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Job description

Are you compassionate, caring and communicative and looking to grow your career in a world-class teaching hospital?

At University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS), we are currently recruiting for healthcare assistants to join our trust and work in our various Theatre departments. This is an exciting and unique opportunity; we would love to hear from you whether you have previous experience OR are seeking your first job within the healthcare industry.

University Hospital Southampton (UHS) is one of the largest acute teaching trusts in England and provides a designated trauma centre to some 1.9 million people living in Southampton and South Hampshire. We have 29 operating theatres providing both elective and emergency services, including our eye unit, which includes eye theatres with dedicated staff.

This role is to work as a Healthcare Assistant in a theatres environment and you will be allocated to work in either our:

• Eye theatres
• One of our centre block specialities (cardiac, vascular, spinal, head and neck, and neurosurgery)
• One of our Princess Anne Hospital specialities (Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Breast and Endocrine and some cover of Colorectal Surgery).

Our theatres healthcare assistant position offers a different opportunity to ward based nursing, including a unique environment and role responsibilities.

You can read an overview of the main duties of the role in the section below: Job Description and Main Responsibilities.

To understand the role and requirements in more detail, please read the full job description and person specification documents attached. These documents will also assist you in your interview preparation, if you are successful in getting to this stage.

Hours on offer

We consider both full-time (37.5 hours a week) and part-time applications (minimum of 30 hours per week), however all applicants MUST be able to cover a variety of shift patterns, which can include mornings, long days, late evenings and nights, as our services operate 24 hours, 365 days a year. All hours are guaranteed.

PLEASE BE AWARE: There is also an on call requirement within some theatre specialities, that will be outside of your normal working hours. In order to be considered for this role, you need to be aware of this and flexible to adapt

This role also includes acompulsory full-time healthcare assistant inductionthat lasts for 2 weeks from 8am-4pm Monday to Friday. You will also attend a theatre induction as part of your training, but within your contracted hour.

As one of the largest acute teaching Trusts in England, we offer learning and development opportunities to help you achieve the career you aspire to. UHS is rated ‘Good’ by the CQC and in the latest national NHS Staff Survey, we were in the top 10 acute trusts for staff engagement and for staff recommending the hospital as a place to work or receive care.

We support flexible working and will consider requests taking into account the needs of the service. UHS employees are able to access a range of NHS discounts, are entitled to a minimum of 35 days paid holiday (pro rata), and we offer a generous pension scheme.

Southampton is an attractive place to live and work situated on the south coast, with an international airport and direct trains to London. The New Forest National Park and beaches of the Jurassic coast are also right on our doorstep. The city offers living costs 20% lower than London and 14 schools rated outstanding by Ofsted.
WHERE WE’RE RECRUITING

We’re recruiting HCAs across all theatre departments at UHS and will allocate you to your department after successful interview.

Centre Block & Neuro Theatres

Working within the Centre Block theatres offers someone to experience a wide variety of specialties ranging from Paediatrics, CEPOD and General Surgical specialties, Maxillo-Facial and ENT, Cardiovascular and Thoracic, Trauma & Orthopaedics, Neurosurgery, Angiography and Mechanical Thrombectomy and Recovery which caters for varying ages of population.

As part of our theatre expansion due to the increasing demand for our service, we will be opening four more theatres this year equipped with state of the art facilities to cater for the most complex and pioneering procedures which the Trust have received International recognition.

Our HCA’s have been instrumental to the delivery of our nationally recognised Theatre-led courses and have moved on to further develop their career as Nursing and ODP apprentices.

The circulating role in theatre is vital to the delivery of our service and you would be a fundamental member within theatre and will be expected to directly assist and support the surgical team during the operation. You will be asked to escort patients from the ward to the anaesthetic room and operating theatre. You will be involved with conducting audits and will have a supporting role in the maintenance of equipment, implants and instruments.

Training and Induction for Centre Block and Neuro

PLEASE NOTE -You will have an induction period before you begin work in your area. Training also allows you to be a protected learner in practice phase where an experience buddy mentor will be assigned to you during the initial phase of learning to allow you to gain confidence and autonomy.

Working with us will offer the opportunity to be support and assist you in obtaining your Functional skills level 2, level 3 in health care. There are also opportunities to progress further to apply for the Nursing Apprenticeship and Operating Department Practitioner apprenticeship.

Ophthalmology (Eye Theatres)

Ophthalmology theatres are separate to those within centre block and we have recently undergone a refurbishment. Part of the refurbishment allowed the installation of new high tech equipment that promotes this fast changing specialty to undertake many new innovative procedures and treatments.

The HCA role in ophthalmology will be similar to that of centre block theatres with circulating duties and the opportunity for personal development.

Our HCAs also develop the added specialised role of assisting in the administration of regular treatments within our medical retina suite. This service is vital in the prevention of blindness and we have the privilege of getting to know the individuals who regularly attend for treatment.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING TO THE ROLE

Most importantly, you will share our values:

• Patients First
• Working Together
• Always Improving

We are looking for individuals with the ability and attitude to grow and develop into a valued member of our team. Whatever level of skill or experience you currently have, if you can demonstrate drive and potential, our comprehensive induction and in-house training teams will help you to reach your full potential.