Out of hour Call Handler - Healthcare


Company:	St Jude's Care Ltd
Salary:	from £25 an hour
Hours:	Part-time
Location:	Weymouth, DT4 0AB
Working pattern:	Hybrid - 4 days remote
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	14 Sept 2026
Closing date:	14 Oct 2026

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Summary

Out of Hours On-Call Handler

**St Jude's Care Ltd** Home-based (must live within reach of Weymouth / Dorset)

**£125–£150 per week guaranteed**, plus £15 per hour for call time above the included allowance

Typical earnings £145–£175 per week · Part-time · Permanent · Home-based

Someone has to pick up at 21:00 on a Sunday

When our office closes at 17:00, the phones don't stop. A carer can't get through a front door. A client has had a fall and the family needs a decision now. A medication has changed and the care worker can't act until someone confirms it. A morning visit is uncovered and you need to find someone to fill it before 07:00.

To apply

That's the job. You are the person on the other end of the phone.

You'll do it from home, on your own phone and laptop, on a fixed rota you'll know months in advance. Most nights are quiet. Some aren't. We'd rather tell you that up front than have you find out in week three.

What you'd actually be dealing with:

We looked hard at four weeks of real calls before writing this advert, so we can be specific.

**About 3 in 10 calls are genuine emergencies** — falls, health deterioration, ambulance and 111 decisions, safeguarding, end of life. These are the calls that matter most and the ones we recruit for.

**The other 7 in 10 are coordination.** A late or unwell carer and finding cover. A medication change that hasn't reached the system. A key safe that's empty. A care worker checking tomorrow's rota.

**Nights are genuinely quiet.** Between 22:00 and 06:00 we averaged around 3 calls a week across the whole service. The busy windows are weekday mornings around 08:00, the hour after 17:00, and weekend daytimes.

**A busy weekend day can run to four hours on the phone.** A quiet weeknight can be under thirty minutes. The pay model below is built around that.

The shift pattern

You'd work opposite our other on-call handler, on a fixed, published rota:

Every Tuesday | 17:00 – 09:00 Friday |

Every Wednesday | 17:00 – 09:00 Thursday |

Every Sunday | 07:00 Sunday – 09:00 Monday |

Alternate Fridays | 17:00 – 07:00 Saturday |

So a four-shift week (Tue,Wed, Fri, Sun) alternating with a three-shift week (Tues, Wed, Sun). You are not expected to stay awake — you're expected to be reachable and able to respond

The rota is published well ahead. Swaps with the other handler are fine by agreement.

What we pay, and why it's structured this way

We've just rewritten this after reviewing how much work the role actually involves. We wanted it to pay properly on a heavy shift without pretending every shift is heavy.

- £25 per weeknight, which includes your first hour of call time

- £75 per weekend day, which includes your first three hours of call time

- £15 per hour for every hour above that, measured from your recorded call time across the week and rounded up to the nearest quarter hour

In practice:

| Week | Guaranteed | Typical, with top-up |

| Week with a Friday (4 shifts) | £150 | around £175 |

| Week without (3 shifts) | £125 | around £145 |

**£7,150 a year guaranteed**, typically around £8,300 once call and follow-up time is included.

Who we're looking for

**Essential**

Experience in care — domiciliary, residential, supported living or nursing. You need to know what a genuine emergency looks like and what can wait until Monday

The judgement to make a decision at 23:00 without someone to check it with, and the sense to escalate when you shouldn't be the one deciding

Calm, warm telephone manner. Some of these calls are frightening for the person making them

Reliable mobile signal and broadband at home, and the ability to use a laptop for our care systems (mobile and laptop provided)

Genuine availability across the full shift, including 07:00–09:00 on Thursday, Friday and Monday mornings and the full Sunday

Right to work in the UK, and willing to undergo an enhanced DBS check

**Helpful but not essential**

Senior carer, care coordinator, team leader or care manager background

Experience of rostering or finding cover at short notice

Knowledge of Dorset and the surrounding area

What we offer

- A fixed, predictable rota published months ahead, not a scramble each week

- Home-based. No travel, no uniform, no mileage

- Proper backup. A manager is on a backup rota behind you every shift — you are never the last line

- Paid for the work, not just the availability. If a shift runs long, you're paid for it

- Full induction and shadowing with our existing handler before you take a shift alone

- A family-run company. St Jude's is CQC registered and locally run. You'll know the people you're ringing, and they'll know you

What this role is not:

We'd rather be straight with you than waste your time:

- It isn't full-time and it isn't a full-time income. It works best alongside another role, a flexible or part-time job, or as a way of staying in care without doing hands-on rounds.

- It isn't compatible with a conventional office job. The 07:00–09:00 weekday window and the full Sunday are core to the role.

- It isn't hands-on care. You won't be attending visits. You'll be making decisions and coordinating from home.

- It isn't a quiet phone-sitting job. On a bad weekend you will be on the phone for hours.

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