Social Worker

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust; Melling Mount; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust invites applications for a Band 6 Forensic Social Work post at Ashworth High Secure Hospital. You will work within the CPA framework, delivering a professional social work service to patients and their families, liaising with MDT colleagues and external stakeholders from admission to discharge.

You will provide case management, undertake assessments, and contribute to discharge planning, safeguarding, and management of risk in a forensic setting.

Qualifications

• Experience in social work within forensic settings preferred.
• Ability to deliver case management within CPA framework.
• Strong assessment, analytical, and communication skills.
• Knowledge of safeguarding frameworks and health and social care legislation.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional social work services to patients, families and carers.
• Conduct pre-admission referrals, discharge planning and social history reports.
• Collaborate with MDT colleagues and external stakeholders from admission to discharge.
• Prepare reports for the Ministry of Justice and tribunals as required.

Skills

Forensic social work

Case management

MDT collaboration

Mental health legislation

Risk assessment

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Social Worker within the Secure Care Division of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. We are looking to recruit a dynamic and skilled Social Worker into a band 6 Forensic Social work post at Ashworth High Secure Hospital. We are keen to consider applicants from different practice areas of social work with transferable skills and will support professional development in forensic social work practice.

Ashworth Social Work Department provides a service to patients, their families and carers and routinely works in collaboration with them, MDT colleagues and external stakeholders from the point of pre-admission to discharge. The service strives to deliver the Trust's vision of Perfect and Trauma informed care to promote recovery and support service users to move on and manage risk.

Social care activities range from pre-admission referral assessments, Mental Health Review Tribunal work, Safeguarding Strategy & Section 42 enquiries, Social Supervision, Discharge Coordination, Victim Communication & Liaison, MAPPA, Appropriate Adult (PACE), Care Reviews & Discharge Planning, CPA (Care Programme Approach), CTR (Care & Treatment Reviews) and Social History reports.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

You will be an active member of a multi-disciplinary team and will bring the social care perspective to service planning meetings and individualised care planning. The role involves providing case management to a defined caseload within the CPA framework and working collaboratively with multidisciplinary colleagues to assess needs and risks within a forensic patient population. You will provide a professional social work service to patients, their families and carers and routinely liaise with external stakeholders from the point of admission to discharge.

The successful candidate will have the ability to deliver an efficient and high quality social care service, have well developed assessment and analytical skills alongside effective interpersonal, communication and organisational skills.

You must have good knowledge of the key relevant Health & Social Care and Criminal Justice legislation to work in a forensic setting as well as a good knowledge around safeguarding frameworks. You should have well developed report writing skills as routinely you will be required to complete mental health legislation reports for the Ministry of Justice along with Manager's Hearings and Tribunals alongside assessment reports for admission and discharge.