Family Support Worker

Job description

Job responsibilities

To work directly with palliative patients and their families and carers in both the inpatient unit and in the community

Work closely with the PFS team and other members of the multi-professional teams in the hospice to maximise patient/client care

To offer possible solutions for patients and carers who have social, financial or emotional problems

To advocate for patients and support or signpost them with issues related to their care and support, benefits, housing or other matters depending on their circumstances

Provide emotional support to patients and carers facing end of life and bereavement

Support patients and carers with housing issues including assisting with completion of forms, chasing up housing applications and writing supporting letters

Assist patients and carers to access appropriate sources of charitable help and apply for grants on their behalf

With the advice of the team, provide support and advice to patients with children

Support bereaved families by advising on practical arrangements such as arranging a funeral and other tasks following death

Support bereaved children by ensuring we meet the criteria of the Children in Need funding. To support and help to develop childrens cafes and youth groups and family days.

To recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns, with the support of the safeguard supporters. Follow hospice policies and procedures, referring to statutory services where necessary

Contribute, as appropriate to the delivery of safeguard and other training, with the support of the team when confident to do so

To assist in the daily triage and screening of all patients referred into the PFSS ensuring the safety and appropriate response time of all referrals

Attend the morning First Contact Triage meeting and MDTs as part of a rota and attend the daily IPU handovers

To make and sustain links with external agencies and sources of social support relevant to the provision of specialist palliative care at St Clare Hospice

To work closely with community engagement team members and volunteers to provide social supportive interventions, establish community links and develop the service

To manage own boundaries and raise any concerns around this

To participate in meetings, working groups and committees as necessary within the service To maintain concisely and accurately client / patient records on both IT systems and paper files

To be aware of national guidance and standards relating to palliative care, social work support and bereavement

To be aware of national, regional and local healthcare issues and targets and plans that are relevant to palliative care social work support and bereavement care Organisation

Produce and maintain appropriate information resources for patients, carers and their families and for staff and volunteers of the hospice

Participate in team meetings and supervision as appropriate and as requested by Social Work Lead and Team Manager

Manage own workload, prioritising wok and dealing with conflicting demands in a flexible and professional manner Communication

To communicate frequently and accurately within the service and to other service providers, verbally, by telephone, by letter and by email

To refer on to other healthcare providers and agencies, such as GPs

To liaise with other healthcare professionals and agencies

To be skilled in advanced communication with patients in emotionally charged situations using tact and empathy to communicate difficult and challenging information

To be responsible for and proactively initiate effective communication with other members of the team and staff in the wider hospice Professional

Identify own learning and development needs in order to meet the key requirements of the post

Take responsibility for linking own development needs with the hospice appraisal and objective setting process

Take responsibility for own continuing development by undertaking specific areas of work/projects to develop new skills

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• To have previous experience of working in a hospice or other
• health and social care setting (paid or voluntary)
• To have experience of working in multi-disciplinary team
• working or the ability to adapt to multidisciplinary team working
• To have experience of working with carers and/or families of
• patients individually or collectively
• To have experience of working with people in practical and
• emotional difficulty

Qualifications

Essential

• Good level of education with minimum GCSE, A levels or
• equivalent

Desirable

• To have a Health and Social Care qualification

Personal Qualities and Attributes

Essential

• Commitment to equality and valuing diversity and
• understanding of how this applies to own area of work
• Commitment to the aims and charitable objectives of St Clare
• Hospice
• Committed to own continuing professional learning and
• development
• Empathy and being a good team player
• Organisational skills
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working
• relationships
• Ability to use supervision and personal development positively
• and effectively
• Ability to work under pressure
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy
• and confidentiality
• Ability to be self reflective, flexible, autonomous and fostering
• integrity and self care in practice, professional development
• and in supervision.
• Experience of working within diverse communities in a
• multicultural society.
• Ability and willingness to travel to locations required by the
• organisation.
• Ability to assess ones own personal strengths and
• weaknesses.
• Showing appropriate esteem for people, and oneself and their
• own understanding of themselves.
• Ability to be mindful and practice good self-care techniques
• working around bereavement and death.

Other requirements

Essential

• Current Full UK driving licence and access to vehicle to use for
• work purposes.

Knowledge

Essential

• To have awareness of relevant legislation underpinning health
• and social care provision
• To have an understanding of the need to safeguard vulnerable
• individuals

Desirable

• To have an understanding of hospice and palliative care
• philosophy
• To have an understanding of the needs of people experiencing
• life limiting illnesses, loss, grief and bereavement

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• To demonstrate an excellent standard of communication and
• listening skills, in respect of both clients and colleagues
• To be able to work on own initiate, without supervision and as
• part of a team
• To have a good standard of literacy and numeracy skills
• To have the ability to recognise own limitation and when to
• access advice and supervision
• To be able to pay attention to details
• To have an understanding of confidentiality and accurate
• record keeping
• To have excellent time management skills with the ability to
• prioritise workload within a busy working environment

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.

Employer details

Employer name

St Clare Hospice

Address

Hastingwood Road

Hastingwood

Harlow

Essex

CM17 9JX

Employer's website

https://stclarehospice.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)