Specialist Social Worker - Palliative and End of Life Care

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare institution in Greater London seeks an ambitious Specialist Social Worker for their Palliative and End of Life Care Team. The role involves providing personalized social work support, managing a caseload, and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams. Candidates should have strong social work expertise and experience in sensitive environments. This position offers substantial career development opportunities, including training and clinical supervision. Join an integrated team committed to exceptional patient care and support.

Benefits

Career progression opportunities

Clinical supervision support

Training and development access

Qualifications

• Experience working in palliative and end-of-life care.
• Ability to manage a diverse caseload of patients autonomously.
• Strong understanding of the psychological and social impacts of life-limiting conditions.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist social work and family support service.
• Assess and evaluate complex social needs of patients and families.
• Work with multidisciplinary teams to improve service delivery.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Social work expertise

Advocacy

Team collaboration

Education

Qualified Social Worker

Experience in Palliative Care

Job description

Band7 Specialist Social Worker - Palliative and End of Life Care - 0.6WTE permanent post

A Vacancy at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. We are looking for an ambitious and experienced Specialist Social Worker with excellent skills to join our well‑established multidisciplinary Palliative and End of Life Care Team at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. We provide fully integrated 24/7 clinically effective, efficient and high‑quality care to people with complex specialist palliative and end of life care needs across inpatient and community settings.

The successful post holder will lead and support the delivery of excellent personalised social work support to patients and families across our two inpatient hospital teams, in their own homes, care homes.

If you are looking for an amazing opportunity for career progression and to develop or expand your skills in quality improvement, research / audit, then please come and join our team. We're a member of the Palliative Care Clinical Academic Group, providing unique access to world leading researchers in the field. You will have the opportunity to develop teaching skills through delivering training across the Trust. We support our staff wellbeing through clinical supervision as well as multiple team and Trust wide initiatives. Please [e-mail] find out more about our team.

Closing Date

Sunday 11th January 2026 at Midnight

Provisional Interview Date

Tuesday 20th January 2026

Responsibilities

• Provide a specialist social work and family support service to patients, their carers and families.
• Contribute within the team and understanding of the psychological and social impact of life limiting on people from very diverse communities.
• Provide and promote a specialist, comprehensive and evidence‑based social work service at Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust.
• Work autonomously, managing a caseload of patients.
• Recognise, advocate and empower patient choice, and promote the autonomy of the individual within the healthcare system.
• Work alongside other member of the Palliative and End of Life Team to deliver and develop the service Trust wide.

Additional Responsibilities

• Assess, evaluate and support the complex social need of palliative care patient and their carers/families.
• Develop therapeutic relationships with patients and their families/carers in order to establish communication, trust and support.
• Maintain their own caseload of patients/families/carers and provide one‑to‑one/group support for patients/families/carers.
• Advocate on behalf of patients/families/carers in respect of their social, cultural, financial, emotional and practical needs, providing or signposting patients/families/carers toward benefits advice.
• Provide expert social work interventions including information, pre and post bereavement advice, support to patients, their families and other healthcare professionals.
• Assess and evaluate risk for vulnerable patients/families/carers and manage the risk appropriately.
• Establish and develop relationships with a wide range of clinical staff, Social Services, Benefit Agencies, Welfare Groups and other service providers to promote a joined‑up approach to discharge planning and patient/family/carer support.
• Be a source of expert advice to the multi‑disciplinary team, advising on statutory duties/responsibilities and evolving social work practice, social policy and legal frameworks.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.

Integrated Local Services provides a range of community and inpatient health services for adults within the communities of Lambeth and Southwark, with some services also provided in Lewisham. The services provided by the directorate include Neighbourhood Nursing, Specialist Rehabilitation and Reablement (bed and home based), Palliative and End of Life Care, Vulnerable Adults and Prevention Services, GSTT@Home, and site administration services.

The Palliative Care team provides specialist information and supportive care to people facing serious illness. This includes symptom control and advance care planning. We recognise that emotional, spiritual, family and financial worries can be just as important as physical problems and we support with these aspects of care as well. Our Palliative and End of Life Care team includes specialist nurses and doctors, pharmacists, social workers, psychological support staff and administrative staff to help with the consequences of serious illnesses such as cancer and long‑term health conditions. We are able to see patients in hospital, in their own home, and in our outpatient clinics.

Advert Closing

This advert closes on Sunday 11 Jan 2026