Social Worker

Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; Colchester; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

An exciting opportunity awaits motivated social workers to join a leading health service provider dedicated to mental health and community care. As part of a dynamic discharge team, you will play a crucial role in ensuring timely discharges for patients, working closely with families and the mental health system. This position offers the chance to make a significant impact on the lives of service users while benefiting from comprehensive support and development opportunities. Join a forward-thinking organization that values care, empowerment, and collaboration, and take the next step in your rewarding career in social work.

Benefits

Season Ticket Loans

NHS discounts for staff

Excellent Training facilities

Buying and Selling annual leave scheme

Flexible working options

Salary Sacrifice schemes

Qualifications

• Recognized Social Work Qualification is essential.
• Experience in multi-disciplinary teams is required.

Responsibilities

• Work as part of the discharge team ensuring timely patient discharges.
• Provide high quality interventions for service users with mental health difficulties.

Skills

Communication Skills

Flexibility

Creativity

Multi-disciplinary Teamwork

Assertiveness

Education

Degree in Social Work

Registration with Social Work England

Post Qualification Award in Social Work

Job description

EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:

• We are among the largest employers in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
• We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.

EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.

Our vision and values

Our Vision

“To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care”.

Our Purpose

“We care for people every day. What we do together, matters”.

Our Values

• We Care
• We Empower

Our strategic objectives

• We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
• We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
• We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
• We will help our communities to thrive.

Our services

• Mental Health Services
• Community Health Services
• Learning Disabilities Services
• Social Care

Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for highly motivated social workers to join Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) as locally we invest in the development of social workers and as we play a lead role in the ‘Think Ahead’ initiative. EPUT is a highly successful and ambitious organisation dedicated to providing mental health services, substance misuse services and other specialist award winning services to a population of approximately 2.5million throughout Essex, Bedfordshire and Suffolk.

We are seeking enthusiastic and resourceful social workers who will have the ability to respond positively and creatively to the needs of our service users.

Main duties of the job

You will work as part of the discharge team on one of our locality psychiatric units working with patients (currently on the psychiatric inpatient unit); their families, the mental health system and working proactively with the discharge coordinator to ensure that patients are discharged in a timely manner, ensuring that their needs under the Care Act (2014) are assessed and met.

Our posts require people with a high degree of flexibility and creativity and a positive, forward-thinking attitude.

You must be an excellent communicator, dynamic and well versed and assertive in multi-disciplinary working and developing and maintaining relationships with key partners.

In return we offer you support from our established Social Care Leadership Team, supervision, training and development opportunities.

Working for our organisation

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who share our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;

• Season Ticket Loans
• NHS discounts for staff
• Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
• Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
• The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
• Day One Flexible Employer

The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The successful candidate will work as a Social Worker as part of the discharge team providing high quality interventions to service users experiencing a wide range of mental health difficulties, promoting recovery and independence.

You will work with a defined caseload, working with individuals and their families, where there are system wide barriers that delay discharge and recovery. It would be highly beneficial if the successful candidate holds previous knowledge and/or experience of accommodation funding streams, local housing referral pathways and priority need, safeguarding, dual diagnosis, NRPF (No Recourse to Public Funds), and social circumstances that lead to both admission and challenges to discharge.

This post will involve implementing the personalisation agenda through strengths based assessments and you’ll be vital to delivering the statutory social care duties and responsibilities within the Care Act (2014).

The postholder is required to actively practice as an AMHP, if they have an AMHP qualification, on the Area AMHP rota, undertaking MHA assessments and other allocated work in relation to service users with a range of mental health problems and engaging with their carers so that, within the legislations, appropriate action is taken.

Person specification

Education/ Qualifications

• Possession of recognised Social Work Qualification – Degree in Social Work, DipSW, CQSW, CSS or equivalent
• Registration with Social Work England, Approved Mental Health Professional – either already approved as an AMHP, or agrees a commitment to AMHP training.
• Studying or willingness to study towards full Post Qualification Award in Social Work

Knowledge

• Multi-disciplinary Social Care experience within multi-disciplinary team – relevant to people with mental health difficulties.
• Knowledge and understanding of Social Care practice as defined by Social Work England and appropriate legislation and guidance.
• A variety of experiences working with people with mental health difficulties.
• Supervisory experience
• Awareness of government guidance and legislative changes across broad range of NHS and Social Care issues

Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered ‘suitable alternative employment’ to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.