Community Support Worker

Job summary

Under the direction and supervision of senior practitioners to assist in the provision of care and treatment of clients in a community setting. Working with individuals experiencing mental health difficulties

To provide care, intervention and telephone and face to face support to individuals who are experiencing an acute mental health/ psychological crisis. To assist care co-ordinators or key workers to assess, plan, implement and evaluate individual care plans.

Main duties of the job

Clinical

-To maintain accurate electronic records in line with Trust policy.
-To feed back to the team and others involved in the care, information regarding any changes observed in the client's mental state or social circumstances analysing any immediate risks and taking appropriate action.
-Provide telephone/face to face support for people who may be in acute distress under the supervision of the senior practitioners.
-To deliver medication to clients.
-To use any petty cash monies needed for client activities in line with Trust policies and procedures.
-To link with employment and benefit agencies to facilitate return to employment where possible.
-To plan and organise own daily work activities in an effective and efficient way under the supervision of senior practitioners.
-To provide advocacy or links with advocacy organisations as appropriate.
-To promote opportunities for service users to create and develop friendships with other citizens.
-To contribute to providing support for carers and signposting to appropriate support eg Gloucestershire Carers Hub.

Professional
-To partake in regular supervision and annual appraisal.
-To attend mandatory training.
-To work with supervisor to address any training requirements.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Actively support service users in the management of their medication by delivering medication within a concordance framework and relevant policies.

Ensure the physical health needs of service users are met, including advice, support and health education to both the service user and family/carers.

To provide engagement with cares and complete Carers assessments where indicated.

To support senior staff in health assessments as appropriate and support delivery of planned relevant care in partnership with service users and / or carers.

As part of the care plan, ensure the service user is able to meet their personal care needs eg assisting with bathing and washing. This intervention may also be delegated where appropriate.

As a Health Care Assistant/ Support Worker you will be responsible for participating and assisting in the delivery of care / services to patients and service users as part of a Mental Health and Social Care Health Service. Health Care Assistant, Social Care Workers and other Healthcare Support Workers employed by the Trust are required to follow the guidance set out in Code of Conduct for Health Care Assistants/ Health Care Support Workers to provide safe and compassionate care of a high standard, and to challenge others who are not.

You will receive direct supervision and partake in reflective practice / training on a regular basis and be required to meet the Care Certificate standards. All successful applicants will also have the opportunity to discuss the prospect of undertaking a Level 3 Healthcare Support WorkerApprenticeship alongside their substantive post. This apprenticeship would include the Level 3 Diploma in Clinical Healthcare.

The Trust is required to work in line with the Governments UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit - https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

Person Specification

Essential
-NVQ Level 3 or equivalent level of competency based training in a relevant health or social care area
-knowledge of mental health
-use of own car and full driving licence

Desirable
-experience of working in the community
-experience of lone working

desirable
Essential
-community experience
communication skills