Home Support Worker - West Lothian

Job Description

It is sometimes difficult to generalize what the role of a Support Worker is. The best way of summing it up is that we might perform the tasks carried out by a close friend or relative but in a trained, professional and knowledgeable way. In order to do this successfully, the Support Worker must be aware of the needs and requirements of the client and must communicate successfully not only with the client but also with other stakeholders such as family, friends and other healthcare professionals.

The Support Worker also has a responsibility to alert their line manager of any changes or causes for concern in the client’s condition or behaviour. There will be a set of outcome specific tasks identified for each particular client you attend to. These will range from simple day-to-day tasks like housekeeping or assistance with personal care to more complex tasks like medication administration. Support Workers are frequently the only people that a client may see on a daily basis and there is a responsibility to report any relevant information back by notifying management, family, friends or relatives of changes.

The role of a support worker requires a great deal, sometimes both emotionally and physically. By applying for this role you acknowledge you're physically fit to carry out the support tasks. Anyone who does not genuinely care about the welfare of other people will not be suitable for this job. The nature of home care requires Support Workers to travel from place to place. Support Workers must therefore have the ability to do this, either by public transport, personal car or walking. A thorough training programme is applicable to every member of the Caring Hearts team. This constitutes both initial and ongoing training and is a requirement of all staff. Every member of staff will be required to be PVG registered.

Skills and Attributes

Essential

• Genuine care for others
• Good communication skills
• Ability to understand what the role entails
• To be able to cope with emergency and difficult situations
• Ability to follow instructions
• To be able to maintain high standards of care provision.

Desirable

• Experience in care provision
• Flexible availability
• Own transport and full driving license

Scope of Responsibility

The role may involve some or all of the following. This is not intended as a complete list and is supplied as an overview of what the scope entails

• Assist clients to get up, dressing and preparing them for their day
• Washing, bathing, showering, oral care, grooming
• Toileting, assisting with use of commode, emptying commode
• Continence management
• Using manual handling equipment as specified
• Working with other care professionals such as District Nurses, GP’s, etc.
• Assisting with prescribed medication
• Preparation of meals and assistance with feeding
• General household duties
• Bed making and laundry
• Shopping and supplies management
• To keep accurate records of care visits.

Your Application

Please ensure your profile is completed as fully as possible to increase your chances of being interviewed. All mandatory questions in the application form must be answered in order to submit your application. When there is no answer applicable or unable to answer please fill in 'N/A' in the answer box to allow you to submit your application.

References

You must provide references from your two most recent employers. If you are unable to obtain two professional references, e.g. in the case of an applicant who has been raising children for ten years, please provide one employer and one character or two character references. All references will be contacted, therefore please inform the referees of the fact that you have used their name. If you are unable to provide the required references, please discuss the matter with us.

Safeguarding

Ex-Offenders Declaration

Please note this section will only be seen by those involved in the recruitment process and will be treated with the strictest of confidence.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

Caring Hearts Scotland aims to promote equality of opportunity and is committed to treating all applicants fairly regardless of ethnicity, disability, age, gender or gender re-assignment, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity and marriage or civil partnership. Caring Hearts Scotland undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against applicants on the basis of a criminal conviction or other information declared.

Answering 'yes' to the question when prompted in the application form will not necessarily prevent your employment. This will depend on the relevance of the information you provide in respect of the nature of the position and the particular circumstances.

Privacy

Caring Hearts Scotland will only collect data for specified, explicit and legitimate use in relation to the recruitment process. By signing this application form, you consent to Caring Hearts Scotland holding the information contained within this application form. If successfully shortlisted, data will also include shortlisting scoring and interview records. We would like to keep this data until the vacancy is filled. (We cannot estimate the exact time period, but we will consider this period over when a candidate accepts our job offer for the position for which we are considering you). When that period is over, we will either delete your data or inform you that we would like to keep it in our database for future roles. We have privacy policies that you can request for further information. Please be assured that your data will be securely stored and only used for the purposes of recruiting for this vacant post. You have a right for your data to be forgotten, to rectify or access data, to restrict processing, to withdraw consent and to be kept informed about the processing of your data. If you would like to discuss this further or withdraw your consent at any time, please contact us at info@caringheartsltd.co.uk