Job Description
Are you committed to ensuring the rights of children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism are protected? Are you a positive and solution focused individual who is keen to learn and show a collaborative and compassionate approach to your work?
We are looking for a Key Worker Practitioner to work with a team of system changers who have a real passion for making a difference to work with our children, young people and their families and carers in a person-centred way, to help bring their voices to life and achieve their outcomes. The Key Worker Practitioner will work with children and young people up to the age of 25 years. The post holder will work with the Senior Key Worker Practitioner and other members of the Key Worker team – this is an innovative role suitable for an individual with demonstrable experience of working within healthcare, social care or education.
The Complex Needs Team at NHS Herefordshire & Worcestershire are delighted to host this team; responsible for supporting children and young people experiencing crisis or who are inpatients in Tier 4 mental health provision, 52-week residential care or at risk of admission. In partnership with their families and the health, education, and social care system you will break down barriers to ensure children, young people, or young adults with a learning disability and/or autism access the care and support they need.
The successful candidate will:
- Have relevant experience of working with children and young people who have autism and/or a learning disability
- Have an understanding of how escalating need and crisis points challenge individual and family relationships
- Be passionate and innovative about working co-productively and have experience or a passion for personalised care planning
- Have a good understanding of working in partnership and developing positive relationships that make things happen for children and young people
- Ensure children and young people and their families have a voice and are fully involved in their care and treatment
- Contribute to shaping the future of the Key Worker roles
Key Workers will be hosted by NHS Herefordshire & Worcestershire, working across education, health, and social care. The project will be driven by the lived experience of children and young people and their families, therefore our ‘experts by experience’ will be critical partners to shape how we work.
The Key Worker roles will involve visiting patients in Tier 4 beds and will therefore require some travel outside of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (postholders will receive reimbursement of these travel costs).
We welcome applications from previous candidates.
NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire is the NHS organisation responsible for planning, buying, and monitoring health services for our population of over 800,000 people who live within a mix of urban and rurally dispersed communities, spanning two of the largest counties in England.
We have a workforce of over 250 employees and hold a budget of £1.19 billion to commission hospital, community, and mental health services. Our organisation is a dynamic, forward-looking, and vibrant place to work, set within the backdrop of some of the country’s most beautiful countryside.
In return, we provide a supportive and collaborative environment where we work with our staff to provide opportunities for you to reach your full potential and to develop a rewarding career within an exciting and evolving environment. We aim to enable our employees to achieve a positive work-life balance through a blend of collaborative workplace attendance combined with regular home working. Benefits include:
- Employee Assistance programmes and access to a wealth of on-line health and wellbeing support
- Competitive NHS Pension Scheme
- Comprehensive opportunities to learn new skills and to develop your career within a caring and inclusive environment
- Generous holiday entitlement, which increases in line with service. There is also the opportunity to purchase additional leave.
- Flexible working patterns to support individuals work-life balance.
The Key Worker Practitioners will work with children and young people up to the age of 25 years, exercising a high level of autonomy and initiative. They will work with a range of stakeholders across Herefordshire and Worcestershire building on existing developments, the post holder will work with the Senior Key Worker Practitioner and a team of Keyworkers to deliver the Keyworker project across the ICS.
The Key Worker Practitioner will work with key project stakeholders; Families in Partnership Worcestershire, Parent Carer Voice Herefordshire, SpeakEasy NOW (Experts by Experience), SENDIASS Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Herefordshire & Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust, Worcestershire Children First, Herefordshire County Council Children's Services, and the ICS Tackling Health Inequalities Programme Board.
Main Duties & Responsibilities:
In preparation for the key working pilot submission parent/carer forum representatives, young people with autism and relevant professional partners from across Herefordshire & Worcestershire were mobilised to discuss a shared vision for the key worker function. People said they wanted the function to:
Navigation and coordination:
Provide support to access the right help at the right time across complex systems particularly the transition between children and adults services. Build relationships and support coordination across the system. Coordinate provision, care and assessments related to the child or young person, working with other agencies and services to ensure agreed actions are carried out and aligned to the recommendations of the DSR meetings. Follow-up on any actions from CETRs to ensure that progress is being made and to report back into the DSR. Involvement in the young persons life needs to be flexible and based on need. Hold services across the system to account where action plans are in place or actions have been agreed. Produce reports on completed work including recommendations for future service provision and gaps in services. Develop and strengthen effective strategic, multi-agency partnerships. Communicate clearly with the child, young person, and their family to help them understand and navigate the system, for example conveying complex legal and medical information around Tier 4 admissions in a clear, accessible way. Work with services to increase understanding of the child/young person and family including their strengths, ambitions, and support needs.
Support at home and in the community as an alternative to admission:
Coordinate care on behalf of the young person and their family to support community living. Supporting families to access Personal Budgets, to enable greater choice and control over their child/young persons care. Advise services on appropriate adjustments for the young person based on their autism/LD profile. Support discharge from specialist services. Exploring digital ways of support including through the use of apps.
Flexible and person-centred:
Support colleagues across the system to become autism/LD aware and provide autism/LD friendly and person-centred services. Actively listen so as to accurately capture and then convey the lived experience of the child or young person and their family to hold a system to account and ensure appropriate services are engaged. Delivery of flexible, personalised and child-centred support, to ensure the complex and often varying needs of children, young people and their families are met. Ensure that information is accessible, to optimise communication and ensure that reasonable adjustments have been made to enable the child and young person and their families to access services.
Independence and empowerment:
Support young people to develop their own solutions, led by their needs, hopes and aspirations. Encourage young people to develop their own networks of support. Facilitate the provision and implementation of tailored behavioural and emotional support to help a child or young person and their families develop skills for progress and self-management to meet their agreed goals and outcomes. Develop an autism/LD profile that helps a child or young person with a learning disability and/or autism to understand their strengths and areas of support. Provide information, support, and advice to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism can access support they want when they need it. Facilitate parents to access appropriate services to assess and implement strategies for managing risks and behaviours. Create and develop a culture which prioritises keeping children and young people within the home and local community. Monitor and review the young person’s progress and align with the DSR guidance, addressing any challenges.
Support my voice:
Advocate and challenge on behalf of the young person, including attending Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs) and escalating issues where required. Be a trusted person who actively listens and understands the young people and families they are supporting. Represent and champion the young person and their family in discussions around provision of care as required, communicating compassionately with the young person and their family, and communicating confidently with the range of professionals involved in their care. Sharing information across the system to prevent admission and to provide timely discharge. Mediate on behalf of the child, young person and their family where required to ensure the necessary support is put in place to enable them to remain within or be discharged into the community and to promote joined-up, consistent care that meets their needs and rights. This may involve constructively challenging the status quo.
Oversight of children, young people, and their families:
The post holder will: Act always in such a way as to promote and safeguard the wellbeing and interests of children, young people, and their families in accordance with relevant professional regulation. To act always in such a way as to promote and safeguard the wellbeing and interests of patients and clients in accordance with National Occupation Standard. Liaise with adult mental health services and learning disability services via the DSR process. Maintain regular contact with the child in all potential environments, home, school etc. Maintain safe working practices, following the lone working policy. To work in partnership with others, have oversight and provide challenge where appropriate to ensure the children/young person’s needs are being met. Ensure care plans have clear measurable goals which have taken into account the views of the child/young person and carers. Coordinate as appropriate, multi-agency delivery of care, feeding in relevant information to support wider service planning.
Key Worker Team training and development:
The post holder will: Participate in and provide peer support to other Key Workers. Contribute to the training of staff. Adhere to Safety Policy for staff working in the community. Participate in Staff Appraisals. Plan and prioritise own workload. Maintain and develop professional knowledge and competence and demonstrate acquired knowledge.
Responsibility for Information:
To contribute to the provision of briefings and reports to senior ICS management and Operational Management Team meetings, as required. To contribute to the team performance and quality, as indicated through KPIs, quality measures, taking corrective action as required to achieve targets. Any other task relevant to the role.
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