Quality Practitioner Head Office, Stockport Town Centre (with nationwide travel)

Transcription

1 Reference: Quality Practitioner Head Office, Stockport Town Centre (with nationwide travel) Thank you for your interest in the above post, please find enclosed the specific role requirements and duties for this post. When completing the application form you may submit additional documentation however we cannot accept a CV as a completed application. Please note the following: Once you have submitted or posted your application form allow 10 working days after the closing date for a response. As we do not notify applicants of an unsuccessful application, if no response has been received within this time, please accept this as confirmation that your application has been unsuccessful. Unsuccessful applicants must wait 6 months before applying for a vacancy at Creative Support. Please return the completed application form to Creative Support in the enclosed Freepost envelope, to Recruitment, 5 th Floor, Head Office, 35 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 2HF or via recruitment@creativesupport.co.uk Due to our charitable organisational status all application forms submitted without use of the Freepost envelope must be done so using the correct postage amount. Creative Support cannot accept receipt of forms which carry a surcharge due to incorrect postage amounts. Closing Date: 21 July 2016 Yours Faithfully The Recruitment Department Encs: Form Philosophy Statement Additional Information Applicants are subject to enhanced DBS checks. Exempt from section 7 2e of the SDA Finalised: 27 June 2016 Finalised by: S.Priestley Page 1 of 8

2 JOB DESCRIPTION QUALITY PRACTITIONER Head Office, Stockport Town Centre (with nationwide travel) Hours: Responsible to: Location: 37.5 hours a week Team Leader Quality department and also to Service Director with lead on Quality and the Executive Management Team You will initially be based at our Manchester City Centre Head Office during initial induction to the role. From October the permanent base for this position will be our new Stockport Head Office. Scope of the role Creative Support has an established quality department which includes many aspects of quality compliance and good practice work. These include a regular audit programme, a proactive audit schedule which works ahead of external inspections from regulators and the CQC. The department also oversees the Social care governance structure and analyses quality data to ensure prevention strategies are used and trends identified and responded to. The department ensures policies and procedures are in place and interdepartmental working occurs to ensure the highest standards of support is provided to the service users in our care. Furthermore the team through its experienced quality and senior practitioners carry out direct quality improvement support to services. The company has also recently launched an internal quality award programme called Achieve Q. Summary of Role The Quality Practitioner role will contribute to our audit and social care governance processes. Working alongside senior practitioners and other specialist professionals the role includes carrying out Quality Audits and inspections and contributing to quality improvement and turnaround programmes. The postholder will also be part of a team which responds to specific work requests which may include assisting services with quality improvement work. The post holder will be required to contribute to Social Care Governance processes through attendance at meeting, preparing and presenting reports. The post holder will also lead on Creative Support s Experts by Experience programme whereby service users and relevant others will assist in a programme of internal audits. Key Responsibilities 1. To work as a member of the Quality team ensuring a high standard of social care provision across the services. 2. To undertake quality audits of services as part of the Quality audit team. To benchmark services against national standards (ie CQC) and Creative Support s standards. To identify good practice and areas for improvement. 3. To provide development support to services, ensuring that all the necessary quality systems and processes are in place and being used effectively to meet quality standards. Page 2 of 8

3 4. To work collaboratively with staff in services where improvement is required to support the completion of assessments, support plans and other client related paperwork to a high standard. 5. To take the lead on Creative Support s Experts by Experience (service users) audit programme which will include promoting the programme, recruiting, supporting and training experts and co-ordinating the audit programme. There will be additional admin support available to support this work. 6. To take help coordinate within the team some key areas of Quality compliance eg, maintaining registers on aspects of compliance (PEG feeding etc..), promoting good practice with nonverbal communication, carrying out specific surveys. Utilising excellent research skills and good communication and report writing skills. 7. To be an ambassador for good practice and to promote innovative ways of working. 8. To work with Senior Practitioners/Team Leader in the quality team in ensuring that all necessary systems and processes are in place to meet quality standards 9. To take a proactive role within the quality department which adds to the overall quality provision ie, quality interventions, quality research, analysis etc. 10. To assist with researching and updating relevant key corporate policies and master documents, liaising with relevant key managers. Sharing and ensuring good practice in Quality 11. To share good practice examples with managers and staff in the achievement of improved quality standards and to give feedback where required. 12. To provide professional advice, support and feedback to managers and services. 13. To develop Quality Improvement Plans for services when required, in close collaboration with the managers of services. To work with managers and staff teams to ensure the effective implementation of quality improvement plans and to demonstrate improvements within agreed timescales. 14. To support managers and staff to deal with difficult and challenging practice issues and professional dilemmas. To do this in conjunction with senior quality practitioners. 15. To take an active role in national good practice groups around critical area of practice (ie medication, support planning), encouraging good attendance and effective participation and follow up of issues. To contribute other good practice groups as required. 16. To support services to identify, record and celebrate positive achievements and outcomes. To encourage staff to share good practice and assist other staff to improve their services. 17. To contribute to staff training modules in relevant areas of expertise. To provide feedback to the training department so that training programmes can be developed and delivered that respond to the quality needs within the company. Page 3 of 8

4 18. To contribute to Creative Support s quality monitoring in preparation for commissioners and other quality visits. To ensure Creative Support services are able to meet and wherever possible exceed quality standards, such as CQC. 19. To motivate teams and individuals to achieve the best possible outcomes for service users. To contribute to internal quality initiatives by recognising and acknowledging good practice. Experts by Experience 20. To promote the Experts by Experience programme to recruit volunteers to participate in the programme. 21. Recruit, train, develop and support service users in completing quality audits for Creative Support. 22. Support Experts by Experience in feeding back their findings following audit completion so that an action plan can be drawn up 23. Develop an audit programme of services to be audited taking into consideration the strengths of Experts by Experience and their preferences (such as preferences of client group, travel, accessibility of venue etc) 24. Work in partnership with Experts by Experience to ensure that Experts feel confident in their role and are provided with appropriate training and support including regular meetings with all 25. Regularly review the Experts by Experience Programme to implement changes and/or improvements as necessary Practice Development and Policy (as part of the quality team) 26. To contribute to the review of Creative Support s corporate policies. To contribute to the development of agency standards, procedures and paperwork and ensure that these are reflective of good practice and legislation. 27. To research information regarding policy, good practice and resources using networks, publications and on-line resources. To disseminate such information across the agency and to promote awareness of good practice. 28. To attend relevant forums, including family and service user staff meetings and stakeholder events. To elicit feedback regarding Creative Support s services. To ensure that this feedback is acknowledged and acted upon. 29. To support other members of the team in critical incident reviews, investigating complaints, whistleblowing and safeguarding alerts in accordance with Creative Support s policies. 30. To set and promote excellent standards of safeguarding practice. To work in a timely and responsible way to ensure the safety of service users and staff. 31. To promote awareness and use of advocacy services, IMCA s and independent representation. Page 4 of 8

5 32. To further develop benchmarking procedures within Creative Support within a framework of delivering best value and continuous improvement across all services. Reports and Monitoring 33. To collect and collate relevant data and statistics and to produce statistical reports as required. 34. To contribute as required to Social Care Governance Meetings and Quality Sub-group meetings. Other 35. To accept regular support and supervision from line manager. 36. To provide regular verbal and written reports of work undertaken. 37. To attend and actively contribute to Quality team meetings. To report to the Social Care Governance structures when required. 38. To work as a member of a team and take responsibility for overall quality work plan to ensure the needs of the team are met. 39. To carry out all work in a manner consistent with the person centred philosophy and service principles of Creative Support. 40. To comply with and to promote the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policies of Creative Support. 41. To maintain confidentiality at all times, in accordance with agency policy. 42. To ensure that own training needs in discussion with line manager and to attend training events and courses as required. 43. Any other duties as required. Page 5 of 8

6 PERSON SPECIFICATION - QUALITY PRACTITIONER Head Office, Stockport Town Centre (with nationwide travel) 1. Practitioner and/or management experience, skills and knowledge in one or more of the following areas: Supporting individuals with social care needs (mental health, learning disabilities, autism, physical disabilities Developing personalised services to meet customer needs 2. A warm, positive and respectful approach to service users and colleagues 3. A customer focused approach with a demonstrable commitment to person centred thinking and planning of personalised services 4. An ability to motivate and engage service users to be involved in the quality of their own care and to take part in the quality improvement agenda. 5. The ability to research, collate and disseminate information regarding good practice How Assessed? Form, Case Study and Interview Interview Interview or Desirable 6. Ability to produce high quality written reports within deadlines and contribute to the written plans and documents within services. 7. Skills and confidence in networking with internal and external colleagues and agencies 8. Ability to work positively and collaboratively with colleagues, service users and their families, professionals and stakeholders Page 6 of 8 Interview, Form and Case Study 9. Commitment to equal opportunities and the promotion of antidiscriminatory practice 10. A relevant professional practitioner qualification (e.g Degree in Social Work, RGN, RMN, RNLD, DipOT or other qualification) Form 11. Degree level education Form 12. Ability to observe and evaluate service delivery and to identify good practice and areas for improvement 13. Experience of carrying out quality audits and/or investigating Interview complaints 14. Ability to manage own workload with minimal supervision Form, Case Study and Interview 15. Willingness and ability to travel across the country as required Interview and to work flexible hours 16. Car driver/owner (access to lease car or pool car may be possible) Desirable

7 TERMS AND CONDITIONS QUALITY PRACTITIONER Head Office, Stockport Town Centre (with nationwide travel) Pay Structure: Up to 18,092pa dependent on experience and qualifications Three point scale point ( 16, 344 to 18,092) Point One - 16,344 per annum Point Two - 16,844 per annum Point Three - 17,456 per annum Point Four - 18,092 per annum Hours of Work: 37.5 hours per week including weekends and public holidays according to the needs of the service. There is a need to travel extensively across the country (which may include overnight stays). The post holder will be expected to have a flexible approach to working hours in order to meet the needs of our staff and service users. Ideally the post holder will participate on Creative Support s out of hours rota. Holidays: 25 days per annum plus eight statutory days. Probationary Period: The first six months will constitute a probationary period. When this is successfully completed, employment will be confirmed. Sickness Policy: Creative Support operates a discretionary company sick pay benefit scheme which is for the purposes of preventing hardship during times of serious illness. The eligibility criteria and conditions for payment of Company Sick Pay (inclusive of SSP) are shown in the Employee Handbook. You may be eligible for Company Sick Pay benefits subject to compliance with these criteria as follows:- Creative Support do not pay for the first three days of any sickness absence. First six months service - Not eligible for Company Sick Pay though you may be entitled to SSP. Six months to eighteen months service - Up to a maximum of four weeks at full pay. Eighteen months plus service - Up to a maximum of eight weeks at full pay followed by four weeks at half pay. Part time employees who work 18.5 hours or more per week will receive Company Sick Pay benefits as detailed above but pro rata actual hours worked each week. Part time employees who work less than 18 hours per week will be eligible for a maximum of two weeks pro rata hours worked Company Sick Pay benefits per annum after 12 months service. Company Sick Pay benefits may be withdrawn or temporarily suspended where performance or attendance is unsatisfactory. Page 7 of 8

8 Pension: Creative Support operates an auto-enrolment pension scheme with the People s Pension. All staff under Creative Support contract are entitled to free life assurance. This is a valuable benefit which provides a lump sum equal to two times annual salary. Discretionary Benefits: Creative Support offers all staff a range of discretionary benefits in addition to statutory benefits. These include: Paid paternity leave Enhanced maternity leave Compassionate leave Carers leave Employee Counselling Service: All staff, their partners and members of their household have access to an independent confidential, 24 hour telephone counselling service and to legal and financial advice. In addition, up to 6 sessions of face to face counselling can be obtained. This service is delivered by professionally qualified and supervised counsellors and is provided free of charge. Page 8 of 8