Senior Medical Social Worker

Purpose of the Post

The purpose of the post is to:

· To provide social work services for a national gender service

· To work within a multidisciplinary environment to provide quality care for our clients.

· To apply and develop specialist skills and knowledge appropriate to this service.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Professional/ Clinical Responsibilities

The Social Worker, Senior Medical will:

· Provide a comprehensive social work service to patients and families, integrated with the medical and mental health care of transgender patients.

· Work with and advise the multi-disciplinary team in the relevant areas on assessment outcomes.

· Develop effective working relationships with and between clients/service users, statutory and non-statutory agencies and professionals.

· Be an integral part of the multidisciplinary team.

· Attend case conferences and meetings as required.

· Manage and prioritise a caseload as required.

· Have adequate knowledge of HSE (and other) policies, procedures and law relevant to the agency or individual circumstances. Work in accordance with statutory and legal requirements.

· Keep accurate signed records of all social work intervention, as part of a shared patient record, and ensure that statistical data on service provision is available as requested.

· Participate in any research projects and teaching programs involving the national gender service.

· Take an active role in an appropriate level of planned professional supervision, in accordance with the local/ national supervision policy.

Education & Training

The Social Worker, Senior Medical will:

· Maintain standards of practice and levels of professional knowledge by participating in continuous professional development initiatives and attendance at courses as appropriate.

· Engage in career and professional development planning in collaboration with the Senior/ Principal Medical Social Worker.

· Keep up to date with advances in Social Work research, and ongoing review and evaluation of literature relevant to the assigned area.

· Keep abreast of developments in national policies and strategies and international best practice.

· Keep up to date with organisational developments within the Irish Health Service.

· Act as a resource by participating in the induction, education and training of Social Work colleagues, other health professionals and service user groups as required.

· Participate in the practice education of student Social Workers.

· Support and train other staff in accordance with professional standards as appropriate.

· Foster an understanding of the role and contribution of social work by providing professional consultation and education to other members of the service.

Health & Safety

The Social Worker, Senior Medical will:

· Comply with and contribute to the development of policies, procedures, guidelines and safe professional practice and adhere to relevant legislation, regulations and standards.

· Document appropriately and report any near misses, hazards and accidents and bring them to the attention of relevant designated individual(s) in line with best practice.

· Work in a safe manner with due care and attention to the safety of self and others.

· Be aware of risk management issues, identify risks and take appropriate action.

· Comply with department procedures with regards to assessment, recommendation and/or manufacturing of all assistive devices.

· Promote a culture that values diversity and respect.

· Have a working knowledge of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Standards as they apply to the role for example, Standards for Healthcare, National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections, Hygiene Standards etc and comply with associated HSE protocols for implementing and maintaining these standards.

· Support, promote and actively participate in sustainable energy, water and waste initiatives to create a more sustainable, low carbon and efficient health service.

Administrative

The Social Worker, Senior Medical will:

· Maintain a high standard of documentation, including service user files in accordance with local guidelines and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

· Maintain accurate up to date records and files, and submit activity data as required.

· Write accurate, clear, concise and purposeful reports.

· Ensure the maintenance of service user and data confidentiality.

· Contribute to the development and implementation of information sharing protocols and audit systems.

· Contribute to policy development, performance monitoring and budgetary control of service in conjunction with the Principal Social Worker.

· Collaborate with the Principal Social Worker or designate in developing the role of the Social Worker and the service e.g. through planning, audit, production of standards, continuing education, quality improvement initiatives and research.

· Assist in ensuring that the social work service makes the most efficient and effective use of developments in IT.

The above Job Specification is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office.

Eligibility Criteria

Qualifications and/ or experience

Candidates must at the latest date of application:

1.Professional Qualifications, Experience, etc.

i) Must be registered in the Social Workers Register maintained by the Social Workers Registration Board at CORU.

AND

ii) Must have the requisite knowledge and ability (including a high standard of suitability and professional ability) for the proper discharge of the duties of the

Office

iii) At least 1 years’ experience in an adult mental health setting

iv) At least 3 years full time clinical work post qualification

PREFERABLE:

Experience of working with people with autism and neurodiversity

2.Annual Registration

i) Maintain annual registration on the Social Workers Register maintained by the Social Workers Registration Board at CORU.

And

ii) Confirm annual registration with CORU to the HSE by way of the annual Patient Safety Assurance Certificate (PSAC).

3.Age

Age restrictions shall only apply to a candidate where he/she is not classified as a new entrant (within the meaning of the Public Service Superannuation Act, 2004). A candidate who is not classified as a new entrant must be under 65 years of age on the first day of the month in which the latest date for receiving completed application forms for the office occurs.

4.Health

A candidate for and any person holding the office must be fully competent and capable of undertaking the duties attached to the office and be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

5.Character

Each candidate for and any person holding the office must be of good character.

Post Specific Requirements

Demonstrate depth and breadth of experience with Personal, Social, Legal and Medical Transitioning and the challenges for transgender people undergoing transitioning.

Other Requirements Specific to the Post

Access to appropriate transport to fulfil the requirements of the role.

Skills, Competencies and/or Knowledge

Candidates must:

· Demonstrate knowledge of legislation and best practice guidelines relevant to social work practice issues and a clinical caseload.

· Demonstrate ability to use theoretical evidence to support all work undertaken.

· Demonstrate ability to use different clinical approaches in responding to patient needs.

· Demonstrate an understanding of the social consequences of gender transitioning.

· Demonstrate an understanding of the adverse impact, due to poor insight or social adversity, on the psychosocial functioning of the transgendered patient.

· Demonstrate a strong awareness of social work values.

· Demonstrate flexibility and open mindedness in matters of values, opinion and judgement.

· Recognise significance of power and authority in a range of settings.

· Show awareness of social work role in addressing and challenging anti-discriminatory practice.

· Demonstrate evidence of effective planning and organisational skills including caseload prioritisation, project management, evidence-based practice and ability to apply knowledge to practice.

· Demonstrate the ability to manage self in a busy working environment including the ability to prioritise caseloads.

· Demonstrate initiative and innovation in identifying areas for service improvement.

· Demonstrate flexibility and openness to change within an evolving service.

· Demonstrate ability to organise and facilitate multidisciplinary/ family meetings.

· Demonstrate effective team skills.

· Demonstrate ability to utilise supervision effectively including attending to ethical issues.

· Display awareness and appreciation of the service user as expert through experience including promoting the involvement of the service user in care planning, decision-making and service development.

· Make patient/client focus of social work intervention within the assessment process and intervention process

· Demonstrate ability to treat patient/ client with dignity and respect.

· Use systems theory and see patient/client as part of their own system as identified by them, lifespan development theory, crisis intervention, person-centred theory, grief and loss theory, understanding the impact of illness on patients and families, counselling skills, etc.

· Advocate for patient/clients to influence social policy and specific Hospital policies for the benefit of the service user.

· Demonstrate competence to communicate effectively with patient/service user who may be experiencing stressful events.

· Demonstrate flexibility in his/her clinical approach around the varying needs of individual patient’s presentation.

· Demonstrate evidence of computer skills to the role.

· Demonstrate commitment to continuing professional development.

· Display effective interpersonal and communication (verbal and written) skills.

Competition Specific Selection Process

Ranking/Shortlisting / Interview

A shortlisting exercise will be carried out on the basis of information supplied in your application form. The criteria for ranking and or shortlisting are based on the requirements of the post as outlined in the eligibility criteria and skills, competencies and/or knowledge section of this job specification. Therefore it is very important that you think about your experience in light of those requirements.

Failure to include information regarding these requirements may result in you not being called forward to the next stage of the selection process.

Those successful at the ranking stage of this process (where applied) will be placed on an order of merit and will be called to interview.

Diversity, equality and inclusion

The HSE is an equal opportunities employer.

Employees of the HSE bring a range of skills, talents, diverse thinking and experience to the organisation. The HSE believes passionately that employing a diverse workforce is central to its success – we aim to develop the workforce of the HSE so that it reflects the diversity of HSE service users and to strengthen it through accommodating and valuing different perspectives. Ultimately this will result in improved service user and employee experience.

The HSE is committed to creating a positive working environment whereby all employees inclusive of age, civil status, disability, ethnicity and race, family status, gender, membership of the Traveller community, religion and sexual orientation are respected, valued and can reach their full potential. The HSE aims to achieve this through development of an organisational culture where injustice, bias and discrimination are not tolerated.

The HSE welcomes people with diverse backgrounds and offers a range of supports and resources to staff, such as those who require a reasonable accommodation at work because of a disability or long-term health condition.

Read more about the HSE’s commitment to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

Code of Practice

The Health Service Executive will run this campaign in compliance with the Code of Practice prepared by the Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA). The Code of Practice sets out how the core principles of probity, merit, equity and fairness might be applied on a principle basis. The Code also specifies the responsibilities placed on candidates, feedback facilitates for applicants on matters relating to their application when requested, and outlines procedures in relation to requests for a review of the recruitment and selection process and review in relation to allegations of a breach of the Code of Practice. Additional information on the HSE’s review process is available in the document posted with each vacancy entitled “Code of Practice, information for candidates.

Codes of practice are published by the CPSA and are available on www.hse.ie/eng/staff/jobs in the document posted with each vacancy entitled “Code of Practice, information for candidates or on www.cpsa.ie.

The reform programme outlined for the Health Services may impact on this role and as structures change the job description may be reviewed.

This job description is a guide to the general range of duties assigned to the post holder. It is intended to be neither definitive nor restrictive and is subject to periodic review with the employee concerned.

PLEASE COMPLETE AND UPLOAD THE APPLICATION FORM ATTACHED TO THE JOB ADVERT. CVs WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR THIS POSITION.