AGE CONCERN ISLINGTON
20,063 - 33,438 per year
London Borough of Islington
Part-time
Job Title: Case Worker - Navigation Reference: NAV1025 - PT Location: London Borough of Islington Working Hours: 22.5 hours - 3 days per week Salary: Benefits: £20,063 per annum (FT £33,438) 18 days annual leave (FT 30 days), 6% Pension Contribution, Employee Assistance Programme. Hybrid Working (1day working from home) Contract: Fixed Term to March 2026 (with a view to extending) About the role Case Work-Navigators undertake an exciting role providing the link between formal health and social care and wider community forms of support. You will have the opportunity to work with clients aged 16 years of age and above, helping to identify ways to improve health, sustain wellbeing and quality of daily living. You will get to know what sort of services and activities best suit people’s needs using a personalised approach. Researching, planning and mapping how a person connects to the service that’s right for them. Play a proactive and key role within primary and acute care and in multi-disciplinary team settings, coordinate between these services to achieve positive outcomes for people. You will enjoy working in a multi-disciplinary way, using your initiative and creativity to contribute to the further integration of wellbeing with formal health and social care services. About you You will have previous experience of case working in similar or related setting and working in a personalised way. Have a good understanding of the principles of social prescribing and applying them to people who may have complex situations or circumstances, able to case manage and assess an individuals’ suitability, using a strengths-based approach, to care and support. You will be ambitious and eager to look at creative ways of supporting people with complex physical, mental health or social issues to regain confidence and feelings of wellbeing. You will be committed to delivering a high-quality service and to achieving the best outcomes for individuals and for the organisation. You will have the ability to work with internal and external colleagues and teams in a positive and collaborative way, whilst ensuring safety, confidentiality, and professionalism in carrying out service activities. To Apply Please complete the application form, stating how you meet the requirements for this position by addressing the Person Specification and send completed applications to: modwyer@ageukislington.org.uk This role is subject to an Enhanced DBS check with Adult and Child Barring. Age UK Islington recognises the positive value of diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.
Age UK Islington
Job Description
Job Title:
Locality Navigator
Team:
Navigation Service
Contract Type:
Fixed Term – Until March 2026 with a view to extending
Part time Hours:
3 days (22.5 hours) per week
Salary:
£20,063 per annum
Access to pension scheme and a generous annual leave entitlement
Benefits:
Location: The post holder may be required to undertake duties at any location within the Borough of
Reports to:
Islington, to meet service needs.
Team Leader - Navigation
Key working Relationships:
• Voluntary, Community, Social Enterprise services and groups (VCSE)
• Service Users, clients or patients
• Primary Care Networks GP Clinical Leads
• Primary Care ARRS roles, including SPLWs, Care Coordinators, Health & Wellbeing Coaches,
Pharmacists and others.
Islington Adult Social Care
• Community matrons
• General Practitioners and practice nurses
•
• Mental Health Services, both statutory and voluntary
• District Nurses via the community matrons
• London Ambulance Service
• Carers and Carer Organisations
• Other clinical teams
Background:
Integrated care is a way of better coordinating care for adults with one or more long term conditions. Integrated
care in Islington is defined as collaborative working between key stakeholders, including GPs, health and
Social care and VCSE organisations, to integrate and organise patient care more effectively.
Better coordinated care includes weekly engagement with each of the Integrated Network Coordination (INC)
meetings, these include a wide range of professionals including GPs, hospital clinicians, social workers,
community matrons, mental health and rehabilitation professionals, also to discuss patient care to ascertain
who would benefit from a multi-agency approach and a co-ordinated care plan to support their personal goals.
There are also a number of people that are not yet requiring this level of care and part of this role is to support
people through social prescribing into supportive services that can delay or stop the requirement for such
intensive care support and dependency on public sector services.
Purpose of the post:
The Case Worker - Navigator role is key to integrating care for all adults who are 16 years of age and above.
The post provides an interface between VCSE provider organisations and service users, health and social
care multi-disciplinary teams (MDT) and other statutory bodies. The aims of the role are:
Age UK Islington – Locality Navigation
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• To work with patients in a personalised and strengths based way in order to support them in
identifying ways of achieving individual physical and or mental health improvement through the
delivery of personal goals and connecting with appropriate health services and other VCSE providers to
make best use of community resources to support the delivery of these goals.
• To provide enhanced social prescribing through current up to date knowledge of local services
available; ensuring access and connections to these services in order to promote patients’
independence through improved access to information and support linked to personal goals.
AS PART OF THE DRIVE TO IMPROVE CARE FOR SERVICE USERS THERE MAY BE A REQUIREMENT
FOR THIS POST HOLDER TO WORK SOME FLEXIBLE HOURS.
Key skills:
The post holder will be an excellent communicator and develop a wide knowledge of the services offered by
VCSE providers, particularly within Islington and the North London area. The post holder will require strong
organisational skills, must be flexible in approach, able to exercise initiative and demonstrate a consistently
high standard of professionalism, being aware of the need for confidentiality and integrity.
Key Responsibilities and Tasks
1 Integrated Care Coordination
• Active Signposting, Referral and connections of patients to the multitude of support services that are
available through VCSE providers tailored to the person’s specific needs.
• Work as part of Age UK Islington’s busy Helpline receiving and triaging referrals via a drop-in, telephone,
email etc. Ensuring the client is allocated to the most effective service for their need.
• Be the point of liaison for service users and carers principally with VCSE providers as well as useful
commercial services.
Coordinate with professionals involved in patients’ care, including primary and secondary care services,
Adult Social Care, London Ambulance Service and community services.
• Working with patients as a case worker to support them to deliver specific personal goals in
tandem with the INC MDT team.
• Promote independence and empowerment through active signposting to self-care and self-
management programmes
• Build strong relationships with VCSE providers and identify key links with the providers to facilitate
smooth transition of patients, promoting patient independence and ensure care does not become
fragmented or duplicated.
• Deal in a professional, helpful and sensitive manner with patients, staff and other agencies by
telephone or face to face, taking messages, advising patients about appointment locations visits,
referring other issues as appropriate and answering routine enquiries.
• Build and strengthen relationships with other Navigators (specialist and generalist) already in post
within other organisations within Islington and other boroughs
2 Information and Data Coordination
• To be proficient in using Microsoft office packages and other identified IT systems and support other
team members in their use.
• To record relevant patient documentation contemporaneously on identified IT systems as required.
• Maintain Electronic Case Record Management systems and to input patients’ engagement
with VCSE providers.
• Support the completion of patient referrals, record electronically and feedback to team members.
• Be responsible for updating the electronic service directory on a regular basis, sourcing referral criteria
and ensuring these are accessible to all relevant parties.
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3 Patient Support
• Case Manage a quota of clients, proficiently working within key targets
• Offer appointments that meet the needs of clients, either via the office, community, GP practice or home
visits.
• Ensure patients’ requirements from specialist VCSE and other services is managed smoothly with
no fragmentation in service delivery
• Ensure appropriate actions from MDT meetings are completed in a timely fashion
• Communicate with members of the MDT team as required if identifying patients as being in need
of referral to wider community to support independence.
• Communicate effectively with service users and their families/carers, other staff both internal and
external and members of the public.
4 General:
• The post holder must at all times carry out duties and responsibilities with due regard to the
organisations’ equal opportunity policies and procedures.
• The post holder must at all times respect patient confidentiality and, in particular, the confidentiality of
electronically stored personal data in line with the requirements of the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR).
• The post holder will be expected to take responsibility for self-development on a continuous basis,
undertaking on-the-job training as required.
• The post holder must be aware of individual responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act
and identify and report as necessary any untoward accident incident or potentially hazardous
environment.
• The post holder will ensure they accurately represent Age UK Islington and ensure the values of Age
UK Islington are upheld at all times in carrying out their work
• The post holder will work as part of a team and provide cover for absent colleagues.
• The post holder may be required to undertake duties at any location within the Borough of Islington, in
order to meet service needs.
• The post holder must work in general accordance with the organisation’s policies and guidelines at all
times.
• The post holder must adhere to the organisation’s information governance policy at all times, in
particular ensuring that there is no breach of confidentiality as a result of his/her actions.
This job description is intended as a guide to the main responsibilities of the post and not as an exhaustive list
of duties and tasks. The post holder may be required to undertake other duties appropriate to his/her grade,
which are not listed above, at the direction of his/her manager. The job description may be amended from time
to time after consultation with the post holder.
Equal Opportunities:
The organisation operates an equal opportunities policy and expects staff to have a commitment to equal
opportunities policies in relation to employment and service delivery.
Risk Management:
All post holders have a responsibility to report risks such as clinical and non-clinical accidents or incidents
promptly. They are expected to be familiar with the organisation’s use of risk assessments to predict and
control risk, as well as the incident reporting system for learning from mistakes and near misses in order to
improve services. Post holders must also attend training identified by their manager or stated by the
organisation to be mandatory.
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Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults:
Post holders have a general responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in the course of their
daily duties and for ensuring that they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
Smoking Policy:
It is the organisation policy to promote health. Smoking, therefore, is actively discouraged. It is illegal within the
organisation’s buildings
Performance Management
Indicators of performance in the post will be drawn from service KPIs listed in the contract between Age UK
Islington and the CCG. Example indicators include:
1. Numbers of patients benefiting from services
2. Service response times achieved
3. Number of users reporting improved outcomes
4. User perception of quality/usefulness/responsiveness of service
5. MDT and wider practitioner perception of quality/usefulness/responsiveness of service
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Age UK Islington
Essential Desirable Assessment
Person Spec: Locality Navigator: Integrated Care (Locality Based)
Person Specification
Factors
Experience/
Qualifications
Description
Health or Social Care qualifications or
equivalent experience
Skills
Knowledge
Aptitude
Application of outcomes-based approaches to
care and support
Working with at-risk individuals in a case
working capacity
Carrying out Care Planning and Coordination
processes.
Using IT based case management systems
Effective and confident written and verbal
communication to wide range of patient and
practitioner audiences
Identifying and resolving patient issues sensitively
within service and professional boundaries
Able to build supportive and trusted working
relationships
Able to prioritise and manage own workload
Working with people on a one to one basis in a
coaching role
Working as part of a multidisciplinary team
Personalised working using motivational
interviewing techniques
Relevant voluntary and community sector services
knowledge
Patient confidentiality, privacy and dignity
best practice requirements
Core health and social care processes and
integrated working approaches
Commitment to delivering a high quality and safe
service
Able to communicate with clients and
professionals at all levels
Able to assess risk when lone working
Able to manage own work load and prioritise
competing pressures
Willingness to undergo further training
or development
App = Application
Int = Interview
Pres = Presentation
App
App/Int
App/lnt
App/Int
App/Int
App/Int/Pres
App/Int
App/Int/Pres
App/Int
App/Int
App/Int/Pres
App/Int
App/Int/Pres
App/Int
App/Int
App/Int
App/Int/Pres
App/Int/Pres
App/Int/Pres
App/Int
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JOB DESCRIPTION JOB TITLE: Community Mental Health Keyworker WORKING HOURS: 37.5 hours per week - worked flexibly to meet the needs of the Service Users SALARY: £31,155 pa inclusive; access to pension scheme DBS LEVEL: Enhanced DBS with Adult & Child Barring REPORTS TO: Team Leader at Age UK Islington LOCATION: INTRODUCTION The Post will be based across two main office locations – Islington Mental health Core teams and Age UK Islington. However, we reserve the right to relocate post holders to other operating bases in line with operational requirements. The North London NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and social care services, across five Boroughs. The Keyworker role will be based within the Islington Core Teams – see link for further information: Our Services Page | North London NHS Foundation Trust . The Core Team’s vision is to provide integrated and person-centered care and to work together in partnership with primary care, the Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS), social care, communities, service users, their carers and families to support and improve mental and physical health for the whole population through a combination of prevention, supporting people to stay well and responsiveness to changes in need. The service provides five keyworkers to work across the localities in Islington. Three keyworkers are employed by Age UK Islington and two keyworkers by MIND Islington. Age UK Islington and Islington MIND are both independent charities, Age UK Islington provides a range of one to one personalised support and Islington MIND offer a range of structured and open access mental health interventions including our peer led bespoke projects. For more information you can visit Age UK Islington on www.ageuk.org.uk/Islington JOB PURPOSE: To work within the Islington core community mental health multidisciplinary/multiagency core team, that integrates services across health, social care and the Voluntary & Community Sector. The main aims of the role: • Improve Service User experience and outcomes. • Ensure people with mental health issues have improved access to mental health support. CMHKW JD/PS ©Age UK Islington and Islington Mind V7 Jan 2024 • That care and support is holistic and person-centred, truly orientated towards the promotion and maximisation of individuals’ health, wellbeing and independence • Health inequalities often faced by people with mental health issues are reduced. • The new community service approach is a true integration across secondary mental health services, the VCS, primary care, social care, community assets as well as other physical healthcare provision. The post holder will work across various Service User database systems to both input and extract data to support the effective delivery of services. MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: • Key workers will seek to identify and address the wider determinants of mental health, such as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity. • Working with Service Users as a case worker to support them to deliver specific personal goals in conjunction with the wider core team • Provide the time and flexibility needed on a case-by-case Service User basis to enable and sustain the regular planned engagement that Service Users need to maximise their health, wellbeing and independence. • Offer a bespoke, tailored approach, ensuring flexibility in form, type, location, time and day of support – recognising one size does not fit all. • Offer a range of different accessibility options to Service Users, whether this involves face to face at locations and times to suit the individual e.g. local park, café, community centre, online or telephone contact, as well as meeting Service Users at their home where appropriate. • Develop supportive relationships with local VCS organisations, culturally appropriate community groups and statutory and health services, to make timely, appropriate and supported referrals and connect with diverse local communities, particularly those statutory agencies may find hard to reach e.g. BAME, P of C and LGBTQ+. • Work with a Service User to co-create a personalised support plan including resources and support to access health and wellbeing support from a range of disciplines and providers, building upon a strengths-based approach to motivate and encourage preventative options for longer term self-management, as well as providing complex intensive casework input where required. In addition to this relationship building with the Service User, the key worker will also seek to build effective working relationships with other members of the team and outside professionals as part of our ‘Test and Learn’ approach. This will include building effective communication channels to identify and solve problems, avoid duplication and work assertively to represent the individual needs of Service Users and share where system change or flex is needed to improve practice • Casework • Receive and triage referrals from members of the Core Team and a range of Service Users and professionals. • Carry out case work activity and case manage a quota of Service Users. • Work flexibly with individuals to provide support in managing their health and wellbeing and make connections to community services and activities. CMHKW JD/PS ©Age UK Islington and Islington Mind V7 Jan 2024 • Coproduce personalised support plans with Service Users • Provide support that focusses on enabling Service Users to take control of their health and wellbeing and live independently, working with a diverse range of people and communities. • Follow up on support and identify ongoing prevention opportunities during case work and at case closure including an agreed ongoing schedule of contact/follow up. • Carry out and record all work and interactions with Service Users on a range of systems, including NHS recording systems. • Work collaboratively with Core team members, including representation and attendance at key sites and multi-disciplinary meetings. • Collaborate with other service teams and systems to ensure the full range support is implemented and fulfilled. • Carry out learning and personal development responsibilities. Monitoring, Information and Quality Assurance • To be proficient in using Microsoft office packages and other identified IT systems. • To record relevant Service user documentation contemporaneously on identified IT systems as required. • Facility for learning new software packages which may be in continued development. • Support completion of Service User referrals, record electronically and feedback to team • members. Input data onto the Service User information management systems to update Service User Service User details, and periodically use reports to ensure Service User Service User details are correct. • Be responsible for updating the electronic service directory on a regular basis, sourcing referral criteria and ensuring these are accessible to all relevant parties. • Provide quarterly reports and feedback to your manager in line with agreed KPI’s • Maintain quality standards in accordance with the policies of your organisation Partnership Building • Build and maintain effective working relationships with the Core Team partners and act as a link between these and the wider community offer. • Develop an in-depth understanding of the specialist service offer from the other partners and how this can be applied in a prevention approach to ensure effective onward referral after triage. • Ensure the prompt identification and escalation of any areas of system delay, failure or areas of learning and escalate these to the service manager. Risk Management: • All post holders have a responsibility to report risks such as clinical and non- clinical accidents or incidents promptly. They are expected to be familiar with the organisation’s use of risk assessments to predict and control risk, as well as the incident reporting system for learning from mistakes and near misses to improve services. Post holders must also attend training identified by their manager or stated by the organisation to be mandatory. • Manage risk within your sphere of responsibility, including taking reasonable care CMHKW JD/PS ©Age UK Islington and Islington Mind V7 Jan 2024 of your own safety and the safety of others who may be affected by acts or omissions. To be aware of the responsibilities placed upon you by The Health Act (2007) to ensure they maintain a safe, infection free environment. This includes the knowledge and understanding of the management of infected Service Users and the principles of Standard Infection Control Precautions including the correct technique for Hand Washing and the appropriate use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults: • • Post holders have a general responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in the course of their daily duties and for ensuring that they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role. Keep up to date with current Safeguarding policy and procedure and follow protocol at all times. Wider Organisational responsibilities • Work collaboratively within an MDT setting with clinical staff and with other services provided by the organisation and its partners. • Meet legislative and all relevant regulatory requirements including Health & Safety. • Ensure the values of Age UK Islington/Islington Mind and the North London NHS Foundation Trust are upheld. Carry out duties in accordance with principles, policies and procedures. Provide cover for absent colleagues. Carry out administrative duties in connection with the post. • • • Notes: This role description is not intended to be exhaustive in every respect but rather to clearly define the fundamental purpose, responsibilities and dimensions for the role. Therefore, the role description does not describe any individual role holder. In addition to the contents of this role description, employees are expected to undertake any and all other reasonable and related tasks allocated by line management. CMHKW JD/PS ©Age UK Islington and Islington Mind V7 Jan 2024 Age UK Islington PERSON SPECIFICATION/SUCCESS PROFILES HR: Recruitment Person Specification Factors Experience/ Qualifications Description Health and or Social Care qualifications Essential Desirable Assessment ✓ App Skills Knowledge Aptitude Experience of supporting people with Mental health issues Application of outcomes-based approaches to care and support Working with at-risk individuals in a health or social care type role Carrying out screening and triage functions Using IT based case management systems Effective and confident written and verbal communication to wide range of Service User and practitioner audiences Identifying and resolving Service User issues sensitively within service and professional boundaries Able to build supportive and trusted working relationships Able to prioritise and manage own workload Working flexibly with people on a one-to-one basis in a coaching role Working as part of a multidisciplinary team Personalised working using motivational interviewing techniques Relevant voluntary and community sector services knowledge Service User confidentiality, privacy and dignity best practice requirements Core health and social care processes and integrated working approaches Commitment to delivering a high quality and safe service Able to communicate with Service Users and professionals at all levels Able to assess risk when lone working Able to manage own workload and prioritise competing pressures Willingness to undergo further training or development ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ App App/Int/Pres App/lnt App/Int App/Int App/Int App/Int/Pres App/Int App/Int ✓ App/Int App/Int/Pres App/Int/Pres ✓ App/Int/Pres App/Int ✓ App/Int App/Int App/Int/Pres App/Int/Pres App/Int/Pres App/Int App=Application Int= Interview Pres = Presentation Age UK Islington & Islington MIND are a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we want to help candidates demonstrate their full potential. If candidates require any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process, they should let the recruitment manager know. CMHKW JD/PS ©Age UK Islington and Islington Mind V7 Jan 2024