Discharge Pathway Facilitator (Inpatient Social Worker)

Lancashire Care Foundation Trust; Preston; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a qualified Social Worker to join Secure Services Guild Lodge as a Forensic Discharge Pathway Facilitator (Inpatient Social Worker). You will work within the Multi-Disciplinary Team to assess social care needs, plan discharges, and coordinate with internal and external agencies.

The role requires Social Work England registration and experience in secure mental health settings, with a focus on discharge planning and collaboration with

Qualifications

• Qualified Social Worker with Social Work England registration.
• Experience in Secure Mental Health and Offender Health is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead social care assessment from pre-admission and identify social needs.
• Support discharge planning and identify barriers to timely discharge.
• Attend Multi-Disciplinary meetings (Care Team, CPA, Best Interests, MAPPA).
• Provide comprehensive social care assessments to facilitate funding and discharge to the community.

Skills

Social Work England registration

Inpatient social work

Job description

A Vacancy at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.

An opportunity has arisen to join Secure Services Guild Lodge as a Forensic Discharge Pathway Facilitator (Inpatient Social Worker). The post holder is required to be a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England registration.

The Discharge Pathway Facilitator (Inpatient Social Worker) is an integral member of the Multi-Disciplinary Team. The Post Holder will work in close partnership with a range of agencies and organisations internal and external to LSCFT to offer social care input. They will take a lead role from pre-admission by completing a holistic social work assessment, identifying any social work needs, undertake family work, and support with discharge planning. This includes early identification of barriers to discharge, taking action to prevent any unnecessary delay to discharges.

Secure Mental Health inpatient care for Lancashire and South Cumbria is provided at Guild Lodge, Whittingham. The service has steadily expanded from it's inception in 1999 and currently has a range of inpatient and community services.

Guild Lodge has 144 beds and is made up of 3 Care Pathways:

Men's Care Pathway – Men’s Medium secure, Low secure and step down wards

Women's Care Pathway – Women’s Medium and Low secure wards

Forensic Brain Injury Service - Men’s Medium and Low secure wards

Guild Lodge hospital site is situated in a beautiful rural area, yet close to motorway links from all directions of travel

This post will be suited to a Social Work England registered Social Worker with an interest and knowledge of Secure Mental Health and Offender Health.

The Post Holder will work in close partnership with a range of professionals, agencies and organisations both internal and external to LSCFT to ensure effective social care provision and discharge processes within Guild Lodge.

The Post Holder will take a lead role in providing a social care service to patient at Guild Lodge and facilitating discharge planning. This will include:

Demonstrates specialist skills to ensure all necessary assessments for a complex patient group for example Health and Social Needs assessments are completed in a timely fashion.

Demonstrates knowledge of complex mental, physical health, and Learning Disability and Autism needs.

Support with identifying the need for capacity assessments and liaise with the Local Authorities or the Decision Maker about this.

Attend Multi-Disciplinary meetings for example, Care Team Meetings, Care Programme Approach and Best Interest’s meetings, and MAPPA meetings.

In-depth knowledge of individual patient’s needs, requirements and wishes which will be used to formulate in depth assessments to facilitate funding applications and discharge into the community.

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Explore our full wellbeing offer here:Keeping our workforce well

Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.

This advert closes on Sunday 11 Oct 2026

£49,387 - £64,750 per annum (subject to confirmation)