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SalarySupport Worker / Personal Assistant (PA) in Surbiton for a vibrant, intelligent, and positive professional woman who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), £17.00 gross an hour. Professional experience is not essential and full training is provided.
Location: KT6, Surbiton
Nearest Tube/Station: Tolworth (7 min walk) or Surbiton 30 min walk/bus ride)
Wage/Salary: £17.00 Gross per hour (£18.00 gross for hours worked before 8.00am)
Driver Essential? Highly preferable
Essential: Some experience providing practical support to someone unwell/in need (paid or unpaid). This role is open to *female applicants only. Physically fit and strong, and punctual.
Desirable: Shared interests: Gardening, politics, museums, art galleries, cooking. Someone good at styling hair! Open to travel on holiday with Judy & her husband.
Start Date: April 2024
Days & Hours: Sundays, 10.00am to 2.00pm, 3 evenings (to be mutually agreed), 8.00pm to 11.00pm, plus bank cover for sickness and holidays.
Recruiter: Sally
About this client: It was such a pleasure to meet our client, Judy, who is a vibrant, highly intelligent, professional woman. She has a positive attitude, is warm and welcoming, with a great sense of humour. She lives with her husband and is supported by a small team of dedicated Support Workers/PAs who enable her to live a full, and independent life. Judy enjoys many activities including gardening, politics, crafts, visiting museums, art galleries, cooking, trips to London and socialising. Judy has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and has muscle weakness throughout her body; she can only move her head and 3 fingers and uses an electric wheelchair. She has a CPAP, non-invasive ventilator to assist her breathing, is fed via a JEG/PEG tube, and can drink orally. She wears a stoma bag and is urinary continent.
Overview of role: Judy requires a Personal Assistant (PA) to ‘be her arms and legs’ and enable her to live the life she wants. You’ll assist Judy with all aspects of her daily life, personal care, nutrition, medication and using her computer/mobile phone (sometimes she is unable to type). The house is well set up to support her needs, but lifting is part of this role. Judy is very slight, and they have a well thought-through process that is safe for both Judy and her PA (Seen in person by Sally, the recruiter for this role). No two days are the same for Judy; she may be working from home, attending a business meeting, taking a trip to London, or enjoying activities. As her PA, you’ll be ready to provide support whenever Judy needs it, but she also needs her space and there are ‘on-call’ times when you can use the PA’s room to read, use your laptop/mobile etc. Light household duties are also part of this role to keep the house neat and tidy, some ironing etc., a cleaner is also employed.
Who this job would suit: This role is ideal for either someone who has little or no professional care experience and would like to work in a well-supported role with comprehensive training, or someone with experience, but who doesn’t have ‘fixed’ ideas on how best to provide support; Judy is more than capable of giving direction on how she would like things done. You’ll be *female, a great communicator/listener, reliable, punctual, and someone who welcomes learning opportunities. You’ll be active and strong, friendly, and patient. If you have editing skills that would be a bonus as Judy is writing a book!
What’s great about this job: Working with Judy is a wonderful opportunity, it is a positive, relaxed work environment with excellent (paid) training and support; you will work alongside an existing team member until you are confident with all tasks. They offer their PAs a Pilates course, a Xmas bonus and assistance for driving lessons if needed (i.e. a refresher course).
Who is recruiting for this role? Snap Care will be carrying out all recruitment including shortlisting, recruiter interviews and arranging employer interviews.
Please note: *Where a specific gender is stated as essential, gender is considered to be a genuine occupational requirement in accordance to paragraph 1, of schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010 for female or male worker to work with our client.
