Trafford Caring for Carers Partnership

TRAFFORD CARERS CENTRE

Job Description

Job Title: Casework Navigator

Salary: £18,376 - £19,742, pa, pro rata

Hours: Full Time post - 35 hours a week over 5 days

Accountable to: Centre Manager

Base: Trafford Carers Centre, 19B School Rd, Sale M33 7XX

Link Teams, GP’s Surgeries and other Community Locations

Duties of all Carers Centre staff are periodically reviewed and may alter in line with service requirements in consultation with staff.

Job Summary

To be responsible for ensuring that carers’ needs are assessed, to provide carers with advice, information, advocacy and emotional support via, helpline support, 1:1 visits, outreach support and support at meetings with other professionals, to work on the carers helpline. Casework Navigators are responsible for referring all carers to appropriate community services as part a critical intervention – the carers assessment, under statutory devolvement from Trafford Council; and Trafford CCG.

The role requires that the post holder is based for part of the week within link teams which will include; GP’s practices, social care teams or health organisations, other voluntary organisations and community venues.

Main Duties

The post holder will need to:-

1. Work directly with carers to carry out carers assessments, Support planning and reviews of these documents.

2. Using Community Navigation, refer all contacted carers to a wide and holistic range of community and commissioned services as part of the Carers Assessment and Support planning processes.

3. Respond to the individual health or emotional needs of informal carers, by assisting carers to resolve problems often related to interpersonal relationships, particularly where these factors block the resolution of more practical problems. To make appropriate referrals to the Health and Wellbeing service and Carers Nurse.

4. Formulate action plans and help carers to identify goals which may help carers manage their caring role more effectively.

5. Assist carers in identifying any barriers which may stop them from reaching their goals or accessing support and help carers to overcome these.

6. Provide information to support carers and to ensure insurance requirements are met and that carers are not told what to do but are given options.

7. Support carers in accessing services for themselves and the people that they care for and to identify all resources which are available or may be required to meet their needs.

8. Help carers to access personal budget for themselves and the person that they care for, providing information about where the budget could be spent in order to meet their own family circumstances.

9. Introduce carers to other carers who have common interests or similar caring circumstances to promote peer support networks and to help facilitate growing friendships to enable carers support networks to grow.

10. Facilitate support to enable carers to visit their GP’s and to seek additional medical support of any potential conditions, through a referral to Carers Nurse.

11. Identify individual training needs of carers and deliver group or 1:1 training (dependent on the experience of the post holder) in the carers home or community venue to meet these needs and achieve positive outcomes for the carer.

12. Collaborate closely with other partners in the statutory and voluntary sector to ensure that a multi-disciplinary assessment and holistic response to carer’s needs are made.

13. Ensure that details are properly recorded both on paper and on the computer system. To ensure that all casework and calls are thorough and have addressed all aspects of need.

14. Signpost carers onto other agencies and ensure that carers are given accurate and up to date information.

15. Increase awareness of carer’s needs amongst statutory and voluntary professionals in Trafford.

16. Promote and develop the formation of additional services and support networks under the guidance of the Project Officer.

17. Support any marketing activities for the Carers Centre, to promote our services across the borough.

18. Ensure that carers have access in the community to our ebooks

19. Man and or run any information stands/outreach sessions at events providing carers with information and advice.

20. Run carers groups providing a mixture of social events, training and traditional support groups for carers.

21. Be familiar with appropriate legislation, procedures and resources in order to ensure that the statutory requirements are met.

22. Represent the views of carers in any strategic meetings relating to services in Trafford. To give talks about the Centre to various groups.

23. Ensure that carers gain a positive outcome (short term and long term outcomes) from our service as a result of the support given and to meet individual targets set.

24. Provide information on the unmet needs of carers.

General

25. Select priorities for action from within the workload. This will involve distinguishing between decisions requiring action, routine decisions and those, which must be referred to senior staff.

26. Maintain accurate and relevant records and prepare written reports utilizing information technology systems, as required and adhering to the organisations policies and procedures.

27. Act as a representative of Trafford Carers Centre both externally and internally, contributing to the overall strategy of the charity.

28. Participate in strategic planning sessions and all relevant meetings where appropriate.

29. Be a positive influence in own approach to work and to act as a role model to the rest of the Carers Centre team, encouraging open communication and a problem solving approach.

30. Attend regular supervision with Centre manager as required.

31. Communicate any emerging issues, trends or concerns with senior staff and to know when to refer issues to senior staff.

32. Contribute and participate in training as appropriate to the experience of the post holder.

33. Carry out duties of the post with full regard to Equal Opportunities policies.

34. Carry out any other duties that is deemed relevant by the, senior staff or the Chief Executive Officer.

35. Work flexible hours (occasional evenings and weekends) for which time-in-lieu will be given, where this is necessary to meet the needs of the charity.

36. To be aware of the Carers Centre’s policies and procedures.

Confidentiality

All workers will be expected to maintain a high standard of practice, which recognises the rights of the individual to have assurance that any information given or discovered must be treated with the respect and privacy consistent with the organisations overall social and professional responsibilities.

TRAFFORD CARERS CENTRE

Person Specification

Caseworker

ESSENTIAL / DESIRABLE
TRAINING, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS
Prior experience working with people with disabilities or their carers
Previous experience of working within the health and social care sector / A higher education qualification or degree or comparable experience
Social Work, health care or counselling qualification
General knowledge of other similar organisations in the health and social care sector
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Understanding the needs of carers
Where applicants are applying to be a caseworker within a particular group of carers we would expect to see experience of working with that particular client group and an understanding of the specific needs of that group
To have the skills to be able to communicate effectively both orally and in writing
To have the skills to identify the needs of carers whilst protecting the rights of the individual and recognising conflicting interests
Advocacy and advice giving skills
To have the ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues, both within a team and with other agencies
To have strong empathic listening skills
To have the skills to determine priorities, make decisions and evaluate the consequences. Strong time management skills
To have the ability to understand lines of accountability
To have the skills to reflect on and develop one’s own practice and use supervision appropriately
Skills to research information on behalf of a client
Ability to work on your own initiative
ICT skills for effective use of PCs / Knowledge of procedures, entitlements and community and NHS resources available to carers (and service users within any specific client group applicants are applying for)
Skills in undertaking outreach and marketing work to find hidden carers. Experience of giving talks to groups
A willingness to learn, enthusiasm and a commitment to carers
Understanding of how voluntary organisations function
Experience of working with carers in small groups or of running support groups
To have worked in a role which involved advice giving or advocacy, particularly to carers
To have experience of working on a helpline
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
Strong organisational skills with the ability to inspire trust; takes personal responsibility for delivering results effectively and swiftly, and matches resources to business priorities
Strong negotiating, influencing and inter-personal skills and the ability to represent the charity internally and externally
Tact, charm and a good sense of humour
Ability and willingness to support and deliver the overall objectives and strategies of the Carers Centre / To have a full driving license and access to a vehicle