Job Description: Social Worker
Job Title
Line Manager
Executive Manager
Hospice Pay Band
Salary Scale (WTE)
Contracted Hours
Primary Location
Responsibility within
Child and Family Bereavement Support Worker/
Social Worker
Senior Social Worker
Director of Nursing and Patient Services
6
£27,369 – £30,942
30 per week over 4 days
Hospice – some travel required
Clinical Services – all departments
Job Purpose
 To provide bereavement support to children and young adults who are resident in
the North east Wales locality.
 To provide pre-bereavement support to children and young adults linked to the
care of patients at Nightingale House Hospice.
 To deliver support appropriate to the age and ability of the child in one-to-one and
group settings.
 To provide pre and post bereavement support to adults who are significant in the
lives of patients known to Nightingale House Hospice resident in the North east
Wales locality.
 To act as a resource and support for hospice staff and other health professionals by
offering specialist knowledge and skills.
 To provide a professional and comprehensive Social Work Service to all patients
and their families/carers of the Specialist Palliative Care Service.
 To act at all times within own limitations of knowledge, expertise and competence.
 Participate in department and hospice research and audit.
 Flexibility to meet the needs of the service and associated child bereavement
support activities.
Key Relationships
Internal
All members of the hospice MDT
All hospice staff
Hospice volunteers – particularly those in patient facing roles
External
Specialist palliative care team and social work team members of BCUHB
Social work /bereavement support colleagues in other independent and voluntary hospices
in North Wales and the border areas.
Social work colleagues in Wrexham and Flintshire Social Services
Child and adolescent mental health team
Education/education psychology department of Wrexham County Borough Council
Welfare rights officers
Child & Family Bereavement Support worker/Social worker
Reviewed August 2015
Key Responsibilities
•
To work with individuals with a life limiting illness (and their families/carers) who are
in need of acute or continuing emotional support by using empathic, motivational
and reassurance skills.
•
Assess and evaluate patients’ emotional, social, practical and financial needs in
collaboration with the Multi Professional team, which requires the ability to analyse,
interpret and compare various options.
•
To make referrals on to the Local Authority Social Service Departments as
appropriate and in accordance with their differing requirements (complex working
relationships).
•
To co-ordinate and complete the shared assessment process for Continuing Care to
reflect the needs of the patient and their families/carers.
•
Working with the in-patient unit team to plan and coordinate family meetings and
discharge planning meetings to facilitate patients preferred place of care or future
placement.
•
Undertake bereavement work with individuals, and families/carers, with complex
needs, which may require extended periods of skilled, planned interventions.
•
Provide support/advice to other team members regarding complex situations and
day-to-day support.
•
Understand and respond to ethnic, cultural and religious influences on the patient
and family.
•
To respond to those especially vulnerable because of their dependency, e.g.
children, adolescents, and elderly relatives, those with special needs.
•
Provision of information, support, advice and advocacy for clients relating to all
manner of practical matters such as housing, care at home and benefits.
•
Establishing effective communication networks and fast tracking services with local
Social Services Departments, Primary and secondary care teams.
•
In partnership with the senior social worker develop positive working relationships
with other organisations throughout North Wales (voluntary, statutory and
charitable) for the benefit of the patients and relatives.
•
Provide innovative interventions to patients and their families/carers at different key
stages of the Specialist Palliative Care Service.
•
Collect and monitor all appropriate data as required and enable appropriate analysis
and actions to be applied to collated information.
Child & Family Bereavement Support worker/Social worker
Reviewed August 2015
•
Communicate effectively with all members of the Multi-Professional team using a
variety of formats both face to face and written.
•
Observe confidentiality in all matters pertaining to clients, carers and staff.
•
Comply with professional standards for documentation and maintain records used
within the service, including the use of IT systems.
•
Required to be registered with the Social Work governing body and maintain
registration by continuous professional and personal development.
•
To possess the emotional maturity to deal with frequent exposure to highly
emotional/distressing circumstances.
•
To be flexible in working practice (outside core hours) to reflect the special nature of
the work undertaken to the benefit of patients, families and carers.
•
Resource for staff in child protection concerns, reporting to Children’s Services as
appropriate.
•
Resource for staff regarding vulnerable adult issues.
Management
•
To manage own caseload and workload with regards to time management.
•
To supervise trainees or volunteers as necessary and required.
•
To deputise as necessary for the senior social worker.
Clinical Governance
•
Risk Management – To manage clinical and organisational risk within the
workplace, undertake risk assessments regarding lone working, external site
visits as necessary.
•
Ensure the equality, diversity and rights of patients are promoted and
maintained in all areas of clinical governance and service provision.
•
To work within Nightingale House policy at all times and professional regulatory
framework and code of conduct.
•
Service User Participation – To ensure service user views are fed back through
the appropriate channels to team leaders or senior management team.
•
Audit & Research – To support the work of colleagues in undertaking audit and
research in the department.
Child & Family Bereavement Support worker/Social worker
Reviewed August 2015
•
To suggest suitable topics for departmental audit to senior social worker.
Education and Development
• In collaboration with other specialist staff, participate in the ongoing training and
development of staff within the Specialist Palliative Care Service.
•
Participate in student education when appropriate and in the interests of patient
and wider teams.
•
To act as a resource for members of the Specialist Palliative Care Service.
•
To participate fully in the reflective practice/supervision process following an agreed
path of personal development.
•
To recognise the educational needs of families and carers and act accordingly.
•
To access appropriate training and educational materials on behalf of patients and
carers.
•
Working with the senior social worker, be involved in design and delivery of training
for staff inside and outside of the Hospice e.g. primary and secondary care, schools
bereavement networks etc. NB external activities must be managed within the
demands for the service in-house.
•
To undertake appropriate and relevant professional training and qualifications if
considered to be part of agreed personal and professional development plan.
Audit and Research Activity
• To collect data as required of service activity.
•
To undertake surveys or audits as necessary to own work.
•
To participate in hospice clinical audit or research work.
•
To present findings of research and audit to a variety of professional groups as
appropriate to maintain the profile of the service within the wider health
community.
General Requirements
This post is subject to the Terms and Conditions of employment of the Hospice as
specified in the staff handbook
Registered Health Professional
You must be registered with the Care Council for Wales or equivalent regulatory body and
adhere to their code of conduct. It is a requirement of the post that you maintain up to date
Child & Family Bereavement Support worker/Social worker
Reviewed August 2015
knowledge and skills and an awareness of professional issues relative to your role and
responsibilities. You are required to maintain a professional portfolio for the purpose of
demonstrating your ongoing professional knowledge and skills development and meeting
the requirements of periodic re-registration.
Competence You are responsible for limiting your actions to those that you feel competent
to undertake. If you have any doubts about your competence during the course of your
duties you should immediately speak to your line manager / supervisor.
Risk Management - It is a standard element of the role and responsibility of all staff of the
Hospice that they fulfil a proactive role towards the management of risk in all of their
actions. This entails the risk assessment of all situations, the taking of appropriate actions
and reporting of all incidents, near misses and hazards. It is a requirement that you adhere
to Nightingale House Hospice Policies, Procedures, Protocols and guidelines at all times.
Health and Safety Requirements of the Hospice
All employees of the Hospice have a statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and
that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions. Employees are required to
co-operate with management to enable the Hospice to meet its own legal duties and to
report any hazardous situations or defective equipment.
Confidentiality
All employees of the Hospice are required to maintain the confidentiality of members of the
public and members of staff in accordance with Hospice policies and statutory
requirements.
Record keeping
All employees are responsible for ensuring records are created and maintained in
accordance with hospice policy.
Flexibility
This job description is an outline of the role and function. It is not intended to describe all
specific tasks and therefore is subject to change following consultation with the post-holder.
The post is subject to an enhanced disclosure check with the Disclosure and barring
service (DBS)
Child & Family Bereavement Support worker/Social worker
Reviewed August 2015
Job Description:
Job Title
Line Manager
Senior Manager
Hospice Pay Band
Location
Child and Bereavement Support Worker/Social worker
Senior social worker
Director of Nursing and Patient Services
6
Nightingale House Hospice
Date Prepared: 28-08-15
Prepared By: Tracy Livingstone
Date Reviewed:
Reviewed By: Diane Waters
Agreed By:
Date:
Employee’s Name and Signature:
Date:
Child & Family Bereavement Support worker/Social worker
Reviewed August 2015