Coventry Exploitation Health Navigator

Job responsibilities

Main functions of the role

The Heath Navigator will support the development and be an integral part of the co-located and multi-agency Horizon Team by working closely with Social Workers, Police Officers, and Youth Workers.

The post holder should have expertise and knowledge of Child Exploitation and be committed to continually developing their understanding and knowledge base of this ever-evolving field.

Develop and embed collaborative and constructive relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders.

Through systems, liaison and dialogue identify, collate and provide analysis of relevant health information, which will be used to inform triage and risk assessment processes.

Record, interpret and present health information and issues, which may increase the risk of all forms of exploitation.

Ensure that health information is used appropriately to support referrals made by First Responder Organisations to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM)

Identify the most appropriate service to undertake direct work with children and young people where health implications arise as a direct result of Child Exploitation in line with broader multi-agency plans for intervention.

Develop and disseminate case studies to highlight exemplar practice and areas for development and learning.

Be able to articulate clearly and with sound rationale why often highly complex health information increases risk and vulnerability.

Be confident to challenge in a constructive and proportionate way decisions when appropriate to do so and be willing to set out reasons that prompt any professional challenge.

Together with partners from the police and social care develop and contribute to data collection systems and be able to provide data when required with careful consideration being given to the bounds of patient confidentiality and proportionality.

Support the identification of any gaps and issues in current arrangements/cross boundary arrangements, which impede the identification and protection of children, and young people who are both at risk of and victims of exploitation.

To identify themes in cases of exploitation and report those themes via regular contract reporting to the ICB and Local Authority Public Health to enable them to fulfil their responsibility as commissioners of services and deliver their safeguarding functions.

Be flexible and prepared to adapt to respond to changes in the exploitation/ safeguarding landscape and meet changes in local demand.

Support Transitional Safeguarding and work collaboratively with partners in developing an integrated approach to managing transition from adolescent to adulthood.

Inter-agency responsibilities

Collate, analyse and provide health information to Social Workers and Police Officers within the Horizon team to inform triage, risk assessment and decision-making.

Support the development of effective interagency working by providing health representation at multi-agency forums, and support to all agencies.

Contribute to training and awareness raising of exploitation across Health and wider Partnership.

Leadership and advisory role

Provide advice and 6 monthly written report to inform the service planning and commissioning organisation and to the local authority on, questions of planning, strategy, commissioning and the audit of quality standards including ensuring appropriate performance indicators are in place in relation to health services for those children and young people who are vulnerable to exploitation.

Provide expert advice regarding Child Exploitation to Safeguarding Teams, health and other statutory agencies, and voluntary sector services.

Be skilled to advise colleagues in health on issues of confidentiality, consent and information sharing.

Work with local service planners and commissioners to advocate on behalf of exploited children and ensure that children at risk of exploitation benefit as appropriate from the implementation of wider health policies, which meet their often-complex needs.

Work closely with primary care partners and the Named GP for Safeguarding in the GP Practice to ensure they are involved the Child Exploitation agenda.

The post holder will attend Exploitation Sub Group within Coventry Safeguarding Childrens Partnership.

Co-ordination, Communication and Liaison

Work with other professionals within Horizon Team to agree team responsibilities.

Form links with the Designated Nurse and Doctor for Safeguarding Children, safeguarding professionals and Child Exploitation leads both locally and regionally to establish a consistent process to enable the sharing of intelligence and information.

Liaise with, advise and support health practitioners across the health economy to support any concerns relating to child exploitation.

Where the child or young person is a Child in Care (CiC) the practitioner will work with the CiC Team Designated Nurse and Doctor for CiC and the Specialist CiC Nurses.

The post holder will be required to maintain supportive and constructive relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders and specifically health professionals from a wide range of services and disciplines.

Share best practice on behalf of health professionals where appropriate e.g. Learning Events, Training Events.

Measurable Result areas

Contribute to the strategic planning of Horizon Team identifying interdependencies across projects/functions and services, potential impacts of activity on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary.

Contribute to the development of performance and governance strategies and the development and implementation of improvement programmes, in accordance with Trust priorities.

Contribute to the short, medium and long term service developments, for Horizon Team and Safeguarding Team to develop and achieve quality outcomes.

Contribute to the development of key Horizon Team and Safeguarding Team performance indicators for the successful assessment of individual and directorate success.

Monitoring and Information Management

Undertake regular and detailed analysis of the range of referrals received by the Horizon Team to identify trends and themes, which can inform service planning and delivery.

Contribute to the collation and production of health data on vulnerable populations across the health community.

Work closely with Health and Police partners to maintain and continually develop intelligence sharing to help mitigate intelligence gaps that inhibit the identification of exploitation.

Identify and map any patterns or trends across the health partnerships that could support partner agencies in the Police and Social Care to develop greater local Child Exploitation knowledge.

Training Responsibilities

Advise on training needs and the delivery of training for all health staff across the health community including those GPs, Paediatricians and Nurses undertaking health assessments for vulnerable children at risk of exploitation.

Deliver training as required to continually ensure professionals across the partnership are aware of the Child Exploitation landscape.

Play an active part in the planning and delivery of multi-disciplinary training.

Identify lessons learnt in the Horizon team and disseminate that learning via training to enhance colleagues understanding of the Horizon Team, process thresholds.

Supervision

The post holder will be expected to receive regular Safeguarding and Clinical Supervision in line with Trust policy.

For full details of the duties associated with this role please see the attached Job Description.

Qualifications

Essential

• RN/RNC/RM/Specialist Community Public Health Nurse
• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience in safeguarding / child protection
• Teaching qualification or equivalent experience
• Specialist knowledge to Masters equivalent level acquired through training or experience

Experience

Essential

• Significant recent post qualification experience
• Experience of working with children
• Experience of complex safeguarding work
• Experience of managing own workload
• Experience of working autonomously

Desirable

• Experience of working within a safeguarding team

Skills

Essential

• Must have excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills
• Excellent oral, written communication report writing and presentation skills
• Must be able to demonstrate ability to work confidently in a multi-agency environment
• Must demonstrate effective concise and clear decision-making skills that empower and support staff
• Must be able to work autonomously
• Must demonstrate effective training skills, be able to prepare deliver and evaluate child protection training
• Must be able to demonstrate knowledge of all aspects of exploitation
• Proven ability in analysing and interpreting data and national policy
• Ability to influence and negotiate with a range of diverse stakeholders and to build professional credibility both within and external to the Trust regarding exploitation
• Evidence of continued professional development in safeguarding children, prevention of abuse and vulnerable children, risk assessment
• Understanding of current Legislation and guidance relating to safeguarding children
• Must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the need for confidentiality in all aspects of the work of the department
• Must be able to demonstrate an understanding of equal opportunities
• Must be able to demonstrate experience in providing safeguarding supervision
• Must be competent to represent Health on local safeguarding exploitation agendas

Desirable

• Must be IT literate with an ability to navigate numerous systems or be prepared to undertake training

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Must have the ability to work as part of a team
• Must be able to influence and motivate others
• Must be able to demonstrate negotiation skills
• Must have excellent interpersonal skills
• Must be flexible to meet the needs of the service

Other

Essential

• Must be a non-smoker whilst on duty
• Must have access to independent transport
• Must be willing to undertake Disclosure Barring Service to enhanced level
• Must be legally entitled to work in the UK

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).