Social Worker (6-months fixed term)
This job is now closed
Job summary
We are looking for a Social Worker interested in supporting vulnerable families accessing our childrens hospice care, who has experience of working within a safeguarding team.
Main duties of the job
This role sits within our Social Work and Transition Team, and the main purpose of the role is to provide expertise to children and families of life-limited children, young people and families accessing our care, including those living with life-limiting conditions and families accessing our specialist bereavement service.
To work directly with families providing advice and emotional support.
To respond appropriately as an advocate in support of children, young people and their families when they are interfacing with statutory services.
To work with the wider Family Support Services multi-disciplinary team, contributing knowledge and skill concerning families with complex social issues.
To work as part of the Safeguarding Team, providing social work expertise to our multi-disciplinary teams of professionals offering advice, support, training and supervision on safeguarding matters, ensuring that the welfare of children and adults who come into contact with the SSCH is promoted.
About us
Shooting Star Childrens Hospices is a leading childrens hospice charity caring for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families. We support families across Surrey and London from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional and medical care.
Details
Date posted
27 October 2023
Pay scheme
Other
Salary
£38,336 to £43,410 a year (pro rata)
Contract
Fixed term
Duration
6 months
Working pattern
Part-time
Reference number
B0299-SW-1023
Job locations
Christophers Shooting Star Childrens Hospices
Old Portsmouth Road
Artington
Guildford
GU3 1LP
Job description
Job responsibilities
a) Work relationships
SCCH care is delivered by four clinical areas under the direct operational management of the Heads of Care. The nature of Safeguarding work necessitates good relationships, awareness and understanding of these clinical areas, multi-disciplinary professionals, and the wider work of the charity:
Inhouse
Community Nursing
SPACE (specialist palliative care team)
Family Support Services (psychosocial care)
The Social Work and Transition Team sits is one of the Family Support Services and works collaboratively with these teams (family support work, counselling, therapies and care events), supporting also the in-house service, the community nursing team and symptoms management team with matters concerning social work, transition care and safeguarding. The Social Work and Transition Team is managed by the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
The individual in this role will work in partnership with internal and external professionals involved in the care of SSCH children, young adults and families. Including contact within external professional networks to enhance individual knowledge and skills, to ensure alignment with guidance and regulations, and to continually review Safeguarding and wider Social Work.
Main duties and key responsibilities
Safeguarding
Work as part of the Safeguarding Team, under the leadership of the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Act as a first point of contact for safeguarding referrals within the organisation, triaging effectively to determine those that are for internal information sharing, those that require onward referral and those that require urgent/immediate escalation.
Ensure safeguarding concerns are reported and dealt with safely and effectively in accordance with the organisations policy and procedure.
Facilitate the assessment of families needs in relation to family functioning, capacity, resilience and emotional risk, parenting styles/ attachment issues.
Advise care staff in supporting decision making when a young person or adult may lack capacity, in line with current legislation, understanding the ramification of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty safeguards, ensuring the care team take account of the requirements under the Mental Capacity Act.
To support staff to do everything in their power to ensure a young persons capacity can be assessed and to ensure were providing the least restrictive care for the individual.
Ensure accurate and contemporaneous notes and records of all contacts are recorded within the electronic notes system.
Produce written reports to a high standard, when requested.
Work collaboratively with partner agencies across health, social care, education and others to safeguard children and adults at risk and promote welfare.
Participate in external multi-disciplinary meetings with other statutory and non-statutory organisations and agencies relating to children, young people and their families. E.g. Child in need meetings, child protection case conferences.
Communicate highly sensitive and complex information appropriately in multi-agency forums. To support and empower the wider team in communicating highly sensitive and complex information to colleagues, partner agencies, families and individuals with professionalism.
Identify training needs and assist in developing and delivering appropriate programmes, specifically in the areas of safeguarding children and adults at risk, mental capacity act, deprivation of liberty safeguards, advocacy and supervision.
Contribute to safeguarding audit and quality improvement, to ensure equity of service and maintain high quality service provision.
Contribute to the development of policies and protocols that facilitate safe, effective and timely information sharing processes, reflecting current legislation and national policy.
Maintain professional membership and registration of the relevant professional body relating to your practice.
Social Work Practice
Be the first point of contact for all social work queries from care staff. This will involve providing advice and guidance on a wide range of issues and working in partnership with these team members to ensure effective outcomes for children, young people and families.
Work alongside care staff to ensure that children and young people are able to identify their wishes, feelings, needs and rights.
Act as a resource on issues such as guardianship, financial difficulty, benefits, housing, seeking asylum, and charitable funding, contributing to the maintenance of a Resource Bank used for signposting to charities and other agencies.
Understand and increase awareness of the complex care and support needs of life-limited and bereaved children, young people and their families, including wellbeing, mental health conditions, anticipatory grief, complex and prolonged grief. To understand the impact of learning disability, communication needs, neurodivergence and sensory impairment.
Understand and increase awareness of the population SSCH serves, considering risk factors such as isolation and lack of agency to access support, substance misuse risk of exploitation, and prevalence of abuse, including domestic abuse.
Attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings at the hospice including: Specialist Psychosocial MDT, Hospice MDT, Safety Huddle, Morbidity and Mortality Meeting, Hospice Core Groups, Journal Club and other multi-disciplinary team meetings.
Work directly with children, young people and families in goal-focused interventions that work towards longer-term solutions that empower and strengthen families.
Provide emotional support to children, young people and families experiencing times of crisis and challenge. To listen to families and to shape wellbeing care appropriately, with continued risk assessment and safety planning.
Manage this caseload effectively in order to ensure prioritisation of need and throughput, so that this care provision is as accessible as possible to families.
Provide advocacy that is effective in educating others in the specific needs of children and families receiving palliative and bereavement care, and ensuring that supported children, siblings and family members are given opportunity to thrive and not discriminated against.
Demonstrate the impact of professional advocacy to the wider team. To identify where independent advocates may be valuable in ensuring the needs of children and young people are paramount.
Support the delivery of our transition care pathway. To contribute to a person-centred assessment, that reflects the wishes and goals of our young people. To provide advocacy and other appropriate professional interventions that support a transition to adult care.
Support the facilitation of care events for families supported and bereaved, including therapeutic and social groups for children and young people, parents and grandparents, alongside counselling, therapy and family support colleagues.
Provide education and reflective practice opportunities that increase the knowledge of the wider team, reflecting emerging themes within local social care partners.
Provide clinical supervision to members of the care team and (where appropriate) wider organisation, including safeguarding specific supervision and support.
Demonstrate safe clinical practice in all aspects of your work with families.
Work collaboratively, in partnership with other agencies to ensure communication is excellent and outcomes for children, young people and families are the best they can be.
Participate in external forums, build partnerships and maintain strong links with statutory and community services for the benefit of children, young people and their families.
Support the maintenance and fresh creation of content for our web and social media platforms, ensuring families have a robust hub of information concerning social work support.
Establish mechanisms for obtaining the views of children and young people in relation to the services provided at the hospices and service development. To support children, young people and families in shaping care services, using feedback and co-production to ensure those with lived experience can share their expertise and influence outcomes.
Behave at all times in a manner that is sensitive to the differing cultural, social and spiritual needs of children, young people and their families.
Recognise discriminatory practices and appropriately challenge service users, colleagues, and senior staff
Contribute to service evaluation or audit to ensure equity of service and maintain high quality service provision.
Contribute to the on-going development of the Psychosocial Family Support Services provided by SSCH through the development of evidence-based practice and contribution to research activity.
Represent SSCH at external meeting, acting as an ambassador for this extensive provision of care.
Professional Development
To maintain professional standards of social work practice.
Take responsibility for obtaining regular, effective supervision from appropriate Social Worker to ensure effective practice, critical reflection, and career development.
To complete mandatory training as required by SSCH.
To maintain awareness of current developments in safeguarding learning and social care, interpreting implications for practice and opportunities for service development.
To adopt a reflective approach to personal and professional development, participating constructively in appraisal and performance reviews. To seek out and utilise learning opportunities to enhance performance.
Identify personal learning and development needs and attend appropriate internal and/or external training as identified in personal development plan and take proactive advantage of the professional support and learning offered by Shooting Share Childrens Hospices to meet the demands of working within this challenging field.
please see full Job description attached.
Job description
Job responsibilities
a) Work relationships
SCCH care is delivered by four clinical areas under the direct operational management of the Heads of Care. The nature of Safeguarding work necessitates good relationships, awareness and understanding of these clinical areas, multi-disciplinary professionals, and the wider work of the charity:
Inhouse
Community Nursing
SPACE (specialist palliative care team)
Family Support Services (psychosocial care)
The Social Work and Transition Team sits is one of the Family Support Services and works collaboratively with these teams (family support work, counselling, therapies and care events), supporting also the in-house service, the community nursing team and symptoms management team with matters concerning social work, transition care and safeguarding. The Social Work and Transition Team is managed by the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
The individual in this role will work in partnership with internal and external professionals involved in the care of SSCH children, young adults and families. Including contact within external professional networks to enhance individual knowledge and skills, to ensure alignment with guidance and regulations, and to continually review Safeguarding and wider Social Work.
Main duties and key responsibilities
Safeguarding
Work as part of the Safeguarding Team, under the leadership of the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Act as a first point of contact for safeguarding referrals within the organisation, triaging effectively to determine those that are for internal information sharing, those that require onward referral and those that require urgent/immediate escalation.
Ensure safeguarding concerns are reported and dealt with safely and effectively in accordance with the organisations policy and procedure.
Facilitate the assessment of families needs in relation to family functioning, capacity, resilience and emotional risk, parenting styles/ attachment issues.
Advise care staff in supporting decision making when a young person or adult may lack capacity, in line with current legislation, understanding the ramification of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty safeguards, ensuring the care team take account of the requirements under the Mental Capacity Act.
To support staff to do everything in their power to ensure a young persons capacity can be assessed and to ensure were providing the least restrictive care for the individual.
Ensure accurate and contemporaneous notes and records of all contacts are recorded within the electronic notes system.
Produce written reports to a high standard, when requested.
Work collaboratively with partner agencies across health, social care, education and others to safeguard children and adults at risk and promote welfare.
Participate in external multi-disciplinary meetings with other statutory and non-statutory organisations and agencies relating to children, young people and their families. E.g. Child in need meetings, child protection case conferences.
Communicate highly sensitive and complex information appropriately in multi-agency forums. To support and empower the wider team in communicating highly sensitive and complex information to colleagues, partner agencies, families and individuals with professionalism.
Identify training needs and assist in developing and delivering appropriate programmes, specifically in the areas of safeguarding children and adults at risk, mental capacity act, deprivation of liberty safeguards, advocacy and supervision.
Contribute to safeguarding audit and quality improvement, to ensure equity of service and maintain high quality service provision.
Contribute to the development of policies and protocols that facilitate safe, effective and timely information sharing processes, reflecting current legislation and national policy.
Maintain professional membership and registration of the relevant professional body relating to your practice.
Social Work Practice
Be the first point of contact for all social work queries from care staff. This will involve providing advice and guidance on a wide range of issues and working in partnership with these team members to ensure effective outcomes for children, young people and families.
Work alongside care staff to ensure that children and young people are able to identify their wishes, feelings, needs and rights.
Act as a resource on issues such as guardianship, financial difficulty, benefits, housing, seeking asylum, and charitable funding, contributing to the maintenance of a Resource Bank used for signposting to charities and other agencies.
Understand and increase awareness of the complex care and support needs of life-limited and bereaved children, young people and their families, including wellbeing, mental health conditions, anticipatory grief, complex and prolonged grief. To understand the impact of learning disability, communication needs, neurodivergence and sensory impairment.
Understand and increase awareness of the population SSCH serves, considering risk factors such as isolation and lack of agency to access support, substance misuse risk of exploitation, and prevalence of abuse, including domestic abuse.
Attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings at the hospice including: Specialist Psychosocial MDT, Hospice MDT, Safety Huddle, Morbidity and Mortality Meeting, Hospice Core Groups, Journal Club and other multi-disciplinary team meetings.
Work directly with children, young people and families in goal-focused interventions that work towards longer-term solutions that empower and strengthen families.
Provide emotional support to children, young people and families experiencing times of crisis and challenge. To listen to families and to shape wellbeing care appropriately, with continued risk assessment and safety planning.
Manage this caseload effectively in order to ensure prioritisation of need and throughput, so that this care provision is as accessible as possible to families.
Provide advocacy that is effective in educating others in the specific needs of children and families receiving palliative and bereavement care, and ensuring that supported children, siblings and family members are given opportunity to thrive and not discriminated against.
Demonstrate the impact of professional advocacy to the wider team. To identify where independent advocates may be valuable in ensuring the needs of children and young people are paramount.
Support the delivery of our transition care pathway. To contribute to a person-centred assessment, that reflects the wishes and goals of our young people. To provide advocacy and other appropriate professional interventions that support a transition to adult care.
Support the facilitation of care events for families supported and bereaved, including therapeutic and social groups for children and young people, parents and grandparents, alongside counselling, therapy and family support colleagues.
Provide education and reflective practice opportunities that increase the knowledge of the wider team, reflecting emerging themes within local social care partners.
Provide clinical supervision to members of the care team and (where appropriate) wider organisation, including safeguarding specific supervision and support.
Demonstrate safe clinical practice in all aspects of your work with families.
Work collaboratively, in partnership with other agencies to ensure communication is excellent and outcomes for children, young people and families are the best they can be.
Participate in external forums, build partnerships and maintain strong links with statutory and community services for the benefit of children, young people and their families.
Support the maintenance and fresh creation of content for our web and social media platforms, ensuring families have a robust hub of information concerning social work support.
Establish mechanisms for obtaining the views of children and young people in relation to the services provided at the hospices and service development. To support children, young people and families in shaping care services, using feedback and co-production to ensure those with lived experience can share their expertise and influence outcomes.
Behave at all times in a manner that is sensitive to the differing cultural, social and spiritual needs of children, young people and their families.
Recognise discriminatory practices and appropriately challenge service users, colleagues, and senior staff
Contribute to service evaluation or audit to ensure equity of service and maintain high quality service provision.
Contribute to the on-going development of the Psychosocial Family Support Services provided by SSCH through the development of evidence-based practice and contribution to research activity.
Represent SSCH at external meeting, acting as an ambassador for this extensive provision of care.
Professional Development
To maintain professional standards of social work practice.
Take responsibility for obtaining regular, effective supervision from appropriate Social Worker to ensure effective practice, critical reflection, and career development.
To complete mandatory training as required by SSCH.
To maintain awareness of current developments in safeguarding learning and social care, interpreting implications for practice and opportunities for service development.
To adopt a reflective approach to personal and professional development, participating constructively in appraisal and performance reviews. To seek out and utilise learning opportunities to enhance performance.
Identify personal learning and development needs and attend appropriate internal and/or external training as identified in personal development plan and take proactive advantage of the professional support and learning offered by Shooting Share Childrens Hospices to meet the demands of working within this challenging field.
please see full Job description attached.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Sufficient post qualifying experience in relevant areas of practice, including safeguarding.
- Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary health team.
- Excellent communication and negotiating skills.
- Experience of building relationships with a wide range of organisations and agencies.
- Experience of supporting and empowering young people and their families transitioning to adult services.
- Experience of using client databases.
- Intermediate IT skills using MS Word, Excel and Outlook.
- Ability to recognise and manage ones own stress/wellbeing.
- Car owner/driver with full UK drivers licence, with appropriate personal and business use insurance.
Desirable
- Experience of working with individuals facing or experiencing bereavement.
- Experience of working with children, young people and their families affected by life-limiting illness in a palliative care environment.
- Previous experience of delivering training.
- Experience of conducting research.
- Qualified as a Mental Capacity Act/DoLS Best Interest Assessor
- Leadership skills.
Qualifications
Essential
- Recognised Social Work qualification (CQSW/Diploma in Social Work/CSS/Degree in Social Work)
- Accredited with Social Work England
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Demonstrate comprehensive understanding and use of knowledge related to area of practice.
- Awareness and understanding of safeguarding legislation, regulations and standards, government objectives and initiatives, national and common assessment framework, with the ability to identify implications for practice and utilise knowledge to advise others.
- Acquire and review national learning and information concerning safeguarding, including domestic abuse, substance misuse, public protection, child exploitation, channel, and modern-day slavery.
- Knowledge and understanding of frameworks for assessment and intervention.
- Knowledge of relevant local and national services that support children with life-limiting conditions and their families. Awareness of the range of services likely to be involved.
- Understanding of the needs of families experiencing bereavement, identifying indicators of psychological distress, complex grief, depression, anxiety and PTSD, with the ability to advise families and professionals concerning appropriate person-centred and evidence-based interventions.
- Understanding of the needs of young people transitioning to adult services.
- Awareness of relevant research concerning childrens palliative care and safeguarding, in order to ensure quality of care.
- Ability to work as an autonomous practitioner and member of a team.
- To be able to identify new ways of working in response to national drivers and local need. To challenge decisions when appropriate and implement agreed actions.
- Excellent communication skills.
- Ability to work with issues of equality and diversity within client and organisational contexts.
- The ability to work on own initiative and under pressure.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Sufficient post qualifying experience in relevant areas of practice, including safeguarding.
- Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary health team.
- Excellent communication and negotiating skills.
- Experience of building relationships with a wide range of organisations and agencies.
- Experience of supporting and empowering young people and their families transitioning to adult services.
- Experience of using client databases.
- Intermediate IT skills using MS Word, Excel and Outlook.
- Ability to recognise and manage ones own stress/wellbeing.
- Car owner/driver with full UK drivers licence, with appropriate personal and business use insurance.
Desirable
- Experience of working with individuals facing or experiencing bereavement.
- Experience of working with children, young people and their families affected by life-limiting illness in a palliative care environment.
- Previous experience of delivering training.
- Experience of conducting research.
- Qualified as a Mental Capacity Act/DoLS Best Interest Assessor
- Leadership skills.
Qualifications
Essential
- Recognised Social Work qualification (CQSW/Diploma in Social Work/CSS/Degree in Social Work)
- Accredited with Social Work England
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Demonstrate comprehensive understanding and use of knowledge related to area of practice.
- Awareness and understanding of safeguarding legislation, regulations and standards, government objectives and initiatives, national and common assessment framework, with the ability to identify implications for practice and utilise knowledge to advise others.
- Acquire and review national learning and information concerning safeguarding, including domestic abuse, substance misuse, public protection, child exploitation, channel, and modern-day slavery.
- Knowledge and understanding of frameworks for assessment and intervention.
- Knowledge of relevant local and national services that support children with life-limiting conditions and their families. Awareness of the range of services likely to be involved.
- Understanding of the needs of families experiencing bereavement, identifying indicators of psychological distress, complex grief, depression, anxiety and PTSD, with the ability to advise families and professionals concerning appropriate person-centred and evidence-based interventions.
- Understanding of the needs of young people transitioning to adult services.
- Awareness of relevant research concerning childrens palliative care and safeguarding, in order to ensure quality of care.
- Ability to work as an autonomous practitioner and member of a team.
- To be able to identify new ways of working in response to national drivers and local need. To challenge decisions when appropriate and implement agreed actions.
- Excellent communication skills.
- Ability to work with issues of equality and diversity within client and organisational contexts.
- The ability to work on own initiative and under pressure.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details
Employer name
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices
Address
Christophers Shooting Star Childrens Hospices
Old Portsmouth Road
Artington
Guildford
GU3 1LP
Employer's website
https://www.shootingstar.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)
Employer details
Employer name
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices
Address
Christophers Shooting Star Childrens Hospices
Old Portsmouth Road
Artington
Guildford
GU3 1LP
Employer's website
https://www.shootingstar.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)
Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Sarah Hodkinson
Details
Date posted
27 October 2023
Pay scheme
Other
Salary
£38,336 to £43,410 a year (pro rata)
Contract
Fixed term
Duration
6 months
Working pattern
Part-time
Reference number
B0299-SW-1023
Job locations
Christophers Shooting Star Childrens Hospices
Old Portsmouth Road
Artington
Guildford
GU3 1LP
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