Reports to / Regional Community Support Manager - South of England
Location / Working from home with attendance at the DEBRA Head Office as required. Ability to travel to London clinics (currently St Thomas’s hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital) and to clients on home visits throughout the South of England, predominately London and surrounding area is essential. Some events and meetings are nationwide and attendance is encouraged.
Hours / 35 Hours / 5 days per week – occasional out of hours work necessary
Purpose / To provide a community support and advocacy service to people whose lives are affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) through effective communication and liaison with all sections of the community and other stakeholders.
Principle Objectives of the Job Role
Service delivery and managing a case load
a. Provide a person centred community support service, within the constraints of DEBRA, to the EB Community, to include: welfare, education, employment, housing, benefits;
b. Maintain a working knowledge of current changes to the Welfare System.
c. Manage caseloads;
d. Act as a support to the EB Community, providing: advocacy, liaison, befriending and sign posting as appropriate;
e. Assess client need and prioritise service provision;
f. Receive and make referrals to and from other agencies;
g. Work in partnership with individuals and families, enabling them to become involved in DEBRA as an organisation;
h. Work with the team and EB Community to develop and manage specific projects and services when appropriate with the support and direction of your manager;
i. Assist and contribute to Community Support Team projects;
j. Produce written materials/guidelines on specific issues related to the EB community for use with EB community and relevant professionals with support from your manager/team;
k. Attend clinics to support families in the national EB centres and outreach clinics;
l. Manage support grants budget as agreed and in conjunction with your manager;
m. Provide advocacy at tribunals, assessments etc. if required;
n. Encourage self-advocacy;
o. Work as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Communication
a. Establish good working relationships with the EB Community and other stakeholders;
b. Work effectively in partnership with the individual, family/carers in assessing, planning and implementing support as required;
c. Effective communication with clients. Work as part of the enhanced multidisciplinary team to support the clients;
d. Liaise with statutory agencies involved with individuals and families living with EB, e.g. schools, social services departments, children’s services, adult social care and benefits agencies;
e. Work as an effective member of the Community Support Team;
f. Regular communication with other DEBRA departments as required (e.g. membership and fundraisers);
g. Use effective verbal and non-verbal communication at all times.
Personal development
a. Develop and promote a variety of knowledge based resources including publications, events and online information with support from manager and team;
b. With support from manager co-ordinate/take on an area of responsibility at events;
c. Assist with facilitation at regional and national events;
d. Develop knowledge and skills by attending internal and external training courses;
e. Explore and begin to develop specific skills and expertise which helps improve service delivery;
f. Share expertise with the rest of the team and EB Community when appropriate;
g. Involvement in new projects as they are identified;
h. Develop SMART objectives with manager and attend regular review meetings and annual appraisal meeting;
i. Participate in continued professional development including: conferences, training events, networking and publications in both the speciality of EB and community care;
j. Deliver in service training and some external training both with the support of your manager/team;
k. Maintain personal development plan and training records.
Health and Safety and DEBRA Policy
a. Work in ways which are in keeping with:
· Health and Safety at Work
· Data Protections
· Safeguarding
· Equality
· All DEBRA policies and procedures;
b. Have an updated knowledge of social policy and other statuary legislation and guidance applicable to the role;
c. Assist and contribute to policy development content as part of CST;
d. Identify and feedback to manager any concerns with health and safety practice or policy.
Quality
a. Maintain appropriate records at all times, ensuring confidentiality in line with the Data Protection Act, other statutory legislation and guidelines, and in line with DEBRA policies and procedures;
b. Maintain a record of activity as required (Currently using “progress” data base);
c. Maintain professional self-development to ensure practice is in keeping with regulations and best practice guidelines, including health and safety, lone working, child protection and the protection of vulnerable adults (POVA), and welfare reform;
d. Act as an ambassador for the community support team with the EB Community and members in national and International arena.
Equality
a. Adopt a person centred approach to service provision;
b. Enable self-advocacy when appropriate;
c. Support and enable access to education employment leisure, work and welfare and benefits provision;
d. Support and enable access to appropriate welfare and benefits provision;
e. Engage with the EB community and encourage service user involvement;
f. Enable the EB community to have a national voice (with the support from your manager);
g. Ensure there is equal access to the EB community support team services regardless of age, location, background, culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, and type of EB;
h. Ensure there is equal access to the DEBRA resources (For example holiday homes and events) regardless of age, location, background, culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, and type of EB;
i. Feedback any concerns with equality to your manager.
Additional duties
Undertake any other duties as requested by the Director of Health and Community Support.
Please Note:
As the tasks and responsibilities of this post can be varied and at times unpredictable, the post holder is expected to be flexible when tasks and responsibilities not covered by this document have to be undertaken.
DEBRA Ltd reserves the right to vary these duties from time to time in line with the changing operational needs of DEBRA Ltd.
Person Specification
Travel / Essential· Able to travel into central London (zone 1) within an hours travel time either by car or public transport.
· Ability to travel to London clinics and to clients on home visits throughout South of England but predominately London and surrounding areas and attendance at head office when required (often on two consecutive days) / Desirable
· Car owner with a clean, valid driving licence;
· Attendance at nationwide events and meetings.
(This may include an overnight stay.)
Functional expertise / · Relevant experience working face to face with the public within an advisory or health and social care setting;
· A willingness to gain expertise in EB, welfare reform, community support;
· A commitment to continued professional development in order to maintain knowledge require for the post;
· IT literate, including ability to use Microsoft Office Package;
· Ability to champion client focus and offer practical solutions.
· Strong administrative skills. / · Knowledge of current welfare provision and understanding of statutory organisations and their responsibilities;
· Ability to use Excel, PowerPoint, Progress;
· Ability to contribute to comprehensive support plans to meet identified needs
· Relevant qualification in health, social care or advisory subjects.
· Experience of advocacy work.
Interpersonal effectiveness / · A positive disposition;
· Ability to put people at ease and build trust;
· A genuine desire to help people;
· The ability to engage and relate to people of all backgrounds;
· Good written and oral communication skills. / · Experience of working with more than one client group.
Planning and organising / · Ability to prioritise workload;
· Good organisational and time management skills;
· Strong negotiation skills;
· Flexible and adaptable approach to working;
· Ability to use efficient and appropriate planning techniques to achieve team and organisational goals in a cost efficient and timely manner.
Team working / · Ability to work cooperatively and effectively with others in a team to achieve shared objectives. / · Experience of remote / home working;
· Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team.
JD – Area Community Support Manager –June 2015 4