SENSE

Job Description

Job title: Assessment and Advice Officer, Community Services – Fixed term for 12 months

Location: Office Based at TouchBase South east - Barnet

Salary: 31 – 35

Hours: – 30 hours per week

Responsible to: Community Service Manager for Area allocated, Head of Service

Description of Role:

  1. To provide assessment and advice to newly identified deafblind people to help them access appropriate support and services.
  2. To actively identify deafblind people within the local area and engage them and if appropriate their carers and current providers of services to offer appropriate support.
  3. To provide a professional service, working within the Community Services Directorate as part of a multi-disciplinary team promoting and developing quality services and contributing to increasing the growth of services to deafblind people by a minimum of 5% each year.

Specific Responsibilities

  1. To follow up referrals of deafblind adults and older people from the National Advice and Information Service and from local statutory and voluntary agencies and deafblind people and their families/carers.
  2. To provide an initial assessment of the deafblind person which results in:-signposting the deafblind person to other external agencies or to other colleagues within Sense for the provision of a direct service or an agreed time-limited plan for providing information, advice and support.
  3. To take a proactive approach in actively identifying deafblind people within the hub, seeking their views on service provision and working with them to develop innovative services which support them.

  1. Where specialist assessments in respect of deafblind people are required under the Deafblind Guidance, ‘Social Care for Deafblind Children and Adults’to carry out the assessment.
  2. To keep accurate records of deafblind people using the organisations CRM system.
  3. To respect and maintain the deafblind person’s right to privacy and confidentiality except where any safeguarding concerns in respect of the deafblind person and / or their family members are identified which must be reported following Sense’s policy and procedure.
  4. To develop a local information bank of key services and external professionals to support individual deafblind people and the Community Service Manager and senior managers within the Community Services Directorate in engaging with key professionals in statutory agencies to develop new service provision for deafblind people within the local hub.
  5. To facilitate deafblind people and where appropriate their families / carers to access support from Legal Services to pursue their case for service provision.
  6. To produce and disseminate information to deafblind people, their families/carers where appropriate and professionals in external agencies in a range of suitable formats.
  7. To promote awareness of deafblindness and the work of Sense through presentations and training events when required.
  8. To take responsibility for monitoring and evaluating the work carried out with deafblind people so that practice can continually be improved.
  9. To maintain an awareness of developments and good practice in provision relating to deafblindness and contribute to the development of other staff within the hub and throughout Sense.
  10. To attend relevant person centred planning meetings, review meetings and pre-entrance meetings for services both within Sense and external to Sense where appropriate.
  11. To provide information on referrals to other managers and staff within the Community Services, Residential and Information and Advice directorates.
  12. To work in partnership with other staff within the local Community Services hub to contribute to the development of the hub and minimum 5% growth in the number of deafblind people receiving support and services from Sense.
  13. Any other duties appropriate to the grade and nature of the post.

Sense

Person Specification

Assessment and Advice Officer

Education and Training
Essential Criteria / Desirable Criteria
Certificate of Qualification in Social work; Teaching degree or Nursing/Health Visitor Degree or equivalents, OR a minimum of 3 years experience of working with deafblind people
Diploma in Deafblindness
Achievements and Experience
Essential Criteria / Desirable Criteria
Able to demonstrate experience in growing a service / Has demonstrated understanding of deafblindness and its implications for the individual, their families and others who are important to them.
Proven track record of working, liaising and negotiating with Managers in Adult Social Care, Health Departments and other statutory and voluntary agencies / Is currently carrying out assessments in a specialist role, either working with people who have a dual sensory impairment or with people who have a single sensory impairment
Experience of working in partnership with service users in the community / Has a thorough knowledge of all legislation and guidance on deafblindness or relevant to deafblind people
Knowledge of relevant legislation relating to adults and older people / Can communicate with deafblind people themselves or with support from an interpreter
Understanding of safeguarding procedures
Skills & Abilities
Essential Criteria / Desirable Criteria
An ability to work to deadlines and to organise and plan work effectively
A mature outlook and an ability to work using ones own initiative
Good negotiating skills
A commitment to equal opportunities and to engaging with deafblind people and their families / carers from all backgrounds.
A commitment to learning new methods of communicating with deafblind people and to reflecting upon and improving ones own practice. / BSL level 1, BSL level 2
CACDP level 3 in communicating and guiding with deafblind people
Regular access to transport enabling access to remote areas of the community on a regular and frequent basis and occasional unsociable hours
The ability to communicate effectively in the following ways:- verbally with a wide range of people, written, through the production of reports, letters etc and ICT, utilising e-mail and other computer facilities to support presentations and the production of information in a range of formats.
A passionate commitment to making a positive difference to the lives of deafblind people through working with them and developing appropriate services / Examples of having made a difference to service users through work carried out and services set up.
An ability to represent Sense in a variety of multi-disciplinary settings
An ability to work as a member of team and to work across directorates within Sense