Forensic Community Social Worker

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.

We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Job overview
The Forensic Community Social Work Team is currently undergoing a new re-modelling of service as part of the Thames Valley Forensic Mental Health service initiative to enhance the quality of care it provides to service users in their own homes. The new service will become a Specialist Community Forensic Team (SCFT) once the re-modelling process is complete.

As a result, we are looking for two highly motivated Social Work professionals who are keen to utilize their skills, and experience, to bring the social care perspective into the forensic mental health community setting, to support new and existing service users in the team in their recovery journey. The posts will be suitable for experienced candidates who are resilient, enjoy working as part of a multi – disciplinary team, and are sensitive to the needs of mental health service users, and their relatives in the community.

Main duties of the job
- To carry out the role of Care Co-ordinator to an allocated number of service users and take responsibility for ensuring that individual care is assessed, planned, and reviewed as part of the Care Programme Approach.
- To provide a social care service to an allocated number of service users and their carers who are accepted by the Forensic service.
- To initiate and maintain good links with local authorities of the area of origin of Extra Contractual Referral patients (ECR) within the service.
- To have direct contact with service users via casework and input to a clinical treatment programme. This will include undertaking social circumstances report, Mental Health review Tribunal reports, Managers - Hearing report and section 117 Aftercare responsibilities.

Working for our organisation
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

- Excellent opportunities for career progression
- Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
- 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
- NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
- Competitive pension scheme
- Lease car scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Mental Health First Aiders
- Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
- Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team
- Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- These are permanent positions and will be based at Oxford Clinic Littlemore Mental Health Centre site in Oxford.

This post attracts a RSU Lead of £1,446 per annum on top of your annual salary.

Please see JD/S attached for more detail.

Person specification
Knowledge, Training and Experince
Essential criteria

Professional qualification in social work: CQSW, Dip SW and/or social work postgraduate degree.
Registered with SW England.
Social work experience with vulnerable and difficult to engage adults particularly with mental health issues and history of offending.
Desirable criteria

Higher degree in social work with research component.
Post-qualifying education relevant to social care and/or health services such as BIA/AMHP.
Experience of working in-patient and community forensic social work.
Communication and Relationship Skills
Essential criteria

An ability to engage with service users and carers who may be resistant to care.
An ability to use empathy when dealing with difficult information.
Excellent skills in clear and concise report writing.
Desirable criteria

Good understanding of appropriate information governance legislation and guidance including the Data Protection Act 2018 and Caldicott principles.
Ability and extensive experience of presentation/ skills to deliver reports to Mental Health Review Tribunals and other appropriate settings.
Demonstrated ability to maintain relationships external to the organisation, to interface with other agencies and participate in processes such as MAPPA.
Analytical & Judgment Skills.
Essential criteria

Excellent skills in needs assessment and formulation
Excellent skills in care planning and case management.
Confidence to exercise autonomous professional judgement in accordance with the expectations of S/W registration and appropriate accountability including in the role of Appropriate Adult.
Planning and Organisational Skills.
Essential criteria

An ability to plan and manage individual work - load and service users care effectively.
Ability to work independently as well as part of the team.
Responsibilities for Service Users Care.
Essential criteria

Experience in contributing to in-patient care pathway planning in accordance with CPA.
Confidence and ability to plan for provision of S.117 aftercare for service users once discharge.
An ability to provide specialised advice in relation to the care of service users in this service.
Other

Essential criteria

- Willingness to carry out duties outside of ordinary office hours if necessary.
- Ability to travel to different locations around the catchment area and occasionally outside the area.
- All new starters have a 6 month probationary period. This, together with the induction process, aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
- Candidates not currently employed by the Trust who attend an interview for non-qualified Band 1-5 posts are required to undertake numeracy and literacy assessments.
- Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
- Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
- We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
- We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.

Oxford Health is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
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