Support Worker - Social Care

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; Welwyn Garden City; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading Mental Health Service Provider is seeking a Senior Support Worker to assist in the care of older people with mental health issues. The ideal candidate will have experience in mental health services, strong communication skills, and a commitment to quality care. Responsibilities include assessing patient needs, providing advice to families, and documenting care. Join a recognized outstanding organization in Welwyn Garden City.

Qualifications

• Understanding of relevant legislation, e.g. Mental Health Act.
• Ability to document duties performed accurately.

Responsibilities

• Assess care needs and risk for patients.
• Provide advice and guidance on social care provision.
• Document all activities accurately.
• Participate in team audits and challenge poor practices.

Skills

Experience of working within mental health services

Excellent communication skills

Good problem-solving skills

Information gathering skills

Tools

Word

Job description

Overview

We have an exciting and rare opportunity within Mental Health Services for Older People for an experienced Senior Support Worker to join our social care team to assist us with the smooth running of the service. The post holder will be expected to assess need, plan, implement/ commission and evaluate care for a number of people allocated to them; this will include decisions regarding risk and risk management. The post holder will regularly work alone, without direct supervision, they will however be accountable to a qualified member of the team. The post holder will exercise communication skills, both verbal and written and be able to engage with acutely distressed people in challenging and unknown situations. As a staff member the post holder represents Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) and will play a vital role in fostering positive relationships and communication between the Mental Health Trust and not only the clients and their carers and relatives, but also other agencies, charities, and providers. All staff should comply with the Trust's Anti-Discriminatory Statement, Employee Charter, Trust Policies and Procedures, Code of Conduct and Equality and Diversity.

Responsibilities

• Be allocated a number of people, whom they will complete an assessment of care needs (primarily social care) and risk assessment of patients presenting with a wide variety of clinical conditions. Following this the post holder will be responsible for the development, implementation, and evaluation of programmes of care, without direct supervision (though clinical supervision is implemented as per policy to support you).
• Be required to provide advice, guidance and education to clients and their carers and families regarding social care provision and policy.
• Participate fully in providing quality of care in line with local and national guidelines.
• Act as a role model in providing a service for people with mental health problems.
• Participate in team audit projects associated with the service.
• Be required to challenge practice that compromises or challenges high quality care to older people.
• To advise Team Manager of any resource short falls.
• To partake in continuing professional development that will also benefit the development and quality of the service.
• Document all activity on Care Notes (PARIS), ACSIS and Outlook, and to utilise Employee Online, Online Expenses and other computerised systems.

Knowledge, skills and qualifications

• Experience of working within mental health services (or other social care service).
• Knowledge of relevant legislation, e.g. Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, National Service Framework for Older People, National Dementia Strategy.
• Use of computer programmes e.g. Word.

Desirable criteria

• Completed training courses relevant to mental health and cognitive disorders.
• Knowledge of FACS criteria.
• Knowledge and ability to use Care Notes and ACSIS computer systems; excellent communication skills, verbally and in writing.
• Ability to feedback and discuss cases within the multidisciplinary team; excellent documentation of duties performed; good range of problem solving skills; good range of information gathering skills.

Other information

Candidates who require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the United Kingdom can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for this position by assessing their circumstances against the criteria specified on the GOV.UK website. We would encourage all applicants to review the criteria carefully to understand their eligibility for sponsorship.

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from the Care Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.

Our family of over 4000 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services. The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers - everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout: Welcoming, Kind, Positive, Respectful, Professional. These values are at the core of who we are, everything we do, and how we do it!

Would you like to be part of the HPFT family? Would you like work with us to ensure our service users live the fullest lives possible they can? Would you like to be supported in your career to be the best that you can be?

Note

HPFT is rated by the Care Quality Commission as an Outstanding provider of mental health and learning disability services. In 2021, we won the Health Service Journal award for Mental Health Trust of the Year. This year, our staff rated us the 4th best mental health and learning disability trust to work for out of all 52 trusts in the country.