Social Worker - Hospital Team

Social Worker – Hospital Social Work Team

Salary - £41,418 to £46,464 (Grade 7)

Hours - 37 hours per week working Monday to Saturday (1 in 4/5 Saturdays)

Contract type - fixed term contract until 31 March 2025

Be the Social Worker you want to be…

This is an exciting time to join the City of Wolverhampton Council as aHospital Social Worker. The post holder will be based within the Hospital Social Work team offering a citywide service facilitating timely discharges from the Acute Trust, West Park Hospital and Home First services.

In Wolverhampton we are ambitious for our Social Workers, passionate about excellent, relational social work practice and courageous in our innovation, with leaders who are visible and responsive.

We need people like you who will support us to work in a truly person-centred and strengths-based way.

At the award-winning City of Wolverhampton Council, we work restoratively with people, building strong relationships and making connections to help them find long-lasting solutions that are right for them using the Three Conversations© approach. At the heart of this way of working is having a meaningful conversation with a person, listening hard and being interested in what matters to them. But it’s also about innovation, creativity and professional autonomy.

Our vision in Adult’s Services is that the individuals we support will be at the centre of everything we do. We are committed to celebrating uniqueness and promoting independence, wellbeing and safety.

We are a forward-thinking, responsive organisation and want our Social Workers to spend their time building relationships with people and families to achieve real, sustainable change. We have a clear development pathway alongside a substantial training and development offer which is varied and responsive to practice challenges. Our senior managers and leaders are visible and take the time to listen to frontline employees.

If you are someone who is passionate and tenacious, wants to do the best job possible and is committed to excellent social work practice then we want to hear from you!

We will inspire, support and champion you so that you can be the Social Worker you want to be.

Join us…

You will:

• Engage with and empower people on discharge from hospital or ‘home first’ discharge to assess (D2A) services, their carers, and their support networks, in short term care planning.
• Have good understanding of the hospital discharge process
• The ability to negotiate, advocate and influence safe discharges
• Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in supporting complex discharges
• Have a good understanding of the importance of appropriate Funding streams and how these may be accessed.
• To provide written and verbal reports as required and to assist in assessing and monitoring the implementation of plans and positive outcomes for the people, including attendance and presentation of multi-disciplinary and family
• Be dedicated to working directly with people with care and support needs and carers to ensure that their voices are heard, and they are supported to live their idea of a good life
• Have a sound working knowledge of relevant legislation, such as the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, Discharge policy and procedures as well as key social work models and theories and evidence of application of this to practice
• Have strong analytical, assessment and negotiation skills
• Have excellent time management and organisational skills
• Be passionate about making a difference and committed to strengths-based working
• Be able to demonstrate you can work with colleagues and alongside service providers, police, health colleagues, voluntary partners and commissioners
• Have strong interpersonal, communication and IT skills
• Be registered with Social Work England
• Have a vision for your own career development and clear plan for your future training needs
• Have completed the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) or an equivalent post qualifying pathway

These posts are subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

For your valued contribution we offer:

• Fantastic learning and development opportunities, including access to Research in Practice for Adults (RiPfA)
• A Social Work CPD / Career Pathway which will support you to progress and develop
• Regular informal and formal reflective supervision
• Permanent Social Workers will be able to claim back their Social Work England fees
• Reimbursement of Blue light discount card membership fees
• Additional payments for practising Practice Educators
• We encourage, inspire and value an inclusive culture here at the council where employees can flourish, thrive and be themselves. We have four vibrant and active employee networks including four staff equality forums (Race Religion and Belief; Disability and Age; Gender Maternity and Paternity and LGBT+)
• Access to an external and independent confidential reporting service for employee concerns to be raised (“Safe Place”)
• A commitment to eliminating discrimination and supporting employee wellbeing to ensure a good work /life balance, which includes a strong employee assistance scheme and access to numerous wellbeing resources
• Supportive and flexible working arrangements, which may include some home working
• Excellent local government pension scheme

To find out more about us why not take a look at our website: www.wolvessocialworkjobs.com

As part of the interview process, candidates will be required to undertake:

o A written exercise

o A panel interview

For further information on these posts please contact:

Chris Evans, Faith Mazhude, Harjinder Rai or Sally Morris (Social Work Unit Manager’s) via telephone number 01902 695870.

Please note a separate advert will be placed for Newly Qualified Social Workers as and when vacancies occur, as you will be supported by the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme.

More Social Worker roles may become vacant during this recruitment campaign therefore if you are deemed as appointable following the interview process you may be offered an alternative post.

You will be notified on the outcome of your application form as soon as possible after the closing date.

Our working arrangements

All council roles are allocated to either a fixed, field or flexible work style. Some roles are agile which enable and empowers employees to maximise their performance and productivity, whilst maintaining a healthy work life balance. Roles with a fixed workstyle work in a fixed permanent council location. Roles with a field workstyle are usually allocation where employees are required to be out working in the community with a minimum requirement for 'touch down' space at any council location. Roles with a flexible workstyle have a flexible base location to meet the needs of the business and employees can work from a mixture of home or any council office, partner/client, or external location, as required to meet service requirements.

Please refer to the Job Description for further information on the workstyle assigned to the role you are applying for.

For more information about working for our organisation including the culture of the Council, the Council plan and vision, staff equality forums, core HR policies and much more please click here.

Diversity

We are committed to building a workforce that is reflective of the diverse community we serve. We want to attract the best applications from people of all backgrounds and underrepresented groups because we strongly believe in adding value through diversity, inclusion, and equality. Our employees enable us to deliver services that are accessible, inclusive, and reflective of Wolverhampton residents.

Our status as a Disability Confident Employer showcases our commitment to people with disabilities or health conditions, advocating for their opportunities and potential. We've received the Stonewall Silver Award, emphasising our dedication to the LGBT+ community by nurturing an inspiring, inclusive, and equal workplace. As of March 2023, the RACE Code Quality Mark signifies our active engagement with racial equality. These recognitions validate our continuous efforts towards fostering an inclusive work environment that respects and values our diverse employees.

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the essential criteria for the post.

We encourage, inspire and value an inclusive culture here at the council where employees can flourish, thrive and be themselves. We have four staff equality forums for employees to join. These help to ensure our employees have a voice, they feel empowered to speak up and where everyone is treated with respect - Learn more about the staff equality forums here

Recruitment of Ex-Offenders

We are committed to the fair treatment of all our employees, potential employees, or users of our service regardless of offending background. The Council uses the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for any vacancies that require a DBS check to obtain information about applicants to assess their suitability for employment in positions of trust. We do not discriminate unfairly against any individual on the basis of a conviction or any other information revealed as a result of a DBS disclosure - Learn more here

Employment Information & Support

If you are considering applying for an apprenticeship or a role where the salary is (Grade 2-5), and would like to visit us to learn about the application, interview process and what it is like to work for the council, please click on this link to find out more - Learn more here