Job responsibilities
Children in Care Council, 2016
We need workers who think about how they treat us. This means
workers who treat us fairly and who show us they care. We dont want
to be labelled and we should be treated like normal people; dont look
down on us.
Workers need excellent communication skills, this includes listening skills. Our workers need to be
able to listen to our views, ask how and what we are feeling and make sure they understand what
we are saying by checking back with us. We expect our workers to demonstrate that they respect us
and our experience in real ways by not taking phone calls during meetings, and by writing down
what we say and talking in short simple language.
Finally, we expect our workers to work hard for us. This means doing what they say they will do,
sticking to promises and not making excuses. We expect our workers to respond promptly to us and
provide up to date contact details, especially for out of hours. It is important that workers build good
relationships with us and are flexible and willing to change their view and always do what is best for
us.
Job Purpose:
To effectively lead and deliver the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) 0-19 (DH 2010)
thereby improving outcomes for children and families.
To contribute to the Public Health Agenda, meet Public Health targets and reduce health
inequalities in partnership with key agencies meeting National agendas
To promote the protection of children, adhering to the Local Safeguarding Childrens
Board policies and procedures.
To actively lead teams both within Health Visiting and School Nurses and partner
agencies where appropriate, e.g.: Advisory Boards of Childrens Centres.
A requirement to be rostered regularly in the hub within a defined geographical area to
provide a Single point of access to families and stakeholders providing information, advice
and triaging referrals within the service.
To work as part of a team to ensure that Key Performance Indicator targets that are
set/negotiated by Local Area Teams/Commissioners for the service, eg: antenatal visits
are met.
To support service development, standard setting, clinical audit and bench marking,
deliver a high quality needs led, safe and effective service to all client groups.
Key Responsibilities:
This list is intended to summarise the key responsibilities and is not intended to cover every
task that may be required of the role:
To provide effective clinical leadership to the Public Health nursing team, enabling the
team to deliver to the current Health Visiting and School Nursing standards, ensuring that
evidence based practice is used.
To take responsibility for the line management of support staff (skill mix) within the team,
providing supervision and annual appraisal as per Devon County Council policy. Support
the manager and professional lead/team leader in the development of the skills and
knowledge of the team in order to maintain the competency level of the whole team.
Participate in the recruitment, selection and retention of staff to enhance skill mix within
the team.
Facilitate inductions for public health nursing staff new to Devon County Council.
To mentor pre-registration students on a regular basis. To mentor SCPHN students as
needed with the support of a Practice Teacher. To act as Preceptor for newly qualified
practitioners in their first year of practice.
To actively take responsibility for appropriately identifying, accessing and participating in
supervision, according to individual need i.e.: Child Protection, Restorative, and Clinical.
Work closely with Childrens Centres actively participating in joint care planning meetings
and attending Advisory Board meetings as the named Health Visitor as per Partnership
Agreement.
School nurses to work closely with learning communities, teachers and Boards of
Governors as appropriate.
Has an awareness of national policy and how this affects local policy and service
development and provision.
Initiate and participate in research, audit, surveys and service user feedback.
To lead meetings in local area bases and delegate work appropriately to the skill mix
team and promote positive team working.
Develop and maintain effective communication networks, with service users, health care
professionals and other statutory and voluntary organisations.
Patient Care Responsibilities
To undertake clinical activities within the scope of professional practice. E.g. NHSP
competencies.
Plan, implement and evaluate health enhancing activities to meet health needs of the
local population through home visiting, community development, clinics, workshops,
support groups and parenting programmes, focusing on key national and local targets.
To develop a workload profile, identifying needs as Universal, Universal Plus, Universal
Partnership Plus.
To identify children and families in need of early help through the Common Assessment
Framework, known locally as the Early Help Assessment. To act as Lead Professional as
required.
Support and manage projects around health enhancing activities e.g postnatal support
services, Baby Friendly Initiative, promoting the emotional health of young people.
Act as a named Health Visitor/School nurse within context of caseload management.
Act in accordance with current local and Trust guidelines/policies to protect children at
risk. Takes professional responsibility and accountability in the joint decision making
process within the Child Protection arena.
Freedom to Act
Able to work alone, assessing risk within risk management guidelines, and is accountable for
own actions within the Standards, Policies and Procedures, set out by the Nursing and
Midwifery Council, Devon County Council and local Safeguarding Children Panel. This
includes mandatory child protection clinical supervision.
Able to recognise situations where advice and help are required from managers, professional
or child protection leaders eg: safeguarding and seeks advice accordingly.
Able to arrange safe, timely and effective responses to acute situations, for example,
disclosure of domestic or child abuse, individuals with suicidal intent. In such situations, able
to offer appropriate first line assistance and refer appropriately.
Location/Mobility
You may be required to work at or from any additional location as may be determined by
Devon County Council from time to time. Devon County Council also reserves the right from
time to time to change your base on a permanent basis to a location determined by it at the
time the change is made.
You may also be required to travel between Devon County Council premises for the
performance of your duties.
Confidentiality and Information Security
As a Devon County Council employee, you will be required to uphold the confidentiality of all
records held by the company, whether patients/service records or corporate information. This
duty lasts indefinitely and will continue after you leave the companys employment.
All information which identifies living individuals in whatever form (paper/pictures, electronic
data/images or voice) is covered by the 1998 Data Protection Act and should be managed in
accordance with this legislation. This and all other information must be held in line with Devon
County Council Policies and NHS national standards including the Records Management:
NHS Code of Practice , NHS Constitution and HSCIC Code of Practice on Confidential
Information and should only be accessed or disclosed lawfully. Monitoring of compliance will
be undertaken by Devon County Council. Failure to adhere to Information Governance
policies and procedures may result in disciplinary action and, where applicable, criminal
prosecution.
Information Governance Responsibilities
As a Devon County Council employee you are responsible for the following key aspects of
Information Governance (not an exhaustive list):
Completion of annual information governance training
Follow Devon County Council Governance Policies and Procedures
Reading applicable policies and procedures
Understanding key responsibilities outlined in the Information Governance acceptable
usage policies and procedures including Devon County Council and NHS mandated
encryption requirements
Ensuring the security and confidentiality of all records and personal information assets
Maintaining timely and accurate record keeping and where appropriate, in accordance
with professional guidelines
Adherence to the clear desk/screen policy
Only using email accounts authorised by Devon County Council e.g.
@devon.gov.co.uk, NHSmail etc. These should be used in accordance with Policies.
Reporting information governance incidents and near misses to Devon County Council
Information Governance using the correct procedure.
Only using approved equipment for the use of Devon County Council business
Governance
Clinical governance is a framework through which organisations delivering health and care
services are accountable to continuously improving the quality of their services and
safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which clinical and other
forms of care flourishes. Employees must be aware that clinical governance places a duty on
all staff to ensure that the level of care services they deliver to patients is safe and high
quality, and that they follow/comply with Devon County Council policies and procedures.
Registered Health Professional
All staff who are a member of a professional body must comply with standards of professional
practice / conduct. It is the post holders responsibility to ensure they are both familiar with
and adhere to these requirements.
Please refer to the full Job Description / Person Specification on the right hand side when completing your application.