Family and Bereavement Support Worker (XR06)

Job responsibilities

PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

The post holder will be responsible for enhancing our service to provide a tailored whole family support service to people with Motor Neurone disease and their families. Research and audit will be key in developing and providing this service.

To undertake assessments of people and families independently to establish their emotional, social and spiritual needs. To develop and implement person specific support plans.

To support whole families with benefit applications and help them to link into services available such as through the MND Association Welfare Benefits Service and MND Association Children, Young People & Whole Families Team.

To provide bereavement support to whole families of those who have died from MND.

To perform carers assessments and help families to identify their role as a carer and support them in this.

To develop links with other relevant family support workers to enhance the citywide continuity of support for people with MND, and over time to look at ways to broaden the reach of the Family Support Worker Team across West Yorkshire

To provide education and training to the wider team regarding whole family and bereavement support.

To audit and evaluate to enable development of services and policy. To support strategic planning of MND services.

THE LEEDS WAY VALUES

Our values are part of what make us different from other trusts, so we see this as a strength, as well as a responsibility. They have been developed by our staff and set out what they see as important to how we work. Our five values are:

Patient-centred

Collaborative

Fair

Accountable

Empowered

All our actions and endeavours will be guided and evaluated through these values

WEST YORKSHIRE ASSOCIATION OF ACUTE TRUSTS (WYAAT)

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is part of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across West Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible care for our patients.

By bringing together the wide range of skills and expertise across West Yorkshire and Harrogate we are working differently, innovating and driving forward change to deliver the highest quality care. By working for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust this is your opportunity to be a part of that change.

WYAAT is the acute sector arm of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, one of the largest integrated care systems in the country. The Partnerships ambition is for everyone to have the best possible health and wellbeing, and the work of WYAAT, and each individual trust, supports that ambition.

INFECTION CONTROL

The jobholder must comply at all times with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Infection Control policies, in particular by practising Universal Infection Control Precautions. Hand hygiene must be performed before and after contact with patients and their environment.

HEALTH AND SAFETY / RISK MANAGEMENT

All staff are responsible for working with their colleagues to maintain and improve the quality of services provided to our patients and other service users. This includes complying at all times with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Policies, including Health and Safety policies, in particular by following agreed security and safer working procedures, and reporting incidents using the Trust Incident Reporting system

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

The jobholder must comply with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment and that services are delivered in ways that meet the individual needs of patients and their families. No person whether they are staff, patient or visitor should receive less favourable treatment because of their gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc.

TRAINING AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The jobholder must take responsibility in agreement with his/her line manager for his/her own personal development by ensuring that Continuous Professional Development remains a priority. The jobholder will undertake all mandatory training required for the role.

COMMUNICATION & WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Internal

Head of Nursing

MND Team

Medical, nursing and AHP colleagues

External

Community NHS colleagues

Hospices

Adult social services

Childrens Social Care

Leeds 0-19 Early Start Service (to cover all Early Start offers and local pathways, e.g. Universal Family Offer, and Targeted & Specialist Family Offer)

Leeds Family Hubs Service

Allied charities including MND Association

SPECIAL WORKING CONDITIONS

PHYSICAL EFFORT

There is a frequent requirement for the job holder to spend a substantial

proportion of their working time sitting or standing in a restricted position and an occasional requirement to exert moderate physical effort.

MENTAL EFFORT:

There is a frequent requirement for the job holder to concentrate where their job pattern may be unpredictable.

EMOTIONAL EFFORT

The nature of the duties will require the job holder to be involved in distressing or emotional circumstances on a frequent basis.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

This job involves exposure to unpleasant working conditions on a weekly basis including direct with bodily fluids and occasional exposure to verbal and physical aggression.

There may be the requirement for the post holder to travel between sites within Leeds Health Economy in order to best meet the needs of the service.

Skills & behaviours

Essential

• Forward thinking
• Able to maintain judgement under pressure
• Flexible, adaptable and capable of lateral thinking
• Able to maintain judgement under pressure
• Able to work collaboratively within the MDT
• Ability to provide and receive sensitive and complex information
• Able to work under supervision and independently
• Committed to personal and team development
• Motivated and enthusiastic
• Confident and able to take responsibility
• Caring and compassionate
• Professional and patient focused
• Reliable
• Ability to think and plan tactically and creatively and prioritise work in the face of competing demands
• Ability to collaborate constructively with internal and external partners

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree in Social Sciences/Social Work/Youth & Community Work/Childhood Studies/ or Education
• Attendance at relevant post graduate courses
• Evidence of CPD
• Clinical Educators Course

Desirable

• Professional registration: Nursing, Psychology, Occupational Healthcare Professionals, Therapy or allied healthcare Council (HCPC)
• MSc in relevant subject

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with children and families
• Evidence of post qualifying clinical experience
• Experience of bereavement and family support work in the context of life limiting conditions
• Knowledge of professional practice standards and legal frameworks including knowledge of safeguarding practices and procedures.
• Knowledge of Motor Neurone Disease
• Understanding how psychological factors impact on physical health and quality of life
• Experience of working at a senior level with MND/ Long Term Neurological Conditions / Palliative Care
• Experience of developing and delivering training to patients, families and allied professionals.
• The ability to evaluate work and practices through research, audit and outcome measures
• Experience of working with multidisciplinary teams
• Experience of facilitating groups and knowledge of group dynamics.
• Ability to create reports and data entry
• The ability to identify support needs and create individualised support plans.

Desirable

• Experience professional development caring for MND patients
• Experience of clinical pathways which span organisational boundaries
• Knowledge of current professional issues and those influencing the NHS
• Understanding the process of change
• Experience in service development, strategic planning and influencing policy development.

Additional Requirements

Essential

• To maintain accurate, comprehensive and up to date documentation in line with legal and departmental requirements. To communicate these to the appropriate disciplines.
• Self-motivation, drive for performance and improvement and flexibility in approach and attitude
• Group facilitation skills
• Ability to build and maintain raport with adults, children and young people
• Demonstrable inter-personal, communication and listening skills
• Ability to use a range of skills in disseminating evidence of care improvement
• Ability to lead and contribute to meetings involving a wide range of stakeholder groups
• Ability to write policies/reports and delivering presentations to senior stakeholders
• Ability to analyse complex problems and to develop practical and workable solutions to address them
• Ability to coordinate a number of complex activities simultaneously, prioritising as appropriate

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with children and families
• Evidence of post qualifying clinical experience
• Experience of bereavement and family support work in the context of life limiting conditions
• Knowledge of professional practice standards and legal frameworks including knowledge of safeguarding practices and procedures.
• Knowledge of Motor Neurone Disease
• Understanding how psychological factors impact on physical health and quality of life
• Experience of working at a senior level with MND/ Long Term Neurological Conditions / Palliative Care
• Experience of developing and delivering training to patients, families and allied professionals.
• The ability to evaluate work and practices through research, audit and outcome measures
• Experience of working with multidisciplinary teams
• Experience of facilitating groups and knowledge of group dynamics.
• Ability to create reports and data entry
• The ability to identify support needs and create individualised support plans.

Desirable

• Experience professional development caring for MND patients
• Experience of clinical pathways which span organisational boundaries
• Knowledge of current professional issues and those influencing the NHS
• Understanding the process of change
• Experience in service development, strategic planning and influencing policy development.

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).