Specialist Health Visitor, Children with Special Needs & Disabilities

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical

Provide specialist advice to Health Visitors and other community practitioners in supporting children with disabilitities.

Act as the first point of contact for those children referred and accepted to MOSAIC CDT or the Down Syndrome Pathway and undertake the initial contact for onboarding and access to waiting supports. Ensure relevant information from initial assessment is shared with CDT staff/Down Syndrome team. Participate in the multidisciplinary assessments and reviews where appropriate.]

To link with the complex care team when necessary and attend discharge planning meetings for children referred to MOSIAC CDT from hospital, as required.

To identify services from which families may benefit, assisting parents in their choices of service and make appropriate referrals.

To make any additional relevant referrals to enable families to access the necessary support, eg opthalmology, early help.

To act in accordance with the CNWL Safeguarding Children & Young People Policy & the London Child Protection Procedures; taking prompt action in relation to children where there is cause for concern

To support families and staff within CDT where there are safeguarding concerns and attend case conferences and core group meetings.

To support work alongside the MDT Coordinator and MOSAIC Service Manager with transition planning forchildren moving from the CDT to School Health where staff member has been involved.

Ensure that contemporaneous records of all contact with children, young people, and their parents / other professionals involved in the care of the child or young person are maintained.

Recording and providing information activity and service data as required.

Advising and supporting parents and children on strategies to promote good health.

Demonstrate advanced verbal and communication skills and the ability to communicate difficult or sometimes distressing information effectively on occasions, to clients, families and colleagues.

2. Partnership Working

Work closely with partner agencies and the Special Educational Needs team in order to provide relevant and up to date information about their services, to families on how to access their supports e.g. SENDIAS, EYIT.

T To signpost families towards the key working servicese.g. Family Workers, Early Help, Information and Engagement Team and Family Hubs. To ensure clarity about the role of the Specialist Health Visitor with parents/carers and other colleagues within the health service, local authority and voluntary agencies.

To work in partnership with paediatric and therapy colleagues to identify priorities and support management of health and developmental needs.

P Participate in decision making panels as appropriate eg triage panel, as required

To work closely with other members of the wider MOSAIC Team, participating in team meetings, and supporting objective setting, clinical governance priorities and the overall functioning of the team.

To attend CDT Clinical Lead meetings and other relevant working groups and participate in service improvements and redesigns as required.

3. Educational

Facilitate the personal and professional development of staff by participating in training and education programmes for staff within CNWL, partner agencies, using expertise on issues relating to children with special needs and related issues.

To provide a training to pre and post registration students and trainees in MOSAIC services.

To be responsible for own professional development and keep up-to-date with best evidence based practice.

Participate in quality improvement projects as identified by the team leaders in health Visiting and MOSAIC

To act as a resource within MOSAIC and Health Visiting services concerning current development within the service, taking forward initiatives to share best practice, acting as a clinical role model within the team by demonstrating high levels of clinical practice.

Contributes to and participates in the development of audit, evidence based practice, clinical governance activity and research where appropriate..

Encourage carer/user feedback and involvement to inform the development of the service.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse
• Specialist Community Public Health Nurse
• Mentorship Preparation/ENB 998/Practice Assessor Qualification
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Desirable

• Nurse prescribing qualification

Skills and abilities

Essential

• IT efficiency and confidence in using email, word, excel and electronic patient record systems
• Effective communication skills
• Willingness to undertake additional training and CPD in line with service development

Knowlege and experience

Essential

• Significant experience working with children and families in a community setting
• Experience working with complex families
• Experience of multidisciplinary team working
• Ability to work flexibly and respond to changing demands and methods of working both individually and within a team
• Ability to work without direct supervision
• Knowledge of safeguarding children issues
• Knowledge of current issues and how they impact on professional practice
• Knowledge of risk management
• Knowledge of information governance requirements

Desirable

• Experience working in a child development team

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).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Kentish Town Health Centre

Kentish Town

London

NW5 2BX

Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work (Opens in a new tab)