Care Coordinator (Mental Health)

Job responsibilities

Service Delivery

Build and develop a robust knowledge of health, social and third sector provision in the Sedgefield area.

Build and develop strong working relationships with health, social and third sector providers in the Sedgefield 1 PCN area, including GP practices.

Work closely with professionals from a variety of health specialties.

Prepare proactive care plans for vulnerable patients.

Build relationships with patients, their families and carers. Carry out regular visits, telephone consultations and reviews within the community setting and at dedicated venues.

Be the patients advocate to the health and social care system.

Signpost patients to appropriate services and sources of funding and where appropriate assist in accessing such funding.

Communication

Attend practice level MDT meetings to discuss patients and coordinate with other care providers.

Utilise and demonstrate sensitive communication styles, to ensure patients are fully informed.

Communicate with and support patients who are receiving bad news.

Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating.

Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to overcome this.

Maintain effective communication within the practice environment and with external stakeholders.

Delivering a quality service

Produce accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient contact, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures.

Prioritise, organise and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality.

Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation.

Participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the organisation and its activities.

Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required.

In partnership with other clinical teams, collaborate on improving the quality of health care responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate.

Evaluate patients responses to health care provision and the effectiveness of care.

Support and participate in shared learning across the wider organisation.

Assess the impact of policy implementation on care delivery

Understand and apply legal issues that support the identification of vulnerable and abused adults, and be aware of statutory vulnerable patients health procedures and local guidance.

The post holder will comply with the organisations policies and procedures:

Collaborative Working Relationships

Understand own role and scope, work within this scope of practice and identify how this may develop over time.

Work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working.

Delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence.

Create clear referral mechanisms to meet patient need.

Actively works towards developing and maintaining effective working relationships across the PCN.

Prioritise own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded.

Work effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery.

Discuss, highlight and work with the team to create opportunities to improve patient care.

Liaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients.

Is able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleagues when necessary.

Foster and maintain strong links with all services across locality.

Explores the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships.

Managing Information

Use technology and appropriate software as an aid to management in planning, implementation and monitoring of care, presenting and communicating information.

Ensuring that patent data is kept confidential at all times and is shared on a need to know basis only.

Understand responsibility of self and others regarding the Freedom of Information Act

Collate, analyse and present data and information to the team.

Education, Training and Development

Understands and demonstrates the characteristics of a role model to members in the team and/or service.

Disseminate learning and information gained to other team members in order to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments (e.g. courses and conferences).

Assess own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate.

Demonstrates self-development through continuous professional development activity; working alongside colleagues to identify areas to develop.

Enrolled into review and appraisal systems within the network.

Equality and Diversity

The post-holder must co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc.

The post-holder should respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

Special Working Conditions

The post-holder is required to travel independently between practice sites (where applicable), and to attend meetings etc. hosted by other agencies.

The post-holder will be part of Sedgefield 1 PCN and will be expected to support the work of the PCN and its constituent practices as required

Job Description Agreement

This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities only. There may be other duties required of the post-holder commensurate with the position. This description will be open to regular review and may be amended to take into account development within the network. All members of staff should be prepared to take on additional duties or relinquish existing duties in order to maintain the efficient running of the network.

This job description is intended as a basic guide to the scope and responsibilities of the post and is not exhaustive. It will be subject to regular review and amendment as necessary in consultation with the post-holder.

Health and Safety/Risk Management

The post-holder must comply at all times with the Practices Health and Safety policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting System.

The post holder will comply with the Data Protection Act (2018) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).

Qualifications

Essential

• GCSE Grade C or above in Maths and English, or equivalent qualification

Desirable

• Qualification in a health or social care allied profession
• Counselling qualification

Other

Essential

• Ability and willingness to travel to the practice base and the surgeries within the Primary Care Network
• Immunisation status
• UK Work Permit (if required)

Desirable

• Highly motivated
• Flexibility
• Enthusiasm
• Team player
• In date DBS check (new DBS will be undertaken on appointment)
• Safeguarding adult and children training (training will be undertaken on appointment)

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the health needs of the patient population within the Primary care network
• Knowledge of the geographical area within the Primary Care Network
• Communication skills, both written and verbal
• Empathy with a variety of patients needs and conditions
• Positive attitude to work, colleagues and patients
• Non-judgemental attitude to patients
• Tact and diplomacy
• Desire to help and put people first
• Ability to negotiate the best possible services for patients
• Advocacy skills
• Time management
• Team working
• Good IT keyboard skills

Desirable

• Experience of working with people with mental health needs
• Experience of assisting Mental Health Professionals
• Experience of structured interviewing
• Experience of working with or caring for elderly people, friends or
• relations
• Experience of working in social care of health
• Understanding of safeguarding principles
• Knowledge of local health and social care provision
• Knowledge of funding systems in social care
• Knowledge of SystmOne

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).