Employer Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Saffron Ground, Ditchmore Lane, Stevenage, SG1 3LJ Town Stevenage Salary £31,049 - £37,796 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 08/02/2026 23:59
Social Worker
Band 5
Values Based Screener
At Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust we are looking for people to join us who share our values and those of the NHS. Before your application can be considered please take part on our online values questionnaire, which you can find below. When you have finished you will be sent a 'completion code' by email, which will be valid for 6 months and required to submit your application form.
We are recruiting a qualified band 5 Social Worker in Hertfordshire’s first episode in psychosis team. We would love you to join our team in the Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) Service – which we call PATH (Psychosis: Prevention, Assessment and Treatment in Hertfordshire). People using our service are experiencing psychosis for the first time. We are committed to delivering personalised and meaningful care that makes a positive difference and helps people to achieve outcomes that make their lives better.
Our Band 5 social worker will be working in the North and East of Hertfordshire in a specified geographical area around Bishops Stortford with a main team base in Stevenage.
Our roles are focussed on delivering care along the FEP pathway for people and their families. As well as offering the ASYE for newly qualified social workers you will have access to comprehensive training to develop your skills in:
· Expertly assessing psychosis with people who are coming into our service for the first time
· Delivering excellent physical health care to support healthy lifestyles and ongoing good health
· Completing an accredited training programme (with dedicated study time) to be a Family Intervention Therapist who will work alongside trained Clinical Psychologists in the service to support families
· Working with carers to help them with their own needs and understanding psychosis
Main duties of the job
The candidate will be working as part of a hub and spoke model, care coordinating a caseload of service users who are experiencing a first episode of psychosis. The hub serves as a central point of coordination, working closely with the wider multi-disciplinary team as spokes to oversee care plans.
The FEP/EIP Social Worker will be responsible for the assessment of care needs and the development, implementation and evaluation of program of care for a defined caseload of people with first episode psychosis and maintaining associated records. The core functions are to undertake integrated health and social care assessments, co-producing a care plan with individuals and their support networks and delivering this within a framework of recovery which embraces each individual’s right to choice and control. Ensuring that carers are effectively assessed and supported is a key component of this role. The role requires skills in assessing, planning, organising, reviewing and delivering recovery oriented and evidence-based interventions to support the recovery of service users, as agreed with supervising clinician(s). This work will be in accordance with clinical governance processes and professional standards. The post holder will utilise their skills and knowledge to undertake assessments, identify desired social care outcomes and carry out treatment both in inpatient areas and community areas as appropriate.
Our family of over 4,500 members of staff provide health and social care for people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. Everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout:
Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Communication Requirements:
· Demonstrate a high level of competency to receive and give clinical information verbally and in writing from/ to those receiving care, their families/carers, and professional colleagues.
· Demonstrate a high level of interpersonal skills, self-awareness, and empathy in all communications.
· Ensure adherence to all aspects of patient confidentiality, documentation and record keeping according to Trust and national guidelines.
· Demonstrate the ability to communicate clearly and sensitively in complex situations.
· Demonstrate an ability to negotiate and problem solve in contentious and /or antagonistic situations where agreement is required. When agreement cannot be reached to communicate clear and rational decisions e.g., in initiating Mental Health Act assessments.
· Demonstrate the ability to develop and maintain good working relationships with colleagues within all agencies whom they encounter to the benefit of the client and the service.
Clinical Responsibility
The post holder will work under supervision from a band 6 or above social worker or nurse within the early intervention in psychosis service and work alongside the MDT to deliver a recovery focused care plan in line with the evidenced based NICE guidelines and EIP standards.
In addition to Job Responsibilities above, the post holder will:
Carry out full mental health and social care assessments (including Connected Lives assessments).
· Develop, implement, evaluate and document mental health care and desired social care outcomes. This will include frequent requirement for intense concentration.
· Devise care plans that promote patients’ independent living in the community (the social care element of the role will be significant within the recovery care planning).
· Complete risk assessments that are clear, concise and detail plans to safely manage any identified risks, including formulating strategies to address these risks.
The post holder will undertake the training to enable to plan and deliver Family Interventions for psychosis (FIp), in line with best practice.
· Use a variety of clinical skills appropriate to the needs of the individual and the clinical setting in which they are seen.
· Provide ongoing interventions for people where assessment indicates this to be relevant to their needs.
· Where indicated by assessment, to discharge with appropriate care provisions and follow-up, with future review dates booked as appropriate.
· Demonstrate a high standard of record keeping and documentation with adherence to Trust policies.
· Work alongside current staff and colleagues to develop and promote the service’s philosophy, framework of care delivery and strategic objectives.
· Contribute to Mental Health strategy discussions/steering groups when requested by senior management.
· Work with current staff and colleagu es to develop and demonstrate clinical expertise and high standards of mental health practice.
· Deliver care that is person centred reflecting current best practice and challenge practice that may be detrimental to people receiving high quality care.
· Demonstrate appropriate understanding of the legal and ethical issues in providing mental health care
Additional Notes:
Newly qualified Social Workers will also be expected to complete their ASYE as part of this post and will be supported to do so.
Person specification
QUALIFICATIONS/EDUCATION/TRAINING
* Academic qualifications at degree level or above
* Membership of professional bodies
* Additional areas of training through short courses
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
* Experience at in a relevant mental health setting
* Evidence of continuing professional development
* Working knowledge of MHA (1983), CPA, Risk Assessment and Section 25 etc
* Effective multi-professional team communication & team working
* Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate agreed care with supervision
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
* Excellent ability to communication with a wide range of stakeholders including service users and carers, other professional colleagues, members of other organisations and local communities, verbally and in writing
* Ability to manage highly sensitive information
* Experience of using electronic recording systems and ability to produce accurate, appropriate, and timely reports
ANALYTICAL SKILLS
* Ability to analyse service user and carer information.
* Experience of undertaking small scale audits and surveys
About us
Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is rated by the Care Quality Commission as an Outstanding provider of mental health and learning disability services. In 2021, we won the prestigious Health Service Journal award for Mental Health Trust of the Year, with the judges saying they were “blown away” by our people’s achievements and that everything they saw “sings and hums”. This year, our staff rated us the 4 th best mental health and learning disability trust to work for out of all 52 trusts in the country. Our staff tell us they are proud to be part of the HPFT team, proud of the standard of care we provide and proud that service users are our top priority. Our people tell us they feel supported though a great development, wellbeing and work-life balance offer and a highly compassionate, values-driven culture. We are equally proud of our staff, who live our values of being welcoming, kind, positive, respectful and professional so that together we provide great care and great outcomes for our service users and carers.
If you would like to join a team to be proud of and you share our values and passion for great care and outcomes for our service users and carers, we would love to hear from you.
Additional Information
HPFT is committed to being an equal opportunities employer and in order to reflect the diversity of its population, positively encourages applications from all areas of the community. We aim to be a representative organisation with regards to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, beliefs and sexual orientation and are fully committed to equality, diversity and human rights and encourage applications from all sections of the community including users of mental health services.
The Trust is committed to helping staff balance work and home life and welcomes applications from candidates wishing to work part-time or under flexible working arrangements.
Infection Control
All our staff will need to comply with current Infection Prevention and Control measures which could include wearing a mask on all our Trust sites and in all roles
AI Usage Guidance
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) can aid you in completing your application, these tools cannot fully grasp the context of requirements of the job you’re applying for, nor can they accurately reflect your skills, knowledge and experience. Please ensure you have tailored your application before submitting it.
For further information, please refer to the Trust’s guidance on AI usage document which can be found below.
Visa, Immigration and Sponsorship
As a Trust we will offer sponsorship to roles which require professional registration, unfortunately, if you apply for a role that is outside of that your application will not be considered for the role. If you hold a different visa type, you must have a minimum of 2 years on your current visa to be considered for a role.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Application numbers
This vacancy may close early if we receive a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application promptly.
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