Job summary
This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic, motivated and qualified specialist Social Worker, Occupational Therapist, or Physiotherapist, to work within the CNWL Community Palliative Care Service, covering the boroughs of North East Westminster, Camden and Islington.
The post holder will be responsible and accountable for the management of the Social Work and Therapies establishment within the Community Palliative Care Team. Under the supervision of the Operational Lead in Palliative Care, the post holder will be integral to the overall functioning of the service and to ensure excellent palliative and end of life clinical outcomes for patients and their families continue to be achieved. The post holder will also contribute to other facets of the wider service delivery including research, education, governance and training.
The hours of work for this post are Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm. The post holder will work closely with and provide cross cover for the service line management when necessary.
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will be expected to provide clinical and managerial support to the Palliative Care Social Work and Therapy team. They will ensure all social work and therapy is provided in a holistic and professional manner that is evidence based and that is delivered in the most efficient way. They will provide a resource for other health care professionals and providers of care involved in the care of patients with Palliative Care needs.
The postholder will also be expected to participate in educational activities for all members of the multi-disciplinary team in formal and informal settings, as well as undertake and assist with management duties in support of and in conjunction with the senior management team.
The postholder will also need to maintain a caseload of complex palliative care patients across both Camden and Islington boroughs
About us
The Camden, Islington ELiPSe and UCLH & HCA Palliative Care Service is a well-established specialist palliative care service that has gained recognition for its innovative, integrated and comprehensive care provision. The service delivers a Specialist Palliative Care (SPC) Service throughout University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) at UCLH, and within the local communities of South Camden, North East Westminster and Islington. The service has a robust programme of clinical governance, service improvement, audit/QI and education. There is an annual general meeting and team away days each year.
The service works closely with primary care and other specialist palliative care providers including Marie Curie Hospice Hampstead, Whittington Health, Royal Free Hospital, St John's Hospice and St Joseph's Hospice. It is a member of the North Central and North East London Palliative Care reference group, PallE8, and the UCL Palliative Care Research Consortium. It is a training unit for specialty registrars.
The service operates a 7 day a week 9am- 8pm visiting on-call service that covers Camden and Islington Communities, UCLH and HCA wards. The 1ston-call practitioner is either a clinical nurse specialist or specialty trainee from within the team, and the 2ndon-call practitioner is either a medical consultant or nurse consultant (the frequency of 2ndon-call is normally 1 in 8 with internal cover).
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical
- To be professionally and legally accountable for all work undertaken.
- To ensure the effective coordination and continuity of patient care.
- To manage clinical risk in own caseload and ensure that other staff comply e.g. manual handling risk assessment and local policy regarding lone working.
- To use comprehensive knowledge of other multidisciplinary roles and external agencies to ensure best referral management and achieve best patient care.
- To contribute to the development and implementation of uni-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary clinical policies, guidelines, protocols and care pathway implementation.
Management
- To use highly developed time management skills, to respond to conflicting demands from patients and their informal carers, staff and external agencies on a daily basis.
- To contribute to the CPD of all team members, students and visitors including regular supervision and teaching and training.
- To contribute to maintaining effective communication lines within the service and with other relevant services.
- To support the Operational Lead, Service Manager and the clinical leads in evaluating the service to assist in planning and developing the service further.
- To lead on incident recording and investigation in relation to social work and therapy concerns and to liaise with the service manager / Community team leader as appropriate.
- To take specific responsibility for a project within an area of practice that will improve clinical outcomes within Palliative Care.
- To develop a strategic outlook across both services-using specialist knowledge to advise and support service development
Education
- To lead and participate in educational programmes, research, and internal/external training initiatives designed to improve skills to a range of professionals and service development.
- Contribute and support to the Clinical Governance strategy. Use analysis skills to interpret data and evidence from published research and implement the findings into practice.
Communication
- To establish and maintain effective lines of communication within the team, with service users, and with other health and social care agencies.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical
- To be professionally and legally accountable for all work undertaken.
- To ensure the effective coordination and continuity of patient care.
- To manage clinical risk in own caseload and ensure that other staff comply e.g. manual handling risk assessment and local policy regarding lone working.
- To use comprehensive knowledge of other multidisciplinary roles and external agencies to ensure best referral management and achieve best patient care.
- To contribute to the development and implementation of uni-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary clinical policies, guidelines, protocols and care pathway implementation.
Management
- To use highly developed time management skills, to respond to conflicting demands from patients and their informal carers, staff and external agencies on a daily basis.
- To contribute to the CPD of all team members, students and visitors including regular supervision and teaching and training.
- To contribute to maintaining effective communication lines within the service and with other relevant services.
- To support the Operational Lead, Service Manager and the clinical leads in evaluating the service to assist in planning and developing the service further.
- To lead on incident recording and investigation in relation to social work and therapy concerns and to liaise with the service manager / Community team leader as appropriate.
- To take specific responsibility for a project within an area of practice that will improve clinical outcomes within Palliative Care.
- To develop a strategic outlook across both services-using specialist knowledge to advise and support service development
Education
- To lead and participate in educational programmes, research, and internal/external training initiatives designed to improve skills to a range of professionals and service development.
- Contribute and support to the Clinical Governance strategy. Use analysis skills to interpret data and evidence from published research and implement the findings into practice.
Communication
- To establish and maintain effective lines of communication within the team, with service users, and with other health and social care agencies.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- Degree / Diploma in Social Work, Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy
- Registration with Social Work England / HCPC
Desirable
- Member of Social Work England, BAOT or CSP
- Post-Graduate degree
- Membership and/or involvement in special interest group
- Post Registration courses
Previous experience
Essential
- Substantial post-qualification experience
- Experience of leading a team
- Experience in managing a case load of patients
- Assessing and care planning for complex patients
- Evaluating care and altering it when needed
- Multi-agency/integrated working
- An understanding of the current health service policies
- Multi-disciplinary team working
- Experience of working as an autonomous practitioner in a community setting
- Involvement in audit and service developments
- Implementing service development and redesign
Desirable
Skills and Knowledge
Essential
- Effective communication skills managing the communication of difficult matters and/or in difficult situations
- Manages the improvement of quality in oneself and across the team
- Able to appraise, interpret and apply suggestions, recommendations and directives to improve services
- Demonstrate a high level of assessment skills, clinical judgement, acting autonomously in a variety of contexts, including acute and primary care settings
- Innovative and flexible working
- Evidence of development of own knowledge and skills, within the competency framework, in order to function as an advanced clinical practitioner
- Knowledge of the role of other professionals
- Knowledge of long-term conditions including end of life care and the drive towards care for these patients
- Understanding of clinical governance and/or risk management in practice
- Understanding of the needs of the diverse population within Camden / Islington and the associated health care needs and requirements
Desirable
- Excellent IT skills including Outlook, Word, Excel, databases etc
Other
Desirable
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- Degree / Diploma in Social Work, Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy
- Registration with Social Work England / HCPC
Desirable
- Member of Social Work England, BAOT or CSP
- Post-Graduate degree
- Membership and/or involvement in special interest group
- Post Registration courses
Previous experience
Essential
- Substantial post-qualification experience
- Experience of leading a team
- Experience in managing a case load of patients
- Assessing and care planning for complex patients
- Evaluating care and altering it when needed
- Multi-agency/integrated working
- An understanding of the current health service policies
- Multi-disciplinary team working
- Experience of working as an autonomous practitioner in a community setting
- Involvement in audit and service developments
- Implementing service development and redesign
Desirable
Skills and Knowledge
Essential
- Effective communication skills managing the communication of difficult matters and/or in difficult situations
- Manages the improvement of quality in oneself and across the team
- Able to appraise, interpret and apply suggestions, recommendations and directives to improve services
- Demonstrate a high level of assessment skills, clinical judgement, acting autonomously in a variety of contexts, including acute and primary care settings
- Innovative and flexible working
- Evidence of development of own knowledge and skills, within the competency framework, in order to function as an advanced clinical practitioner
- Knowledge of the role of other professionals
- Knowledge of long-term conditions including end of life care and the drive towards care for these patients
- Understanding of clinical governance and/or risk management in practice
- Understanding of the needs of the diverse population within Camden / Islington and the associated health care needs and requirements
Desirable
- Excellent IT skills including Outlook, Word, Excel, databases etc
Other
Desirable
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.
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).
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.
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).
