Safeguarding & Mental Capacity Officer

Job description

Job responsibilities

Safeguarding and Mental Capacity Officer Job Description

Reporting to Head of Safeguarding

Department Quality and Clinical Care

Purpose of the job

The key purpose of the role is to ensure that safeguarding practice across Leonard Cheshires

health and social care services and programmes keeps service users and programme participants safe

and protected from harm and abuse.

Key responsibilities Safeguarding casework

1. To review, assess, triage. and where necessary, directly case manage all safeguarding concerns

and alerts in relation to Leonard Cheshire health and social care services and programmes.

2. To make relevant and timely recommendations in response to a range of safeguarding concerns

and alerts.

3. To lead on assessing and managing safeguarding allegations against staff and volunteers in

PIPOT roles, working collaboratively with colleagues in HR.

4. To build professional relationships with regional regulators including Local Authority

Safeguarding Teams, the Police and SABs.

5. To support and monitor Leonard Cheshire services responding to Section 42 enquiries and whole

service safeguarding reviews and (where necessary), to lead on internal safeguarding

investigations.

6. To support or participate in any external investigations including gathering evidence and

preparing reports for submission in a timely manner.

Safeguarding processes and systems

7. To work closely with the Head of Safeguarding to develop, implement and maintain effective

safeguarding processes and systems for Leonard Cheshires health and social care services and

programmes.

8. To monitor safeguarding processes and systems to ensure they are operating effectively.

9. To participate in and contribute to lessons learned exercises where there has been a failing

in a process or system.

10. To monitor and review compliance with the Mental Capacity Act and its related provisions and

provide support and oversight to Leonard Cheshire Services where required.

Safeguarding policy, practice and training

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11. To support the Head of Safeguarding in the development and review of safeguarding policy and

practice documents, including those related to the Mental Capacity Act.

12. To create and deliver safeguarding and Mental Capacity Act training that can be utilised

across Leonard Cheshires services.

13. To contribute to communicating and disseminating of safeguarding good practice across health

and social care services including developing lessons learned workshops and written reports.

Other Duties

14. To participate in projects, and initiatives to support the development and improvement of

safeguarding across Leonard Cheshire as a national organisation

15. To be part of a weekend telephone roster responding to urgent safeguarding queries or alerts.

16. To provide quantative and qualitative safeguarding related data and analysis for a range of

reports.

17. To work in accordance with relevant professional standards and guidelines..

18. To undertake any other reasonable duties as required.

Person specification Essential Requirements

Registered Adult Social Worker or Registered Nurse.

Experience of working with adults with a range of physical and learning disabilities and front

line workers in health and social care settings.

Demonstrable experience of reviewing, assessing and triaging a range of safeguarding concerns

and alerts and making appropriate, timely recommendations in response.

Demonstrable experience of working directly with or supporting front health and social care

staff.

Excellent knowledge of current health and social care legislation, policy and practice for

England, and willing to learn about legislation, policy and practice for Wales or Scotland

Experience of working under Mental Capacity Act legislation and associated provisions,

including DoLs and Best Interests assessments.

Demonstrable experience of developing and delivering safeguarding training.

Willing and able to travel to Leonard Cheshire services in specified regions and staying away

from home for short periods.

Desirable requirements

Experience of working or volunteering in the not for profit/third sector organisations

Experience of undertaking PIPOT enquires

Best Interests Assessor qualification

Key competencies and skills

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to adapt communication styles to a

range of audiences.

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Able to form effective working relationships with others both internally and

externally.

Strong decision making skills, able to work on challenging and sensitive information, often to

tight timescales.

Good analytical skills, able to assess a range of information, draw conclusions and make clear

recommendations.

Good coaching skills, able to work alongside frontline colleagues and ensure safe outcomes for

service users and programme participants.

To have good IT skills in standard Microsoft packages

To be self-motivated with the ability to set and meet deadlines

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Nursing degree

Desirable

• Nursing degree
• Qualified social worker

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Leonard Cheshire

Address

Leonard Cheshire (Regus), 4th Floor - Room 415

84 Salop Street

Wolverhampton

WV3 0SR

Employer's website

https://www.leonardcheshire.org/ (Opens in a new tab)