Rehabilitation Assistant

Reporting to the Senior Rehabilitation Assistants, you will assist in the delivery of the highest quality care for service users, requiring specialised rehabilitation, to maximise their personal progression.

You will enable our service users to perform activities of every day living, who, due to a neurological impairment, are unable to perform without assistance. This may include nutrition, mobility, personal hygiene, and support, in line with care plans, whilst maintaining dignity and respect.

Main Responsibilities

• In your role as a Rehabilitation Assistant, you will ensure that you maintain the highest standards of care, and rehabilitation.
• You will maintain the safety of service users, in accordance with national legislation and local policy.
• You will maintain confidentiality, in accordance with national legislation and local policy, including GDPR/Data Protection protocols.
• You will participate in the keyworker programme, to ensure consistent delivery of care and rehabilitation.
• You will assess, plan, implement, and evaluate programmes of care for service users, and will ensure that care delivery is in accordance with individual service user care plans.
• You will develop and engage in therapeutic relationships with service users, relatives, and staff, whilst maintaining professional boundaries.
• You will behave in a manner that upholds the reputation of the Organisation and the profession.
• Before working with a service user, you will read the protocols, risk assessments, and care plans, as allocated.
• You will follow the highest standards of personal care, including assisting in eye care, nail care, removal of dentures, undertaking bathing/washing, and assisting in management of continence.
• You will enable and support service users to care for their own rooms and personal effects.
• You will encourage and enable service users to enjoy meals and drinks, whilst supporting wishes and preferences. This may include assisting with ordering of meals, monitoring, recording fluid intake, and assisting with feeding.
• You will assist with communication, ensuring that service users can be understood, and understand others.
• You will assist with mobility, including hoisting positioning, and assisting with mobility aids.
• You will seek and take on board feedback about your own behaviour, and how this can impact
• positively or negatively on fellow team members, service users, and the smooth running of the Home.
• You will undertake relevant training, in order to provide safe and effective care and rehabilitation, including all mandatory training required by the Group.
• You will administer and manage drugs and medicines, as per Renovo’s policies and procedures for Medicine Management, and Care Quality Commission guidelines.
• You will undertake direct care, as necessary.
• You will supervise the service of food and drinks to service users,
• You will use local on-call procedures, in the event of situations in the Home that may arise, when necessary.
• You will be aware of and promote awareness of service user vulnerability, and the vulnerable adult procedures.
• You will raise and monitor Safeguarding issues for service users.
• You will maintain knowledge of governing body requirements and regulation reporting.
• You will remain updated and professionally competent with evidence-based best practice, identifying individual training needs to the Registered Home Manager/Deputy Home Manager.
• You will remain updated with knowledge of the application of the Care Standards Act, and legislation that is applicable to the Organisation, including the Human Rights Act, and the implications for individual practice.
• You will complete your shits, as per the rota, and will be punctual.
• At the start of each shift, you will check the residents’ delegated to you by the Senior Rehabilitation Assistant’s on shift.
• You will attend the handover at the start and end of each shift.
• At the end of each shift, you will complete all care documentation, and report to the Senior Rehabilitation Assistant’s, who will handover to the next shift.
• You will read the protocols, risk assessments, and care plans for allocated residents, before starting to work with them, at the beginning of each shift.
• You will have an awareness of the rehabilitation needs of all residents, and will follow and perform activities and programmes designed and selected for individual residents by the IDT.
• You will work as part of an integrated team, along with residents and their families, and you will carry out established clinical therapy programmes to treat the needs of clients experiencing functional impairment due to acquired brain injuries, including demonstrating and teaching activities, as guided by the IDT.
• You will carry out programmes as per the timetable and protocols to enable the maximum potential for independence, providing functional direction to clients.
• You will support service users to access the community safely, including with activities and appointments.
• You will take and record observations of residents’ temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, and will monitor residents’ blood sugars; any abnormalities will be reported to the Senior Team.
• You will carry out routing urine testing, record results, and report any abnormalities.
• You will collect specimens, as required.
• You will assess pressure areas and skin integrity, and report any changes to the Senior Team..
• You will ensure that correct charts are filled in, as directed.
• You will escort residents to other departments, and Hospitals, as necessary.

• You will complete residents’ charts and daily notes, provide verbal and written reports, as needed, and participate in regular IDT and review meetings.

• You will complete and review assessments, care plans, goals, risk assessments, and protocols, under the guidance of the Senior Rehabilitation Assistants.

• You will assist other team members in the regular outcome measures, such as FimFam, Northwick Park Dependency Score, and RCS.

• You will attend regular in-house training/updates on Rehabilitation Programmes/Therapies by OT’s, Physiotherapists, and External Applications; examples of therapeutic interventions that Rehabilitation Assistant’s can do, following protocols/training, are:

  • Application of splints

  • Facilitated manual transfer

  • Promotion of independence in ADL

  • Care of tracheostomy

  • Assisting in decannulation procedures

  • Management of PEG/feeding

  • Application of compresses

• You will be aware of, and adhere to, the Home guidelines, relating to infection controls, including taking steps to prevent cross infection by using universal precautions, hand washing, and wearing uniform, in accordance with Home policy.
• You will assist in keeping the Home clean and tidy, in adherence to Health and Safety, and Infection Control policy.
• You will ensure that your residents’ clinical notes are up to date.
• You will assist in the implementation of individualised therapy programmes, which might incorporate educational, vocational, social, and leisure activities.
• You will support service users to achieve a purposeful life, contributing to occupational, educational, social, and leisure activities, and assisting in developing programmes to meet those needs.
• You will gain an understanding of the personal, emotional, and social needs of service users, including the behavioural and emotional changes, which can be associated with neurological conditions.
• You will participate in service user’s individual care and therapy plans.
• You will manage and put into place de-escalation techniques, where necessary.
• You will work with the wider clinical team to manage repetitive behaviours.

Skills

• An ability to have a therapeutic relationship with residents.
• An ability to work with others in a team.
• An ability to remain calm during emergencies.
• An ability to follow instructions given by Therapists and Senior Rehabilitation Assistants.
• An ability to use hand-operated, or power, equipment.
• An ability to organise work.
• Good observation skills.
• Ability to implement the rehabilitation program, as specified by the individual care plan, including:

  • Reinforcing exercise programmes – passive, auto-assisted, active-assisted, and active

  • Reinforcing walking, with or without the use of prescribed walking aides

  • Reinforcing appropriate gait, footwear, and weight bearing

  • Reinforcing the use of appropriate communication systems, e.g., one step commands, communication boards, and verbal repetition

  • Reinforcing bed mobility, wheelchair mobility, transfers, and handling of residents

  • Application of cold, heat, and other modalities, as delegated by the Therapist

  • Reinforcing application of splints, and monitoring of skin conditions

  • Reinforcing activities of daily living (toileting, dressing, undressing, and grooming), with adaptations recommended by the Therapist

  • Reinforcing appropriate posture, and use of supports

  • Reinforcing appropriate use of eating utensils, and methods, as recommended by the Therapist

  • Assisting the Physiotherapist in hydrotherapy programmes

Working for The Swanborough Community is rewarding on so many levels and we like to show our appreciation for our staff member. Here are some of the benefits we offer to all our staff members:

• Free, on going training and great promotion opportunities within the company
• Birthday vouchers
• Perkbox: points issued every month to spend in many retail outlets
• Competitive rates of pay and uniform provided
• Meals provided and paid breaks when on an 11 ½ hour shift
• Up to £2000 refer a friend bonus scheme (t&c apply)
• Life assurance
• CQC staff bonus for Good or Outstanding