Personal Care Assistant for a female 22 hr/wk@ £13.74/hr in Alnwick - FTE - £26.8k - Alnwick - NE66

Job purpose - To provide support for up to 22 hours per week split into calls to cover 7 days per week. To support a female to enable her to continue to live independently.  

We are currently looking to recruit a Support Worker to provide support for a 55 year old lady. The purpose of your role will be to enable her independence and to enable her to continue to live safely in her own home.  She is a friendly, outgoing person who likes to have a laugh. Although her conditions mean she fluctuates from day to day and her pain levels are up and down you should have a sense of humour and like to chat. Having an interest in arts and crafts would be an advantage.  

To be a good fit for this role you should be patient as this role will involves doing repeated tasks, you must be understanding and empathetic.  She has a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease and sciatica which means she is unfortunately in pain most of the time. She also has vertigo and this along with her other conditions means her mobility can be difficult. You will support her to move around her home safely. It will be an advantage however not essential if you have experience of supporting people with mobility issues. 

This lady is also a wheelchair user when outside of the home and also uses crutches depending on her level of pain. You should have good general health so that you can push her wheelchair as well as fold and put her wheelchair into a car boot when needed.  You will mainly support at home, assisting with washing/showering and getting dressed in the mornings, prompting with medication, applying creams when needed and meal support. Lunch support you will assist with meal prep and ensuring she eats a meal, assisting to toilet if required. 

You will also support with laundry when needed and there will be some assistance with going out into the community. This may be for medical appointments or for food shopping etc.  We would prefer you to be a car driver with your own transport. Expenses will be met by your employer.  

Hours - 22 hours per week broken down as – Calls to cover 7 days per week – 1 hour AM 45 minutes lunch time call 45 minutes evening call 4 hours community support to be worked as 2 x 2hr shifts 30 minute laundry call Times can be flexible. Hours will be discussed further at interview. Please advise which days/shifts you would be interested in.  

MAIN DUTIES 
· Support with enabling independence 
· Support to ensure safety at home 
· Support with personal care 
· Assist with accessing the community, attending medical appointment, grocery shopping 
· Ensure safety when out and about  

Holidays are 5.6 weeks per year, pro-rata  Person Specification Successful applicant must: 
· Ideally have experience working as a support worker with children or adults especially with chronic pain 
· Have a positive understanding towards people with disabilities 
· Have a genuine interest in working within social care 
· Have a high degree of initiative 
· Be punctual and reliable 
· Be flexible 
· Have a happy, positive and caring nature. 
· Respect confidentiality. 

Car driver preferable and must have business insurance.  An Enhanced DBS Check is required, cost to be met by employer