Social Worker

Job responsibilities

Social workers primarily work with people in complex situations. Complex is defined as - unpredictable or ambiguous situations where the person may be resistant, coerced or a significant risk to self and others. These situations are often time-consuming owing to the multiple factors that have led the person to becoming socially excluded. Decisions require proportionality and analysis of many different views and factors, such as psychological, biological, legal, environmental and economical.

Livewell Southwest is fully committed to an integrated health and social care workforce which operates a shared skills model, whilst adhering to the core principles of the social work profession.

MAIN DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Responsibility for People Management

• Supervise and/or train students and Band 5 colleagues as and when required to ensure their practice is safe and professional.
• Provide supervision on a 1:1 basis or through peer supervision as and when required to ensure practice is safe and professional.
• Support the delivery of induction training for new staff within the service as and when required to ensure practice is safe and professional.

Responsibility for financial and/or physical resources

• Responsibility for the occasional short-term security of a persons cash, legal documentation or valuable items (e.g. house keys) until they can be securely deposited.
• Duty to consider best value option when planning for peoples care and support.

Responsibility for administration

Plan and organise day-to-day work using an online calendar, recording systems, and workload management tools (that are available on the intranet) in accordance with departmental guidelines.

Ensure records are timely, kept up-to-date, accurate and used in accordance with the GDPR and organisational guidelines.

Have a good understanding of the various computer programmes essential for the completion of daily work, such as Microsoft office.

Arrange and plan meetings with colleagues and/or people who use services and be willing to chair them if required.

Responsibility for people who use our services

Maintain contact with people who use our services either face-to-face, telephone or assistive technology such as video links and conference calls.

Design, implement and review care and support plans, which may involve the input of other professionals /disciplines.

Work to a number of protocols/procedures such as lone working, risk management and health and safety.

Complete carers assessments and seek feedback from people who use the service.

Learning some basic clinical skills to enable the undertaking of holistic assessments and liaison with the multi-disciplinary team.

Take an asset-based approach, including signposting to universal services, advice and information and considering the persons links and integration with their community and services such as advocacy.

Duty of candour and supporting people to make complaints if they wish too.

Responsibility for implementation of policy and/or service developments

Contribute ideas (and advocate on behalf of the people who use our services) towards the development and implementation of policies and/or services.

Work in other teams and across the organisation in order to support organisational demands and pressures.

Represent the team/organisation on planning or developmental groups as and when required.

A flexible and adaptable approach to organisational change.

Other Responsibilities

Correct use of computer hardware/software; security; processing and generating information; creating, updating and maintaining information databases.

Awareness of current social care research trends and to take part in development activities, such as Safeguarding Adult Reviews.

COMMUNICATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Maintain positive working relationships and communicate clearly with team colleagues, line manager, other professionals, people who use our service and their families/carers which may include highly sensitive issues.

Listen to and work in partnership with the people who use our services and families and carers.

Maintain professional conduct and communicate clearly when faced with competing demands and in situations that are potentially highly emotive, such as being challenged by families or other professionals.

Present evidence-based decisions and judgements about potentially complex/ ambiguous situations in a manner fit for the audience. This includes writing court reports, explaining legal requirements to people and their families and projecting social work values in a multi-disciplinary setting.

PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL DEMANDS OF THE JOB

Travel between different offices to attend meetings.

Visit people at home, community setting (e.g. café), hospital, care home or prison. Visiting people in their own homes may be prejudicial to health and wellbeing. Some visits may be out of county and on occasion may require an overnight stay. Protective equipment may be required such as gloves and facemask in certain settings.

Sitting at a computer either in office or remote working (refer to DSE policy).

Take pro-active steps to maintain self-care and resilience (e.g. through the use of supervision, occupational health services etc.)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR ALL POSTS

The post holder is required to comply with all relevant policies and procedures pertinent to their post. Current versions can be found on the intranet or via your manager. The areas listed below are those Livewell Southwest currently places particular emphasis on. Failure to follow correct policies and procedures may result in disciplinary action.

Risk Management

In accordance with the Risk Management Strategy, employees will participate, whenever required, with the risk management process. They will support line managers by attending mandatory and statutory training, completing incident/accident forms for every adverse event or near miss that occurs, report all defects and complaints, and communicate any dangerous situation to individuals potentially at risk.

Health and Safety at Work

You must co-operate with those in authority and others in meeting the statutory requirements and in following policies and procedures. A copy of the Health and Safety Policy is available from the intranet or from the Risk Management Department.

You are reminded that in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 you have a duty to take reasonable care to avoid injury to yourself and to others affected by your work activities.

You will be notified where your post carries a requirement for immunisation.

You may be required to be able to undertake physical intervention training and participate in physical intervention as part of a physical intervention team and Basic Life Support (BLS).

Infection Control

Livewell Southwest is determined to eradicate healthcare-acquired infection and puts a great deal of emphasis on the responsibility of all staff to ensure their own personal and others compliance with Infection Control (including Hand Washing) Policies. All staff must comply with infection control policies and guidance, attend relevant updates and report issues of concern to their immediate line manager (if no action or explanation received, then it is the individuals responsibility to escalate their concerns to the Director of Operations or Chief Executives Office).

Safeguarding Children and Adults

All employees have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and adults and are required to act in such a way that at all times safeguards their health and wellbeing. Familiarisation with and adherence to national and local safeguarding adults and children policies is an essential requirement upon all employees. Livewell Southwest has specific safeguarding policies and in addition, employees also have a responsibility to practice and work within the multi-agency policy developed by the Safeguarding Adults Board and the Safeguarding Children Board. Staff are also required to participate in related mandatory/statutory training.

Research

For clinical posts at bands 5 and 6, there is an expectation that engagement in research will be part of this role. Therefore, an awareness of the value and relevance of research is expected and the post holder should either support existing research within their specialty area as appropriate or identify opportunities to raise awareness of research possibilities. For clinical posts at band 7 and above, the post holder will be required to actively participate in complex audits using research methodology, or participate as required in clinical trials or equipment testing, and will demonstrate high level involvement in local ongoing research projects.

Sustainability and climate change

All staff are expected to take responsibility for the reduction of carbon emissions within their area of the organisation. In particular this may relate to reducing energy consumption, making low carbon travel choices, consideration of goods and services being purchased, and waste reduction.

Other

This Job Description is not exhaustive and may change as the post develops, but such change will not take place without consultation between the post holder and their manager. Job descriptions should be reviewed at least annually at the appraisal meeting.

The Working Time Regulations apply to all employees of Livewell Southwest. In particular, Livewell Southwest will not permit staff in all employments to work in excess of 48 hours in any one week except where there are exceptional service needs where an absolute limit of averaging over a reference period of 17 weeks would apply.

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree or equivalent in Social Work e.g. DipSW, CQSW, CSS
• Commitment to work towards the successful completion of the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) (where newly qualified)
• Registration with Social Work England as a social worker
• Evidence of Continuous Professional Development by producing documentation to meet the Standards of Proficiency for Social Worker registration

Desirable

• Experience of working in mental health setting.
• Evidence of a post qualifying award - such as Best Interest Assessor (BIA).

Experience

Essential

• Experience and knowledge in line with national standards and guidance
• Ongoing training and evidence of continuous professional development
• Relevant policies and procedures of the Department and Livewell South West
• Relevant legislation; e.g. The Care Act 2014, Health and Social care act 2012 and the Mental capacity Act 2005, Data Protection, Equal Opportunities, Freedom of Information Act, Disability Discrimination Act, The Human Rights Act 1998
• Resources in order to provide advice and information to enable vulnerable adults and carers to make informed choices, e.g. Allowances, access to support advice and information.
• Safeguarding for vulnerable adults and children and young people
• Working knowledge and experience of working to address a range of human needs, including personal crisis, disability, ill health.
• Awareness of the potential effects of providing regular and substantial unpaid care to a relative, friend or neighbour
• Practical and procedural knowledge for a range of tasks related to the service area, of the policies or procedures relating to
• Continuing NHS Healthcare eligibility and interfaces
• Personal Budgets and Support planning, policies, and standards
• Multi-disciplinary and partnership working
• Specialist equipment/Manual Handling Risk Management

Skills

Essential

• Competent user of MS teams and undertaking virtual meetings.
• Planning skills required to undertake appropriate care plans, manage day to day caseload; may have to plan up to a month in advance.
• Keyboard skills required using a range of Microsoft office software to write reports and care plans, assessments, letters, enter data and complete forms.
• Highly developed communication skills to enable daily interaction with colleagues, service users and partner agencies. Write reports for court and statutory reviews as well as for case recording. Negotiating skills to enable an appropriate way forward or provide an acceptable solution for the service user.
• Judgemental skills needed to analyse, interpret and assess each case, using professional knowledge.
• Observational skills when visiting service users homes e.g. interaction between service user and carer, home hygiene, safety of home.
• Prioritise and work flexibly as well as managing time effectively in order to meet specified tasks within agreed timescales.
• Work as part of a team and be able to contribute effectively to the achievement of wider service performance objectives.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

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