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Job summary

Main area
National Inpatient Centre for Psychological Medicine (NICPM)
Grade
3
Contract
Permanent: 6 month Secondment also available
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
37.5 hours per week (Part time also available : 22.5 hours per week)
Job ref
173-19625-LPS
Employer
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
NICPM, A Floor, Brotherton Wing
Town
Leeds
Salary
£24,625 - £25,674 pa pro rata
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
22/05/2025 23:59
Interview date
03/06/2025

Employer heading

Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust logo

Health Support Worker

3

All references should be directed through the Employers HR Department wherever possible to comply with NHS Check Standards. Please ensure that a HR address/email is provided for each referee named.


Job overview

The National Inpatient Centre for Psychological Medicine delivers biopsychosocial holistic care for people with complex medically unexplained symptoms and physical / psychological comorbidities.

The NICPM is an eight bed specialist inpatient unit based at Leeds General Infirmary. It is a unique service which has a history over many years of delivering services within Leeds and West Yorkshire, and since 2009 has been successfully treating patients from across the UK.

Our team specialise in helping people with the following types of problems:

  • Severe and complex persistent physical symptoms and illness
  • Psychological difficulties affecting the management of long-term physical health conditions (physical / psychological comorbidities) at a serious level of severity
  • Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

Our aim is to help people make significant improvements to their health and quality of life. Our clinical outcomes are very good and patient/carer feedback is positive. 

Our healthcare support workers are much valued within the team and work closely with our service users in delivering individualised rehabilitation programmes to optimise their function and support them to achieve their goals of admission. 

Main duties of the job

As a Healthcare Support Worker, you will have the opportunity to learn skills and train to be a key member of our inpatient team.  You will play a vital role in improving lives on a daily basis in an interesting environment where every day is different.  
Your responsibilities will include: - 

  • Providing a high standard of care by assisting in and carrying out a range of duties under the direction and supervision of a registered clinician.
  • Work as part of the clinical team, assisting in delivering patient centred care, which promotes privacy, dignity and respect for the individual. 
  • Assist with the care of services users, particularly in relation to activities of daily living and other treatments as indicated by the registered nurse and other care professionals. 
  • Actively participate in group work and therapeutic activities under the supervision of a registered nurse and other care professionals.
  • To offer support to service users through effective communication and promote communication with patients who have difficultie

It is important that our service users have connections with the community outside of hospital. This may include accompanying a service user to an appointment, shopping, or a visit to a community service for example.  

Working for our organisation

The Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) is the main provider of Mental Health and Learning Disability services in Leeds. We also provide specialist inpatient services in York and some highly specialised services across the country. As a teaching trust with strong links to local universities, we are a centre of excellence for teaching, research and development.

There are many benefits of working for LYPFT including fantastic employee wellbeing support, 27 - 33 days annual leave, flexible working and remote working arrangements, the NHS Pension Scheme, coaching, support and opportunities for career development and training and education support alongside a range of exclusive discounts and payment schemes including for cars, extra leave days and more NHS Discount Offers.

We also have an incredible bank department, offering variety of roles in nursing, allied health professions, healthcare support worker and administration clerical. Permanent employees are automatically added to bank. 

Applicants should be aware that any individual requiring a visa to work in the UK, the Trust provides sponsorship for registered healthcare practitioner roles only (this does not include Healthcare Support Workers). This is an essential requirement, and the Trust is unable to offer you a role if you do not meet Trust requirements for sponsorship and Home Office requirements for a visa.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As a health care support worker, you will be expected to work with service users, their carers and members of the multi- disciplinary team, to provide care to those with complex mental health and physical health care needs. 

The successful candidate will be positive and enthusiastic in their approach, with a calm and confident manner when dealing with the needs of the service users. You will have excellent communication skills, and will demonstrate that you have the ability to form and maintain therapeutic relationships with service users and their carers

 You will be able to demonstrate a genuine interest in, and be committed to, involving service users in all aspects of their care. The role requires the successful candidate to support and promote the individual assessment, care and therapeutic interventions for each service user as part of their rehabilitation 
We are looking for individuals who: 

  • Have ideally some previous experience of working in a health care setting.
  • An understanding of how physical and mental ill health can impact a person’s ability to function and engage in all aspects of life
  • Have excellent communication skills and understand how to build rapport and establish positive therapeutic relationships with service users and their carers.
  • Contribute to the planning and delivery of care for service users in a multidisciplinary rehabilitation setting
  • Be positive and enthusiastic in your approach, alongside adopting a calm and confident manner when dealing with the needs of the service users and their carers.
  • Act as a positive role model showing a professional and caring attitude towards service users, carers and members of the multidisciplinary team.
  • Have a genuine interest in, and be committed to, involving service users in all aspects of their care and treatment
  • Support, promote and assist in the individual assessment, care and interventions for each service user.
  • Assist in the facilitation of a wide range of therapeutic groups available at NICPM to service users.
  • Be able to develop and explore creative ideas that support service users in their rehabilitation and recovery.
  • Maintain and contribute to a safe and therapeutic working environment.

We recruit people based on their values and believe that their lived experience is an advantage. We seek out potential, not perfection, and this means that together we are as diverse as the communities we care for.

Simply put, when we employ caring people who act with integrity and have the right skills, we can give those with mental health challenges, learning disabilities and neurodiversity high-quality care and support to live fulfilling lives, and make our staff feel purposeful, happy and valued.

All our information is available in accessible formats. Please contact the Recruitment team [email protected] if you need a form, leaflet or other information in any of the following formats: Braille, large print, other formats such as Word, or coloured paper version.

Attached to this advert are supporting documents. The Recruitment Profile, which includes important to you will need to apply, our Benefits document for this post, and a candidates guide to our values based recruitment approach and supporting guidance on how to make a successful application. 

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Recruitment Team or see the attached candidate guide to reasonable adjustments. 

For informal enquiries please contact:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of working with service users with physical and mental health needs
  • Have some understanding around psychological approaches in mental health and a willingness to learn.
  • Positive desire to work with people with physical and mental health needs.

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Good communication skills
  • Evidence of Considering the feelings, needs and rights of others.
  • Communicate with compassion and kindness.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyWhite RibbonAge positiveInvestors in People: GoldImproving working livesArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employer

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Bev Ffrench
Job title
.
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0113 3927140
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