Care Assistant / Night Staff

We’re looking to recruit a night care assistant to implement and attain the highest standards of personal and social care for the residents at the home. Birchwood House is a wonderful place to work, offering a friendly, homely, family feel to both staff and residents and offering great training and career progression opportunities. One of our team started as a Senior Care Assistant and is now our Deputy Manager.

Working hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights 7pm – 7am. 

The primary and most important aspects of the role:

  • To implement and attain the highest standards of personal and social care for the residents at the home
  • To promote a caring and proactive environment to ensure that each resident receives care appropriate to their individual need
  • To lead by example and act in accordance with the polices and procedures of the home
  • To act in accordance with the social care code of conduct and practice and professional conduct
  • To excel within the boundaries of this job description and beyond through hands on practice, representing the home, leading by example and always doing your best for the residents and the business
  • To support the Home Manager to ensure an open culture that reports any events or circumstances that adversely affect the well-being of the residents and work alongside and in partnership with the local Safeguarding team, Quality Assurance team and the Care Quality Commission to protect residents from institutional, individual and collective poor practice that constitutes abuse or neglect
  • Work collaboratively with the management team and all other team members in order to ensure the best outcomes for the resident, the company and the home at all times
  • To ensure the expectations of the residents, their families and representatives is met at all times in respect of the care and support delivered for each individual
  • To ensure that all training offered is accepted and attended and understand its importance
  • To ensure that all information of a confidential nature obtained in the working week is not divulged to any third parties
  • To ensure your attendance is positive and you do not undertake any casual sickness. Our staffing levels are assessed as needed to maintain a high standard of care and support for our resident
  • To attend and actively engage with your scheduled supervision and appraisal meetings

Is the home safe?

  • Promote and maintain a culture of meaningful learning from mistakes, poor practice and complaints and being open to observations from other team members, families and residents
  • Actively encourage the raising of concerns as part of the day-to- day culture
  • Recognise and implement proportional risk assessments at the centre of keeping people safe
  • Implement measures within assessments to manage risk for residents through the care you deliver and ensure that all is in place to allow residents to take reasonable and measured risk in their choices, provision of care and enabling their wishes
  • Be aware of your own limitations and communicate openly with the management team in respect of your continuing education and personal development
  • Monitor the environment and team practice when on duty to ensure that all is in place to keep residents safe and measures indicated in formal risk assessments are implemented and adhered to
  • Champion effective application of infection control policies and practice
  • Always use safe and effective moving and handling procedures and practice when supporting the resident within their day-to-day lives
  • Enable and support residents to freely take assessed risks within their day to day lives and through their choices
  • Take part in and take responsibility for ensuring your training is up to date and that you are clear about how to implement your learning in key areas such as fire safety, falls awareness, first aid, management of medication including topical meds for example.

Is the home effective?

  • Implement the agreed plan of person centred care detailed within the care plans that meet the clinical, care, physical, emotional, social, intellectual, cultural and spiritual needs of every resident
  • Take steps to ensure your understanding and practical application in the team of Deprivation of Liberty and Mental Capacity Act 2005 to always take into account individuals capacity and ability to make choice for themselves.
  • Work with and support the management team to make considered best interests decisions when residents are assessed as lacking capacity within a ‘decision’ specific area of their lives. Never assume a resident lacks capacity
  • Be innovative in actively emphasising the importance of eating and drinking well, especially for individuals with difficulty in maintaining adequate nutrition and driving this is the teams practice amongst your peers
  • Ensure timely, accurate and comprehensive documentation, then use this to direct care and intervention. Ensure this includes falls recorded, accidents and incidents and actions taken, repositioning, fluid and nutritional intake, social activity and an individual’s well-being for example on top of the personal care you deliver
  • Go out of your way to ensure that individual needs are met and ensure no resident is neglected through your or your team members care and support
  • To ensure you effectively and promptly liaise with team leaders and inform them of any changes in resident’s health or wellbeing so they can promptly contact GP’S and vising professionals to utilise their expertise and ensure our resident receive prompt treatment and support
  • Monitor and report changes in resident’s conditions to the relevant healthcare professionals and the management team
  • Support residents with the management of tissue viability, continence and general well-being
  • To ensure confidentiality is kept in respect of resident’s lives, their clinical, social and emotional needs and in keeping records
  • To attend, contribute and be open in all care meetings and any other meetings set by the management team that require your attendance
  • To act as a designated ‘named key worker’ for allocated residents within the home

Is the home caring?

  • Use innovative and person centred methods of communication, in particular those residents with dementia or medical conditions that hamper communication to involve them as much as possible in their care
  • Ensure when on duty that you support and supervise residents with their nutrition and hydration, as well as accurate record keeping in respect of this.
  • To ensure that within your practice that residents dignity and privacy are maintained at all times.
  • To provide direct care to the residents with value, patience and empathy at all times

Is the home responsive?

  • To take part in the delivery and development of the activities programme when on duty
  • Take steps to understand and learn about our residents as a person; their history, achievements, social network and family, hobbies, interests, spiritual and cultural needs. Take steps to support them with this every day
  • Recognise that person-centred care is central to the home and what it does and develop practice and care delivery to focus on this
  • Deliver proactive and personalised care, documented in care plans and other documentation created alongside residents, families, friends, advocate and visiting professionals
  • Develop and promote positive communication with residents, relatives and team members
  • Take steps to ensure you are familiar with the care standards act 2000 and the implications this has for your practice and that of others
  • To ensure that your reflective practice delivers responsive and person-centred care to each resident living in the home

Is the home well led?

  • Lead by example and motivate the team though active guidance, regardless of others role or hierarchy
  • To take part in your shift a ‘leader’ and lead by example in your practice, conduct, caring nature and record keeping
  • Support and look after your colleagues, the home is a family. Never enter into disparaging conversations or gossip. Communicate with team members in an open and honest fashion at all times
  • To challenge poor practice, poor value and never leave anything not dealt with
  • To act as a mentor if asked to assist with the training and support of new care team members
  • To handle concerns expressed and feedback from residents, family members and team members within the policies, procedures and guidelines set down by the home and as part of an open, honest and reflective culture
  • Participate when asked in the quality assurance and elements of the auditing process and assist with the formal evaluation of other practice if asked by the management team. Your views and perspective are always important
  • Offer to cover extra shift if possible when called to support should the home and the residents need it, this is vitally important

Personal responsibilities:

  • To act at all times in a manner that promotes the well-being of the residents at all time
  • To act at all times in a manner which promotes the company’s best interests
  • To maintain at all times a dress code appropriate to the working environment and the company
  • To act at all times in a manner which promotes harmonious working relationships with all colleagues and outside agencies
  • To undertake any training necessary for the completion of your duties and to keep yourself professionally up to date at all times
  • To be aware of and understand the implementation of the company’s policies and abide by them, whilst leading by example in all you do

We expect our carers to:

  • Prioritise people
  • Practice effectively
  • Preserve safety
  • Promote professionalism and trust

The standards for competence apply to all fields of the role of a carer and are set out in four main areas of professional practice. These are:

  • Professional values
  • Communication and interpersonal skills
  • Good practice and decision making
  • Leadership and team working

Within these four areas there are two main aspects to the standards. All care staff must demonstrate their knowledge and competence to work at Birchwood. We need to be assured that all actions our care team undertake ensure that our residents families can be confident in the care we deliver.These aspects are:

  • The competencies needed to fulfil your role such as the management of topical medication, person centred care planning, record keeping moving and handling, delivering personal care, assisted feeding for example…
  • Deliver high quality essential care to all persons in their care
  • Provide visiting professionals with the accurate and relevant information they need to make complex and day-to-day decisions to support the care of our residents
  • Act to protect our residents, and be responsible and accountable for safe, person centre, evidenced based care practice
  • Act with professionalism and integrity and work within agreed professional, ethical and legal frameworks and processes to maintain and improve standards
  • Practice in a compassionate, respectful way, maintaining dignity and well-being and communicating effectively
  • Act on their understanding of how people’s lifestyles, environments and where care is delivered influence their health and well-being
  • Seek out every opportunity to promote health and prevent illness and use the expertise of supporting clinical professionals
  • Work in partnership with other health and social care professionals and agencies, residents, carers and families ensuring that decisions about care are shared
  • Use leadership skills to challenge, support and develop others and contribute to planning, designing, delivering and improving future services

This job description indicates only the main duties and responsibilities of the post of carer. It is not intended as an exhaustive list and will be subject to additions and change in discussion with the provider. Any changes will be discussed with you directly and you will be informed of contractual changes in writing.

 

Location

Speldhurst 


Contract type

Friday, Saturday, Sunday

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