Detailed job description and main responsibilities

CLINICAL SKILLS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

To offer clinical expertise and leadership in relation to looked after children within the borough and for borough children placed outside of the local authority boundary.

Promote the physical, mental and social aspects of children and young people.

Assist in assessing care needs, planning, delivery and evaluation of care.

Maintain high standards of care.

Act as a resource for colleagues within a specified area.

Ensure that the needs of these children and young people are recognized and that appropriate care is initiated by the caseload holder.

Assist in facilitating health education and health promotion for service users.

Monitor the delivery of care by members of the wider team.

Ensure that all planned care is evidence based.

Ensure comprehensive health assessments are produced for Looked after Children, including risk assessments of young people with complex health problems based on having an in depth knowledge in this area of expertise.

Ensure that caseload holders are able to utilise skills flexibly so that interventions can be creatively thought about, and provided within the young home, school, area office or other appropriate setting.

Act as a resource to members of universal child health services for the provision of joint home visiting as necessary.

Attend case reviews, conferences and professionals meetings as necessary.

Assist in the assessment, planning, negotiation, and evaluation of programmes of general health care for hard to reach young people based on current best practice and the needs of the population.

COMMUNICATION

Promote effective communication between the child/young person, carers, family, primary care and other agencies to ensure a cohesive approach to care.

Attend and participate at meetings as necessary.

Deputise for the Named Nurse at local authority meetings, including corporate parenting board and universal child health meetings as necessary.

Demonstrate expert skills in motivating the young people, carers and professionals to engage in interaction and to develop constructive working relationships, in a client group with a frequent history of non-engagement.

Impart and accept highly sensitive, complex and/or distressing information with understanding and empathy, with young people, carers and professionals.

Communicate and collaborate with other members of the LAC Health Team, CHS, Social Care, Youth Offending Service/voluntary and statutory organisations to support individual care.

Manage children and adults who at times may be physically and verbally aggressive towards other members of the family and/or staff.

To ensure safety as a paramount consideration and to be aware of different levels of intervention.

Negotiate, co-ordinate and where appropriate access relevant health services, tailoring packages of care based on need.

Based on assessments and reports, convey sensitive, complex and sometimes unwelcome information to young people and other professionals; and manage this as constructively as possible.

Develop specialist training packages for other professionals in Social Care (including foster carers & residential staff), Universal Child Health Practitioners and other agencies including CAMHS.

Offer specialist consultation, education, and advice to Social Care (including foster carers & residential staff), Universal Child Health Practitioners and other agencies including CAMHS.

ADMINISTRATIVE / CLERICAL

Maintain accurate clinical records in accordance with service standards and to record and maintain data in local database systems.

Maintain accurate records in accordance with NMC.

Compile and present reports which include service specific data.

Ability to compile reports on specific children/young people which may be required in the court arena.

Assist practitioners to write confidential reports when required, that may have wide ranging implications for the young person and their family. This may involve difficult and highly distressing disclosures.

MANAGERIAL/LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES

Collate and provide appropriate qualitative and statistical information on activity and outcomes for looked after a child required for the CCG and Social Care.

Develop systems to enable reporting and monitoring of specific health conditions of looked after children.

Prepare effective and timely written reports as required both for Health and Social Care Provide service related information to senior managers and staff to aid day-to-day service management and future planning.

Contribute to the management of the delivery of care for young people in an effective and efficient manner and contribute to the enhancement of services provided through making recommendations for service development.

Maximise time management and efficiency of the service through the development of systems and processes appropriate to the post.

Report and advise on the resources that are needed to meet the general health needs of the service users.

Work within guidelines to identify and manage risk, reporting any identified risks to the Named Nurse and /or relevant.

Ensure effective use of resources within the team.

Contribute to the setting up and continual development of the service, both in the evolving of the service delivery as a whole, and with special reference to that of their own discipline within the team.

Support universal child health practitioners in the management and co-ordination of health care in complex cases.

Support the Named Nurse and health colleagues in delivering a high quality service.

Work as an independent practitioner without the need for direct supervision.

Recognise child protection situations and be aware of and adhere to local guidelines and policies.

Adapt practice to the circumstances of the young person and carers, giving due regard to cultural, linguistic and other differences in line with the Trust Policy on Equality and Diversity.

Participate in the development of policies and guidelines relating to the service and to translate these policies into partnership working both within and outside the service.

Help develop a strategy for the Health Team in line with the overall strategic aims and objectives of the service and Trust.

Ensure closer links with operational arrangements allied to ADHD, Public Health etc.

EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Ensure the development and maintenance of the highest personal standard of practice through active participation in internal and external training.

Be responsible for personal development and education.

Develop and facilitate educational training programmes for other professionals working both within and outside the service.

Keep updated on national/local developments within the Health Service providing knowledge and health perspectives within the LAC team.

Be appraised by the Named Nurse LAC and have a Personal Development Plan in line with Trust policy.

Support and facilitate one to one and group health promotion sessions as necessary.

Support the development and expansion of existing services by undertaking focus groups and user views exercises with the above named specific groups of children and young people.

RESEARCH AND AUDIT

Be aware of the up-to-date research and evidence relating to care and treatment of children and young people who are Looked After.

Take a lead role in audit and research projects undertaken by the service as required.

Work within professional and ethical frameworks established by national bodies such as the DoH, DfE,and NMC.

Attend regular clinical supervision.

Participate fully in audit and evaluation of service provision in this specialist field, conducting practice based evaluation and research.

Participate in peer supervision through regional/national networking.

OTHER SKILLS REQUIRED

Fully IT literate and ability to produce PowerPoint presentations.

Inputting complex data into databases.