Senior Social Worker

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Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

The post holder will be a qualified Social Worker with over five years experience working in physical health.

To be competent to assess, manage, plan and deliver care, including being professionally and legally accountable.

The post holder will undertake statutory assessments under powers of the Mental Health Act 1983 as amended 2007 and The Mental Capacity Act 2005. To be able to explore creative and imaginative personalised alternatives to hospital admission using a social perspective on mental or physical health disorder and needs and have regard to the implications of FRAIL older adult health conditions for patients their relatives and carers

Main duties of the job
• Undertake and co-ordinate assessments and make person centred treatment plans to keep patients in their own home safely or discharged from an area covered by CTT SW
• Be responsible for ensuring that assessments (including those elements undertaken by other staff) comply with the requirements of the Mental Health Act.
• Advise both the patient and the nearest relative on the legal aspects of the process of assessment under the Act. Inform/consult with the nearest relative on the outcome of the assessment.
• To be responsible for providing accurate records of information required by the Trust for audit purposes.
• To employ professional curiosity in your day-to-day role and act upon any findings appropriately.

Working for our organisation

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focussing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

High Cost Area Supplement - Outer London

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,551 to a maximum of £5,735 p.a. pro rata for part time).

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description and Person specification for more details regarding the role

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• SW degree
• Registered
• 5 years experience

Desirable criteria

• CPD/aim to develop self and others
• leadership skills

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• An awareness of NHS priorities
• Demonstrable understanding of current key policy initiatives that promote health, social inclusion, independence
• Expert knowledge of the Mental Health Act 1983 and 2007 amendment and Mental Capacity Act 2005
• Understanding and application of the Care Act 2014

Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to write concise and accurate reports, maintain records in accordance with statutory requirements and current records policy
• Excellent ICT skills
• Able to work well under pressure and produce quality work within short timescales
• Able to demonstrate via their practice an understanding of and respect for individuals' qualities, abilities and diverse backgrounds
• Able to assess and evaluate needs and risks in complex situations; to formulate appropriate plans and to work proactively with users and their carers to co-produce and meet agreed objectives

Desirable criteria

• Able to champion evidence-based practice.

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a 'Top 10 Family Friendly Employer' from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

Supporting our Armed Forces

We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans. reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.

Equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.

We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email recruitment@nelft.nhs.uk.

Correspondence with us

You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.

In the event of a high number of responses to any advert, NELFT reserves the right to close the vacancy early. If you do not hear from us within three weeks of the closing date then please assume you have not been successful on this occasion.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• Band 7 SW JD and spec (PDF, 444.0KB)
• NELFT Application - Hints and Tips (PDF, 38.4KB)