Personal Assistant
Ref: DP2212
Location: Horsham
Details
This role is to support a Woman
The candidate should be a woman*
Drivers licence required: Yes
Own vehicle needed: Yes
Hours per week:
Flexible/ad hoc hours Please apply with your availability.
Hourly pay rate:
£12.71 per hour
I am looking for a caring, reliable, and enthusiastic Personal Assistant to support my adult daughter who is a very friendly and happy young lady who loves socialising and trying new activities. She has learning difficulties and is blind, cannot swallow and has a PEG tube in her stomach. She requires constant supervision due to her blindness but loves to be as independent as possible and take part in everything going on around her.
This role is mainly to assist my daughter at a day centre and in the community enabling her to take part in social activities that she would otherwise be unable to access alone. In the community you will be her sighted guide. Taking her for walks and other activities to help her to maintain her mobility, while ensuring her safety at all times and providing reassurance in all areas as required.
Support will also need to be provided for activities at home, and personal care will form part of the role. The work may involve administering tube feeds and helping her practise Braille. Full training will be provided in sighted guiding, tube feeding, and supporting my daughter with reading Braille.
The hours are flexible and can vary from week to week. Some weeks, support may be required on an evening (which could be on different evenings), while other weeks it may be on a Saturday morning instead. There may also be occasional opportunities to provide additional ad hoc cover for annual leave or sickness for my daughter's other Personal Assistants. Please apply with your availability.
A full driving licence and access to a car are essential, as you will need to be willing and insured to transport my daughter to activities in your own vehicle.
Please note that administering tube feeds will only be required during Saturday morning or lunchtime shifts and will not be required during evening shifts.
Duties include:
- Assisting with shopping – helping navigate the shop and find things to purchase.
- Assist to apply lip and eye cream.
- Assist to use the toilet.
- Assist with care of the tube for feeding,
- Setting up/down tube feeding.
- Administer medication via the PEG tube.
- Assist my daughter to clean up if she has an accident going to the toilet – on occasions only.
- To act as sighted guide and maintained safety at all times.
- Accompany on trips out e.g. going for a walk round Southwater Park, having a coffee out, spending time listening to music, reading her braille, or doing some sort of puzzle, craft activity, etc.
- Engage and assist my daughter to fully take part in Group activities.
- Find activities that are fun and creative and keep my daughter engaged and interested in them.
- Find out what social opportunities are available locally e.g. social club clubs and courses that would interest and help my daughter plan some of these activities.
- Occasionally of an evening to sit which would involve putting my daughter to bed, put a pad on her, her face mask and switch on her breathing machine – full training would be given for this also.
Candidate qualities:
- Have own car covered for business use.
- Be self-motivated.
- Able to speak and read English to a reasonable standard so that you can assist with braille words.
- Be able to learn the needs of a disabled person with learning difficulties and visual problems.
Notes:
All applicants must have the right to work in the UK and be willing to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service check if required. If the role is offered on a self-employed basis, you will be responsible for the cost of your own DBS check.
If you are successful in your application for this position, you will be either engaged directly or employed by the individual employer and not by Independent Lives. The role may be offered on an employed or self-employed basis, depending on the suitability and agreement with the employer. If the role is employed, you will be entitled to holiday pay and issued an employment contract.
Please note: If you do not hear back within three weeks of applying, unfortunately your application has not been successful on this occasion.
*Exemption for gender is claimed under the Equality Act 2010 Part 1 Schedule 9
