NHS Senior Care Assistant: Employability Skills Report and Analysis

This report delves into the employability skills essential for a senior care assistant within the NHS. It begins by outlining the responsibilities and performance objectives, including the evaluation of effectiveness against defined goals, and recommendations for improvement. The report examines motivational techniques to enhance performance quality and identifies effective time management strategies. It further addresses communication styles in problem-solving scenarios and evaluates tools and methods for addressing work-based challenges within the healthcare sector. The report concludes with a critical evaluation of the chosen strategies, providing a comprehensive analysis of the key aspects of employability in health and social care.

Employ ability skills in health and social care

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................................4
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................................4
LO1.........................................................................................................................................................4
Q1. Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives at work as a senior care
assistant of NHS [P1.1,M1].....................................................................................................................4
Q2 Evaluating my own effectiveness against defined performance objectives[P1.2,D1].......................5
Q3. Making recommendation for improvement for the weakness that has been identified in my
performance[P1.3] ................................................................................................................................6
Q4. Reviewing how you would use motivational techniques to improve quality of performance[P1.4 ]
................................................................................................................................................................7
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................................8
LO2.........................................................................................................................................................8
Q5. Identify effective time management strategies that I have used at work to aid in
performance[P2.3].................................................................................................................................8
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................................8
LO3.........................................................................................................................................................8
Q10. In relation to the work problem discussed in Q9, how will you communicate in a variety of style
and appropriate manner at various levels when solving problem [P2.2,M3].........................................8
TASK 4 ........................................................................................................................................................9
LO4.........................................................................................................................................................9
Q11. Evaluate appropriate tools and methods for developing solutions to one work-based problem in
your work environment in health and social care sector.[P4.1].............................................................9
Q12. Critically evaluate the chosen strategy in health and social care sector.[P4.3,D2]......................10
CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management (HRM) is that functional department within the organization
which is concerned with recruiting, managing, directing, training as well as appraising the staff
members who are giving services to company (Kumar and et.al., 2014). This department plays an
all the more important role in a health and social care firm as the wellbeing of patient is
dependent on the services given by doctors, nurses as well as care workers (Khatri, Gupta and
Varma, 2017). The present study has focused on various human resource activities of health and
social care firm such as performance appraisal, team dynamics, motivation etc. Emphasis has
further been laid on developing solutions to work based problems that are faced by staff
members. This has been done by preparing a report, power point presentation as well as brochure
for various sections. Finally, conclusion has been discussed to summarize all areas that has been
discussed in the report.
TASK 1
LO1
Q1. Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives at work as a senior care
assistant of NHS [P1.1,M1]
Name: XYZ
Role: Senior care assistant
Health and Social Care Sector/ Organization: NHS
As a senior care assistant of NHS, I am bestowed with following job responsibilities. I am
required to supervise as well as participate in the delivery of appropriate care to the patients that
are being handled by me. I have the responsibility to document the individual care of patients
and ensure a person centered approach towards them. Effective leadership is required to be given
to care staff members by following the principles of supervision, support and mentoring (Shipton
and et.al., 2016). I am further responsible for administrating timely medicine to patient. There is
also a need to work effectively with others within the hospital to ensure that the needs of patient

have been met in the best possible manner. My performance objective at work is as follows;
To support as well as protect the safety and well being of patients.
 To keep myself up to date with new techniques and procedures that are of use to me
 To make myself prepared for any situation that may arise in front of me which is related
to my patient.
 To adhere with high practice standards as a senior care assistant
Performance objectives: I will have the objective to improve my performance at the Health care
so that I can be able to meet the requirements of the patients and help them in a better way. As a
senior care assistant, I will give my services for improving the health condition of the patient at
the health care and maintain the quality standards of health care and safety.
As a senior care assistant, it is my responsibility in the field of health care:
 To observe monitor record the health condition of a patient like taking temperatures,
pulse rates etc.
 Communicating with the patient or his family in regard to the health condition.
 Taking effective measures to prevent any sort of infection and disease and maintain the
personal hygiene at the health care.
 Providing mental, physical and psychological support to the patient.
Q2 Evaluating my own effectiveness against defined performance objectives[P1.2,D1]
As per the set of performance objectives identified in question 1, I find myself quite effective in
keeping myself up to date with the new techniques and procedures that are required to be obeyed
by me as a care worker. I do this by being in touch with my seniors who guide me if any new
machinery, safety process is introduced in the hospital. I further take the help of internet to get
knowledge about the new procedures. I also focus on supporting as well as protecting the overall
safety of my patient by adhering with the work practices. I also ensure to provide them a person
centered care to ensure towards their overall well being (physical, emotional and psychological).
Furthermore, I adhere with high standards of practice such as maintaining hand hygiene, wearing
gloves and face mask all the time, following safety processes while dealing with a complicated
patient among others (Shantz, Alfes and Arevshatian, 2016). However, I feel that I am unable to
keep myself well prepared in case a critical situation arises. This can be in form of dealing with

an emergency or high profile case; assisting doctors in a complex surgery or dealing with a
mentally ill patient who recently got a panic attack.
The effectiveness according the performance objectives is as follows:
 The effective performance will help the health care assistant to meet the requirement
criteria that are essential for the development of the health care.
 The effective performance will help the assistant to perform better and provide the best
services to the patients.
 It will provide the senior care assistant a better chance to apply his knowledge of the
healthcare.
 It will also help the assistant to improve his performance and provide better service to the
patients at the healthcare.
Q3. Making recommendation for improvement for the weakness that has been identified in my
performance[P1.3]
Several steps can be undertaken by me to deal with the above weakness that has been identified
by me in the previous section. As a senior care assistant I have to deal with patients and
situations that led to a sudden change. Hence, I need to maintain my calm in such a situation by
taking deep breaths. I am further required to have knowledge, how as to how a critical situation
is required to be handled. In this case, I can take the help of my seniors as well as experienced
doctors who can guide me in handling a critical patient or a scenario that demands for undivided
attention. I may face plenty of such situations that may be beyond my scope of knowledge; hence
the best way is to have a list of all those people whom I can contact on an immediate basis to
come out of the situation. In such scenarios I am further required to delegate some of my
responsibilities to those team members that are directly under me. This will aid me in relieving
myself from some pressure. Other than this, I am also required to develop quick thinking skills
so that I am able to respond to a critical situation in a very timely manner. This may be in form
of contacting someone for help or easing the patient who has got a panic attack.
According the situation, the most appropriate improvement factor or area that can be used
by me is to remain calm and giving the full attentions to my seniors while handling the critical
patients as this will help to reduce the chances of error or mistake. Also, I will use my skills to
develop a better relation with the patients so that I can assist them in the improvement of their
health condition and better recovery of physically and mentally ill patients. Also, I will
psychologically motivate them.

Q4. Reviewing how you would use motivational techniques to improve quality of
performance[P1.4 ]
Several motivational techniques are required to be used by me in order to improve performance
quality of team members who are directly under me. This can be done in following ways,
 Creating a positive working environment – As a senior care assistant I am required to
ensure that the work environment is positive to be able to encourage team work and idea
sharing. I am required to be available for my employees when they face a difficult
situation and should be able to guide them in a very calm manner (McCann, 2015).
 Setting goals - I am required to set reasonable and achievable goals for my employees so
that they can achieve a better performance and do not get discouraged. I will also ensure
that the goals are tied to overall business objectives of NHS.
 Recognizing efforts - I will recognize the achievement of employees by praising them in
front of my seniors, setting star performer rewards among others. I will further ensure to
recognize the team as well as individual efforts in front of management so that the care
workers thrive to give quality services to the patients (Cogin, Ng and Lee, 2016).
 Providing autonomy- this technique is most needed to make the employee feel motivated.
I am required to ensure that employees are able to choose as to how they wish to perform
a task such as caring and supporting a terminally ill patient. This will improve there
overall work efficiency and also keep them motivated.
The motivation theory that can be used at the healthcare to improve the performance is the Hertz
berg's two factor theory. It includes:
Motivating factors: in this the assistant will work according to the patient’s requirement to
motivate him for better recovery. This will improve their health condition and provide a
psychological support.
Hygiene factors: this will include the measures taken by the assistant to remove the
demotivating reasons from patients. As a Senior Care Assistant, my duty is to identify and
eradicate them.

TASK 2
LO2
Q5. Identify effective time management strategies that I have used at work to aid in
performance[P2.3]
Several time management strategies has been used by me in order to aid in giving effective
performance as a senior care assistant of NHS
 Using SMART principles - I try to establish SMART goals for week such as completing
the documentation work of at least 75 patients by day end. I review the goals on a daily
basis to ensure that I am able to meet my job responsibilities in a very timely manner.
 Reviewing my day - I try to be on time for my patients by reevaluating as to how much
time will be spent by me on every patient. In case of longer time, I direct the remaining
and less important work to my team members such as taking BP of patient or talking to
them for some time.
 Minimize interruptions - I further ensure to remove work place distractions such as
turning off email notifications and messages on phone. I also try to focus on one patient
at a time to reduce the chances of errors. In case of urgency I delegate tasks to my team
members.
 Saying no - I also ensure to say no to my supervisors in case of me being packed with the
patients. This may affect my performance goal but atleast I am able to give quality work
while taking care of the patient.
TASK 3
LO3
Covered in PPT
Q10. In relation to the work problem discussed in Q9, how will you communicate in a variety of
style and appropriate manner at various levels when solving problem [P2.2,M3]
In a situation of absence of the proper communication channel, I will use various types of
communication techniques that will help me to gain a better idea about the requirements of the health care
center. The various types of the communication processes are:

 Top level management: in order to communicate with the top level of management of
the healthcare, I as a senior care assistant, will adopt the face to face communication
techniques to make them aware about the issues the Healthcare is facing. Latest
technological tools can be used in order to communicate to them, in case of their
absence.
 Middle level management: As a senior care assistant, I will communicate with the
middle level employees of the healthcare organization by calling in a meeting to discuss
the problems faced by them. Also, the announcement can be made in order to make
them informed on large level.
 Care worker and other staff: they can be made aware about the problem by the means
of the oral communication in order to save time and effort. A fax or a message can be
sent in the respective department so that no one is missed.
 Patients: the incoming or admitting patients and their families can be made aware by
the means of putting the information about the problem on the notice or bulletin board.
TASK 4
LO4
Q11. Evaluate appropriate tools and methods for developing solutions to one work-based
problem in your work environment in health and social care sector.[P4.1]
Various sort of tools and techniques are been used to develop a better solution to a work
based problem in work environment of the health and social care sector. This will help the
individual like the social care assistant to improve the performance in the organization. While
performing he will face various types of problems and issues that are needed to be taken into
consideration for improving the condition of the health and social care sector. One of the major
problem faced by the Social Care Assistant will be the lack of transparency due to technical
glitches. Although the health care facilities are getting advance with the passage of time, day by
day, still they are not completely answerable and transparent towards the patients. The newly
emerging health care services that are been utilized by the company is not completely answerable
to the organizations which are governing them. Despite warning from the various medical
societies and the national organizations, the rate of the cases against them are increasing.
Thus, being a Social Care Assistant, I will look after that the health care services are
getting answerable to the patients and their families. I will adopt various techniques like use of
IT tools to make the health care services more transparent for the people. Besides this, on the
personal level, I will try to provide the complete and appropriate news or details to the patients or
his family in order to improve the quality of the health care services. The organisation can take
preventive measures to avoid the Technical glitches that can affect its performance.

Q12. Critically evaluate the chosen strategy in health and social care sector.[P4.3,D2]
The chosen strategy will help the organisation to avoid any sort of conflict that can affect
the overall performance of the healthcare. While working in the highly stressed conditions there
are chances of getting into conflicts with lower as well as the higher level employees. But this
strategy will help the healthcare to avoid any sort of such case. It will ensure the overall safety of
the patients. And help the doctors and other employees to build a better relation with patient in
best possible way.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that it is very essential for staff members to have an
awareness about their self-appraisal so that management can be explained about the performance
objective achieved. This will help in gaining a better appraisal. Other than this, a healthcare
professional is required to work with others hence the need is to understand varied team roles as
well as dynamics so that issues can be resolved properly. There is also a need on part of
management to use varied forms of communication so that conflicting issues in a heath care
setting can be resolved.

REFERENCES
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Motivation and Productivity. Kogan Page Publishers.
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of line managers and employee commitment. Human Resource Management Journal. 26(1).
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Tripathi, N. and Ghosh, V., 2017. Work Motivation: History, Theory, Research, and Practice.
Springer.