Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Autism Liaison Officer - Band 6 Safeguarding

Information:

This job is now closed

Job summary

The Autism Liaison Officer is a new role for our Trust, to complement and work alongside our well-established Learning Disability Liaison Nurses. It is a position that requires knowledge of both Autism and how healthcare systems work to smooth the journey through acute healthcare for people who are neurodiverse. Our vision is to provide outstanding care for everyone and we are in the process of implementing a strategy to consider the whole person, not just their physical healthcare needs. This post is key to getting that right for this group of people.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for someone who is a passionate advocate for people who are neurodiverse and is able to translate the part acute healthcare plays in their lives for them, for their families and for their carers. The ideal candidate will be a registered nurse or AHP and have had experience of working with autistic people and their families in a variety of community-based settings. The majority of our patients are not neurodiverse, so the ideal candidate will also be able to help us to make reasonable adjustments for this patient group.

About us

The Corporate Nursing Team support all the clinical divisions with specialist knowledge - Safeguarding, Infection Prevention and Control, Tissue Viability, Falls Prevention, Practice Development and Nursing Practice Development. Learning Disabilities and Autism work most closely with the Safeguarding Team and are able to call on the dedicated Safeguarding administrative staff for support with reviews, best interest meetings and reports.

The Corporate Nursing Team and the Trust are committed to achieving the best care possible for every patient and are driven by an ethos of quality improvement.

Details

Date posted

15 January 2024

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£35,392 to £42,618 a year pa

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

318-24-COR-R12236

Job locations

Trustwide

Gloucester & Cheltenham

GL1 3NN


Job description

Job responsibilities

The key duties of this job are to be an advocate and adviser for people of all ages with diagnosed or possible autism and their relatives and carers within our secondary healthcare environment and to be an adviser to secondary healthcare staff in how to achieve equitable healthcare outcomes for this group of patients.

You will need to be able to communicate effectively with patients who have a wide range of neurodiversity and learning disabilities, their relatives, their carers and all members of the multidisciplinary team, including providing accessible information for a range of investigations and procedures.

We are working in partnership with our community colleagues on the Oliver McGowan learning disability and autism training and will expect you to promote and participate in delivering this training as well as contributing to team-based training and training within virtual and classroom environments.

We expect you to demonstrate and promote a patient and family centred style of practice, supporting them particularly closely during the transition from Childrens Services to Adult Services during the patients adolescent years. As such we expect you to take a key role in team meetings, case conferences and specialist interest group meetings and to build relationships with families who will require our services at regular intervals throughout the patients life.

We have identified areas for quality improvement related to this patient group and will expect you to undertake a quality improvement project each year.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The key duties of this job are to be an advocate and adviser for people of all ages with diagnosed or possible autism and their relatives and carers within our secondary healthcare environment and to be an adviser to secondary healthcare staff in how to achieve equitable healthcare outcomes for this group of patients.

You will need to be able to communicate effectively with patients who have a wide range of neurodiversity and learning disabilities, their relatives, their carers and all members of the multidisciplinary team, including providing accessible information for a range of investigations and procedures.

We are working in partnership with our community colleagues on the Oliver McGowan learning disability and autism training and will expect you to promote and participate in delivering this training as well as contributing to team-based training and training within virtual and classroom environments.

We expect you to demonstrate and promote a patient and family centred style of practice, supporting them particularly closely during the transition from Childrens Services to Adult Services during the patients adolescent years. As such we expect you to take a key role in team meetings, case conferences and specialist interest group meetings and to build relationships with families who will require our services at regular intervals throughout the patients life.

We have identified areas for quality improvement related to this patient group and will expect you to undertake a quality improvement project each year.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • UK recognised degree in Nursing, Midwifery or an Allied Healthcare Profession
  • Active registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council or the Healthcare Professions Council

Experience

Essential

  • Extensive experience of working with autistic people in community settings
  • Experience of working with people with unpredictable and challenging behaviour
  • Experience of working with autistic people with and without a learning disability and complex health needs
  • Experience supervising and mentoring students and junior registrants

Desirable

  • Experience (through placement or employment) of working in an acute clinical environment

Knowledge / Skills

Essential

  • Able to communicate and receive complex information and translate this in a meaningful way to the audience at the time - patients, relatives, carers, other healthcare professionals, LeDeR reviewers
  • Excellent presentational, communication and interpersonal skills
  • Able to adapt communication style and content to patients with varying degrees of understanding, their family members, their carers and healthcare professionals
  • Use of clinical reasoning skills and techniques to assess, plan and offer a range of reasonable adjustments to enable acute healthcare of autistic people
  • Personally resilient and able to manage complexity and work in an ambiguous or changing environment.
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • UK recognised degree in Nursing, Midwifery or an Allied Healthcare Profession
  • Active registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council or the Healthcare Professions Council

Experience

Essential

  • Extensive experience of working with autistic people in community settings
  • Experience of working with people with unpredictable and challenging behaviour
  • Experience of working with autistic people with and without a learning disability and complex health needs
  • Experience supervising and mentoring students and junior registrants

Desirable

  • Experience (through placement or employment) of working in an acute clinical environment

Knowledge / Skills

Essential

  • Able to communicate and receive complex information and translate this in a meaningful way to the audience at the time - patients, relatives, carers, other healthcare professionals, LeDeR reviewers
  • Excellent presentational, communication and interpersonal skills
  • Able to adapt communication style and content to patients with varying degrees of understanding, their family members, their carers and healthcare professionals
  • Use of clinical reasoning skills and techniques to assess, plan and offer a range of reasonable adjustments to enable acute healthcare of autistic people
  • Personally resilient and able to manage complexity and work in an ambiguous or changing 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.

UK Registration

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

Additional information

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

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Trustwide

Gloucester & Cheltenham

GL1 3NN


Employer's website

https://www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Trustwide

Gloucester & Cheltenham

GL1 3NN


Employer's website

https://www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Lead for Safeguarding Adults

Jeanette Welsh

Jeanette.Welsh@nhs.net

07817059450

Details

Date posted

15 January 2024

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£35,392 to £42,618 a year pa

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

318-24-COR-R12236

Job locations

Trustwide

Gloucester & Cheltenham

GL1 3NN


Supporting documents

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