Health Visitor

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be employed by the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) but will work as part of the Sutton Health and Care Alliance (SHC). SHC is a partnership of key local health and care providers including the Council, Epsom and St Heliers NHS Trust, South West London and St Georges MH Trust and the GP Federation. The SHC Alliance was formed so that local health and care providers could work together to deliver high quality health and social care for Suttonresidents. The SHC Alliance is already starting to deliver innovative services in Sutton that are providing joined-up care. The first of these is Sutton Health and Care at Home which went live on April 18.

The post holder will work with the Head of Service to deliver the strategic vision for childrens services in the Borough, promoting interagency working between Health and Local Authority services to achieve the best outcomes for children in Sutton. The Health Visiting service is committed to the provision of comprehensive family health care, in partnership with family members, promoting health within the family and community to enable each individual to develop responsibility for their own health, thus empowering them to make optimum health choices. Health Visiting practice is underpinned by a systematic needs-related approach, the NMC Code of Professional Conduct, reflectivebased practice and the four principles of health visiting:

- To search for health needs

- To stimulate awareness of health

- To influence policies affecting health

- To facilitate health-enhancing activities

Key Tasks

- To deliver the Healthy Child Programme to the resident population in Sutton.

- To facilitate early identification of health needs and interventions for children to maximise their potential

- To ensure all vulnerable children are identified and appropriate support and interventions provided in a timely way.

Representative accountabilities

- Deliver service activities and manage caseloads to ensure intended outcomes for families and the Council are delivered within agreed service standards.

- Identify and implement improvements in your own work area in order to deliver continuous service improvement and improved outcomes to families.

- Liaise with families to review service requirements and resolve problems.

- Keep up to date with changes in policy/legislation/contractual requirements in order to ensure service delivery is effective and complies with appropriate regulations.

Budgetary accountabilities

- To deliver the service within the available budget

Specific accountabilities

- To develop a child centred public health role in line with the local and national Public Health Agenda and deliver health promotion activities in a range of settings in line with the recommendations of the Healthy Child Programme.

- To act as an autonomously accountable practitioner and carry continuing responsibility for the management of a caseload, as part of a corporate team.

- To work closely and communicate effectively with healthcare services and to participate in multidisciplinary working with internal and external agencies and partners supporting the Childrens Centre and Extended Schools agenda.

- To assess, plan, implement, and evaluate individual care packages for children and their families by identifying health problems, managing making appropriate referrals to ensure that children receive timely interventions to maximise their potential.

- To work in partnership with the GP and Immunisation Teams to encourage all children to achieve the recommended Department of Health immunisation programme as scheduled, or opportunistically.

- To identify, refer and support children with special health and educational needs and to contribute where appropriate to the EHCP process as part of the Education Act 1996 and Code of Practice.

- To work within national and local policies for Safeguarding to identify vulnerable Children and children in need of protection, and to contribute to interagency planning for children requiring statutory social services involvement.

- To take responsibility for ensuring that the service key performance indicators are met by maintaining effective data entry and participating in service initiatives to increase performance.

- Participate in Clinical Governance and Audit activities to ensure the highest quality of practice is maintained.

- To participate in the Early Help offer and support the lead professional as appropriate

- To line manage Community Nursery Nurses as required

- To supervise, support and teach other staff and students providing appropriate leadership and mentorship and to assist in induction programmes for new staff.

- To maintain high standards of professional practice and competence in keeping the NMC Code of Professional Conduct, Scope of Professional Practice and Standards for Records and Record Keeping.

- To participate in regular Safeguarding Supervision

Mandatory accountabilities/requirements for all LBS staff

- Ensure all health and safety standards are adhered to for the relevant work area.

- Apply diversity and equal opportunities policies in the workplace

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• - Registered Nurse/Midwife
• - Registered Specialist Public Health Practitioner - Health Visitor

Desirable

• - Community Practitioner Nurse Prescriber (desirable)
• - Mentorship Qualification (desirable)

Skills/Knowledge/Abilities

Essential

• - Excellent communication skills: IT, written and oral
• - Sound knowledge base in Child Development and factors that affect development
• - Understanding of the Healthy Child Programme
• - Willingness to support management of change, development and working practice
• - High levels of clinical skills, with the ability to identify, respond to and evaluate health needs, including the delivery of public health programmes.
• - Knowledge of current legislation and national guidance
• - Understanding of the safeguarding process and child protection procedures and the ability to make decisions in these areas
• - Ability to set personal objectives, and manage time, priorities and stressful situations
• - Ability to work as part of a team and with other agencies
• - Ability to travel around Sutton

Experience

Essential

• - Delivery of health promotion activities
• - Working with children and families in a range of settings
• - Experience of working in partnership with other agencies to meet complex needs of children and families

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.

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

London Borough of Sutton Council

Address

Civic Offices

St Nicholas Way

Sutton

SM1 1EA

Employer's website

https://www.sutton.gov.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)