Family Support Practitioner

at  Hospice of the Valleys

JOB PURPOSE The post holder will be a member of the Family Support Service within The Hospice of the Valleys. To work effectively as an autonomous practitioner within a multidisciplinary palliative care team, promoting and maintaining quality of life for patients and carers. To engage in the assessment of complex symptom and psychological problems, provide support, ensuring a cohesive, holistic, and evidence-based approach to the management of individuals living with a palliative diagnosis and support for their carers pre and post bereavement. To provide support, information, welfare rights advice and guidance to patients and those affected by their diagnosis.
Enabling and empowering those engaging with the service to maintain independence, improve sense of well-being and put them more in control of their lives. To support senior practitioners with education/training in house and within local community. ROLE OF DEPARTMENT The aim of the Family Support Service is to provide high quality care for people with a palliative diagnosis and their families who are experiencing complex symptoms that are not being effectively managed by generalist practitioners. The Family Support Service provides bereavement support to families in line with the bereavement care standards.
Contribute to the campaign to raise public awareness on matters relating to death and dying, supporting families to have difficult and sensitive discussions. SCOPE AND RANGE To develop innovative ways of working to ensure positive outcomes for those receiving the service. To ensure effective partnership working and engagement to achieve and deliver these objectives. MAIN TASKS, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES To assist and empower patients, families, carers, and bereaved relatives to maximise their household income by providing welfare rights advice and information.
To work alongside the multi-disciplinary team to provide a specialist palliative care service in Blaenau Gwent. To work autonomously, assessing patients and carers, with complex physical, emotional, social, and psychological symptoms on a daily basis to enable an appropriate plan of care to be developed within the community. To provide information, support, and advice in response to an assessed need highlighted within the initial assessment which may include: patient support, carer support, advance care planning and bereavement. Knowledge of local services is desirable as signposting to other services/agencies is required where appropriate.
To build a professional relationship with service users and their families and to use that relationship to safeguard and promote positive outcomes. To communicate effectively with service users and their families, ensuring that their wishes are heard and recorded accurately, and plans reflect their views. To provide a listening ear and other appropriate methods of emotional support following assessment of need, with the recognition of the need to refer on for further support if more complex issues arise. To establish rapport and build a respectful, honest, and trusted relationship with service users and their families, in order to identify and reduce risk in line with safeguarding procedures.
To establish and maintain effective communication relating to complex, sensitive and potentially stressful situations on a regular basis. Supporting relatives, carers, and staff in bereavement with the ability to recognise and refer on for complicated grief reactions. To contribute to multidisciplinary team meetings on a regular basis to enable complex decisions to be made. Contribute toward a core training programme relating to the specialist area for all Hospice staff and wider community including primary healthcare teams, social services staff, and the voluntary sector.
This could include providing education and support to the wider social care workforce in line with hospice expectations, as well as participation in local events and conferences. To maintain accurate and contemporaneous records. To input and retrieve patient information from computer-based systems. The service also provides support through group settings.
Therefore, this role will include the responsibility of organising peer support groups. To attend supervisions, either on a one-to-one basis, or as part of a group in accordance with Hospice of the Valleys policy and guidelines. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRE Minimum 2 years experience in a health care/social care/education setting. Experience of working directly with people affected by a palliative, life limiting diagnosis, their carersand those affected by the diagnosis.
Experience of supporting people following a bereavement. Experience of working within an unpredictable, ever changing multi-agency setting. Communicate respectfully in an open, accurate, straightforward, and confidential way with colleagues. Ability to organise and facilitate groups.
Ability to identify learning needs in others, and to utilise education opportunities. Ability to demonstrate contribution to policy development. Basic level competence in the standard range of IT programs. Able to demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication skills.
PRACTICE, EDUCATION & SERVICE DEVELOPMENT To take personal responsibility for keeping up to date with legislation, research findings and practice knowledge, including attendance at appropriate training as required by the Hospice of the Valleys. Work to maintain the values and aims of the Hospice of the Valleys and work in line with required policies and procedures. Practice and promote confidentiallty at all times, complying with the Hospices GDPR policies appropriate to your area of work. Contribute to training and practice development.
To support the provision of learning opportunities. To comply with Gwent Safeguarding Boards Safeguarding procedures and practice. Demonstrate efficient time management and flexible attitude to working patterns. To ensure the maintenance of such records and management information systems as appropriate.
Positively commit to Hospice of the Valleys performance management process including annual appraisals and one to one meetings, taking responsibility for personal and professional development. Treat everyone with respect and dignity. Maintain a professional, friendly and positive influence, maintaining awareness of how your behaviour can affect and influence the behaviour of others. To represent Hospice of the Valleys in the community and public domain as appropriate.
Contribute toward clinical and corporate governance agendas as appropriate. MAIN TASKS, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES To assist and empower patients, families, carers, and bereaved relatives to maximise their household income by providing welfare rights advice and information. To work alongside the multi-disciplinary team to provide a specialist palliative care service in Blaenau Gwent. To work autonomously, assessing patients and carers, with complex physical, emotional, social, and psychological symptoms on a daily basis to enable an appropriate plan of care to be developed within the community.
To provide information, support, and advice in response to an assessed need highlighted within the initial assessment which may include: patient support, carer support, advance care planning and bereavement. Knowledge of local services is desirable as signposting to other services/agencies is required where appropriate. To build a professional relationship with service users and their families and to use that relationship to safeguard and promote positive outcomes. To communicate effectively with service users and their families, ensuring that their wishes are heard and recorded accurately, and plans reflect their views.
To provide a listening ear and other appropriate methods of emotional support following assessment of need, with the recognition of the need to refer on for further support if more complex issues arise. To establish rapport and build a respectful, honest, and trusted relationship with service users and their families, in order to identify and reduce risk in line with safeguarding procedures. To support the completion of good quality assessments and the analysis of risk. To establish and maintain effective communication relating to complex, sensitive and potentially stressful situations on a regular basis.
Supporting relatives, carers, and staff in bereavement with the ability to recognise and refer on for complicated grief reactions. To contribute to multidisciplinary team meetings on a regular basis to enable complex decisions to be made. Contribute toward a core training programme relating to the specialist area for all Hospice staff and wider community including primary healthcare teams, social services staff, and the voluntary sector. This could include providing education and support to the wider social care workforce in line with hospice expectations, as well as participation in local events and conferences.
To maintain accurate and contemporaneous records. To input and retrieve patient information from computer-based systems. The service also provides support through group settings. Therefore, this role will include the responsibility of organising peer support groups.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRE Minimum 2 years experience in a health care/social care/education setting. Experience of working directly with people affected by a palliative, life limiting diagnosis, their carers and those affected by the diagnosis. Experience of supporting people following a bereavement. Experience of working within an unpredictable, ever changing multi-agency setting.
Communicate respectfully in an open, accurate, straightforward, and confidential way with colleagues. Ability to organise and facilitate groups. Ability to identify learning needs in others, and to utilise education opportunities. Ability to demonstrate contribution to policy development.
Basic level competence in the standard range of IT programs. Able to demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication skills

Please refer the Job description for details