EMIS clinical systems (E)
• Ability to work as a member of a team and to build positive relationships internally and externally (E)
• Ability to cope with constantly changing situations to achieve the best outcomes for patients, carers or family members (E)
• Ability to empathise and understand the needs of others, to handle conflict to de-escalate challenging situations and ability to recognise self needs to maximise resilience (E)
• Flexibility during times of change to support new ways of working and to respond to changing working patterns over a 24 hour period 7 days a week (E)
• Ability to travel across the geographical area covered by the post to attend meetings or undertake training (face to face or remote) (E)

Experience

• Experience of providing palliative care in a variety of settings (D)
• Experience of working in the community i.e., patients’ own home (D)
• Experience of working in isolation with an awareness of associated risks (D)

Please refer to job description for full details of the role and responsibilities. Applicants must meet all essential criteria as detailed in the person specification section.

For an informal discussion please telephone Rachael McAllister Home Nursing Services Team Leader or Rachael Rooney Home Nursing Services Deputy Team Leader on 01900 705200.

For an application form and application pack please go to our website at www.hospiceathomewestcumbria.org.uk or hr@hhwc.org.uk

Closing Date: Wednesday 20 August 2025 – 17:00pm

Interviews: Friday 5 September 2025

Job Types: Part-time, Permanent

Pay: £15,290.00 per year

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Employee discount
• Flexitime
• Health & wellbeing programme
• Private medical insurance
• Referral programme
• Sick pay

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Workington CA14 2RW

Reference ID: Healthcare Assistant - Support at Home