Forensic Inpatient Social Worker - Oxford

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.

We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.

We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Good luck and we hope to hear from you.

Job overview

The Thames Valley Forensic Mental Health in-patient wards include Medium-secure Acute wards, Medium-secure Rehab wards, Low secure Units, and a Pre-discharge Unit, and are spread across three sites – Littlemore, Oxford; Milton Keynes; and Aylesbury, Bucks.

experience, to bring the social care perspective into the forensic mental health In-patient setting, to support service users in their recovery journey.

The post will suit experienced candidates who are resilient, enjoy working as part of an MDT, and sensitive to the recovery goals and needs of service users moving out of an in-patient unit.

The role will be ward-based, covering our Pre-Discharge Unit at Littlemore, and will input into other wards when required. The job location will require flexibility to hot-desk.

An additional Forensic Allowance of £1446 p.a. applies to this post.

Main duties of the job

You will work within an inpatient ward as part of a multi-disciplinary team (MDT). You will contribute to pre-admission assessments, particularly focusing on identifying any social issues that are relevant to the person's recovery, and general circumstances.

You will identify any potential barriers to discharge at the earliest possible stage, and work with others to help overcome these.

We'll need you to provide support to the wider ward team in regard to both children’s and adult safeguarding responsibilities.

You will contribute to the ongoing care planning for in-patients, and work with partner organisations and the wider MDT to ensure risk is managed effectively. You'll be linking with relevant colleagues, Responsible Local Authorities and Integrated Care Boards to ensure that patients are assessed under the Care Act 2014 and that their 'Section 117' needs are determined in a timely manner, to facilitate effective discharge, in collaboration with the patient and their family.

You will contribute to various statutory forums including Mental Health Tribunals and Mental Health Act Hospital Managers’ Hearings. You will demonstrate the skills to maintain their Social Work professional identity and ability to assert the social perspective when working within an inpatient environment.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application you are encouraged to read the “candidate guide to making an application” which is attached to all roles.

Please include details around qualifications (including years these were gained particularly if we need to assess for clinical roles that these are still valid) and ensure that the supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses the essential criteria found in the JD.

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”

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

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount
• Pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (waiting lists may apply)
• Staff networking and support groups

• To contribute to pre-admission assessments of patients referred to the Service. This will include ascertaining Local Authority section 117 responsibility, and where applicable, identifying any family, carer, or child protection issues, as well as any other relevant agencies involved.
• Following admission, to identify social care issues and ensure there is ongoing liaison with relevant agencies , so that any issues regarding property and tenancy are dealt with at an early stage.
• To have a working knowledge of relevant legislation such as the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act and Care Act and to contribute to assessments of needs under the Care Act 2014 and Section 117 Aftercare needs, working with Responsible Local Authority and ICB partners to ensure arrangements are made for effective discharge planning.
• To function effectively across a variety of environments (e.g. wards of varying levels of security, service users’ homes, inter-agency settings, etc.) including contributing to home risk assessments.
• To work independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team to assert the social perspective and assess, plan, and implement patient-centred programmes of care/interventions within the Care Programme Approach, contributing to the continuous assessment of patients to help meet their needs. This includes working in partnership with service users to assess progress against identified goals.
• To maintain contact with families and carers where appropriate, to identify needs including referring for Carers Assessments when required.
• To compile both non-statutory and statutory reports including CPA Reports, Social History and Needs Reports, Social Circumstances Reports for Mental Health Tribunals and Mental Health Act Hospital Managers’ Hearings, and present at the Hearings, and meetings.
• To lead on Safeguarding issues, Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) referrals and to attend MAPPA meetings where required to present cases and discuss patients.

Person specification

Qualifications – Academic/Skills/Professional

• Professional Qualification (Degree or equivalent) in Social Work
• Professional Registration with Social Work England
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD

• Post graduate education specifically relating to client group
• AMHP or BIA Qualification

Knowledge Requirements

• To have knowledge of relevant legislation, e.g. Mental Health Act, Care Act, and the Mental Capacity Act
• To be IT literate
• To have good English verbal and written communication skills
• To have knowledge of Risk Assessment/Management procedures

• To have awareness of the Criminal Justice System
• To have awareness of national and local policy relating to mental healthcare

Experience

• To have relevant experience which should include working with adults with mental health or learning difficulties.
• To have experience of working within a multidisciplinary team
• To understand and have experience of Risk Assessment and Risk Management
• Experience of statutory, and non-statutory report- writing
• To have experience of safeguarding vulnerable adults or children.
• Experience of assessing care needs

• To have experience of working with the Criminal Justice System
• To have experience of attending Mental Health Tribunals and/or MHA Managers’ Hearings
• To have experience of working in a healthcare, in-patient setting.
• All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• 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.
• Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing