Specialist Social Worker | Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust; Manchester; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization in Manchester seeks a Social Worker to lead safeguarding efforts for children and young people. This role involves assessing social care needs, collaborating with health services, and ensuring effective family support. Applicants should have relevant social care qualifications and experience in safeguarding practices. Join a dynamic team dedicated to the wellbeing of children and promoting a culture of inclusivity.

Benefits

Opportunities for career development

Work in a diverse and inclusive environment

Access to digital resources and training

Qualifications

• Experience in safeguarding and child protection.
• Ability to assess and respond to complex social care needs.
• Proven experience working within multi-disciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead social care requirements for children and young people.
• Provide social care risk assessments and contribute to care planning.
• Collaborate with safeguarding teams and local authorities.

Skills

Safeguarding best practices

Social care risk assessments

Collaboration with healthcare professionals

Effective communication with families

Education

Relevant social work qualification

Job description

To function as an independent senior member of the MDT, leading on the identification of social care requirements, safeguarding needs of children and young people, and safeguarding processes within the service, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children and young people, and ensuring staff follow correct policy and procedure.

To contribute towards the management and development of the Service.

To provide social care risk assessments appropriate to the child/young person’s and parent’s/carers needs and contribute to care planning within a multi-disciplinary team.

To work with and develop effective relationships with voluntary and statutory social care services.

To ensure parents and carers' needs are identified and assessed.

To develop the role of social work within the service and ensure active engagement with national inpatient CAMH services.

Safeguarding

• To collaborate with Trust safeguarding nurses and the named doctor for safeguarding.
• To promote safeguarding best practice, working in partnership with the MDT and Safeguarding Team.
• To ensure safeguarding referrals are made to the local authority and lead on disclosure work in collaboration with the MDT and Safeguarding Team.
• Support families/carers in developing practical parenting strategies to enhance positive parent/carer-child relations.
• Access the needs of children and young people who may need Local Authority Children’s Social Care intervention and make appropriate referrals.
• Create and maintain effective relationships with children, young people, their parents, families, and carers to ensure diverse needs are identified, met, and reviewed.
• To liaise with local authorities under Section 85 of the Children Act where children have been, or are expected to be, in inpatient care for three months or more.
• To further enhance safeguarding training and supervision for service staff in accordance with Trust and Divisional policies.
• To provide information, advice, and signposting to resources on safeguarding children/young people and be accessible to all staff to support their day-to-day practice.

Please see JD & PS for further information.

MFT is one of the largest NHS Trusts in England with a turnover of over £3bn. We are creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.

Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 30,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate, offering a scale of opportunity that is extraordinary.

We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness, and drive research and innovation through Hive, our Electronic Patient Record system launched in September 2022.

We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing a robust infrastructure for high-quality research programs. We’re also embarking on our Green Plan, which sets out how MFT continues to make healthcare more sustainable.

At MFT, we foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, providing equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open, and transparent, while protecting your health and wellbeing, and shaping our future together.

To learn more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience required, please see the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under ‘Supporting Documents’. We recommend reading the ‘Candidate Essentials Guide’ alongside these documents for comprehensive information about the Trust, our benefits, and application guidance, including important pre-application details.

Diversity Matters

MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating diversity, and eliminating discrimination across our workforce to ensure our team reflects the communities we serve. We encourage applications from all individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. If you have any special requirements to assist with your application, please contact us at [e-mail].

We look forward to hearing from you!