Getting ready to start!

Two months after having my interview at Southmead hospital and being offered the job of health care assistant in the neurosciences ward, things seem to be actually happening! For some reason references and paperwork took a while, but last week I was told that I would start my induction on October 13^th.

Today, I went in to meet my ward manager and have a look round the ward. I hadn’t been in the new Brunel building at Southmead and I was amazed at how big it is. The ward consists of 32 beds – two 4-bed bays, and 24 individual rooms. Due to the individual rooms, it means the ward is very big, which I was told makes the job a lot more difficult, with lots of walking around. I had been worried about footwear, but the ward manager informed me that since the move to the new building they had allowed all-black trainers.

I have now received the information for my induction that takes place over a couple of weeks. This includes: two days of corporate induction going over policies, safeguarding etc.; 3 days of clinical induction, which includes patient safety and clinical equipment training; 3 days of Foundation in care; adult basic life support; dementia level 2; and a manual handling training session.

This means I won’t actually start on the ward until near the end of October, but I am excited to get started with the training and hopefully it will make me feel more at ease about the job!