IF you are looking for a career change, a healthcare assistant role at Encore Care Homes could be the answer.
A healthcare assistant has described working at Encore Care Homes as she encourages more people to support the residents by joining the team.
Maria Rodrigues, who has worked as a healthcare assistant (HCA) at Great Oaks in Bournemouth for three years, said that her favourite part of the job is spending time with the residents as she loves getting to know each of them personally.
She said that the healthcare assistant roles available would benefit people who have a caring, thoughtful personality.
Maria said: “I always do my job with my heart. We have acted like the residents’ families during the Covid pandemic. It has been hard for them not to be able to see the familiar faces of their families, so they get very emotional now when one of their family members is allowed into the care homes.
She added: “It’s a busy job but I love finding time to talk to the residents. We know our residents personally. For example, Margaret likes to have her breakfast at 8.30am each day, so after completing the handover with the night staff, I will go and get her breakfast for her, as part of our morning round.
Encore Care Homes, which has four purpose-built care homes based across Dorset and Hampshire, is looking to recruit permanent healthcare assistants to support the work of the team by providing practical, physical, social, and emotional wellbeing support to the residents in the care homes.
The Encore family includes Fairmile Grange in Christchurch, Oakdale in Poole, Great Oaks in Bournemouth, and Hamble Heights in Fareham.
Individuals who live in Dorset and Hampshire and have good listening and communication skills, as well as a natural ability to be friendly, kind and reassuring to others are invited to apply to become a healthcare assistant (HCA) at Encore’s four purpose-built care homes.
As well as providing companionship to residents, HCA responsibilities include washing and dressing residents, serving meals and helping those that need support with eating, assisting residents to move around, making them feel more comfortable, and monitoring a resident’s condition by recording their temperature, pulse, or weight.
There are no set entry requirements to becoming an HCA, with all training being provided by Encore. New starters will also be included in the rollout of vaccines in line with the team’s key worker status. However, there are some skills and characteristics that a person must have including a minimum of six months of ‘caring’ experience which could be from working in a school, childcare, or simply caring for a relative.
Alternatively, candidates could come from a people-focused role with a customer service background in retail or hospitality, but they must have a compassionate nature and transferable caring skills.
Pavla Poustevnik, who works as a mortgage advisor during the weekdays, gives up her time to work as an HCA one day a week every weekend. She started working as an HCA in April last year at Great Oaks when she was put on furlough.
Pavla said: “I had never worked for a care home before, but I had cared for my grandmother when she was ill with Parkinson’s. The training at Encore was extensive and there is just so much support available. I was worried if I would be able to do it without the right professional experience, but my colleagues have taken the time to teach me how to do things properly.
Pavla added: “I love the people as well, as I have built good relationships with my colleagues and the residents. You can see the look on their faces about how much it means to them that you’re able to look after them.”
All care home residents are tested for Covid-19 on a weekly basis, with staff accessing twice-weekly Lateral Flow rapid testing. All staff and residents have been offered their first dose of the Covid vaccine and will have their second dose in the coming weeks to provide greater protection against catching the virus and becoming seriously ill, and reducing the transmission of the virus.
For more information and to apply for a healthcare assistant role at Encore, go to Encorecarehomes.co.uk/careers
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