Health Visitor – Children’s Services

Job Description

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) is one of the largest healthcare systems in the United Kingdom, employing approximately 40,000 staff across a wide range of clinical and non clinical professions and roles. We deliver acute hospital, primary, community and mental health services to a population of over 1.15 million people, and to a wider population of 2.2 million when regional and national services are included.

The role

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Health Visitor to become part of NE HSCP Children & Families Health Visiting service. We have the opportunity to recruit a 21.6 hour Specialist Community Public Health Nurse/Health Visitor to our children and families teams with a designated caseload within the surrounding areas. Health Visiting is a diverse, satisfying and challenging role that involves working with children and their families to provide help, support and direction. As a caseload manager you will be expected to provide a high quality, culturally sensitive, safe person centered and effective health visiting service in the community, whilst working in collaboration with partner agencies.

You will function as an independent, autonomous practitioner and should have in-depth knowledge, expertise, proficiency and experience in health visiting and the GIRFEC/National practice model Framework. You will be responsible and accountable for the ongoing management of your caseload to ensure the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of the universal health visiting pathway and additional programmes of care. It is essential that you are currently a Registered Nurse with the NMC and that you have a post registration qualification in Health Visiting/Public Health Nursing with evidence of continuing professional development.

You will be expected to undertake continuous professional development, bi monthly caseload management & child protection supervision with a team leader. You should have relevant post registration experience as a PHN/Health Visitor. It would be desirable if you are a car driver and have a current driving licence.

You need to have a live NMC UK pin in order to be considered for this post.

Duration, Location, and Working Pattern

• Location based in North-East HSCP Glasgow
• Permanent contract
• Part time position (30 hours per week)
• The shift pattern for this post is within 3 days (worked between Monday to Friday)
• Please note the salary is pro rata for part time hours

Key responsibilities

• To undertake statutory duties on behalf of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde with respect to individual children within your caseload to assess, improve and support the wellbeing of children.
• To work with all professionals involved with the child or young person and their families to assess, analyse, develop and agree a multi agency child’s plan based on the agreed policies and procedures. Implement and monitor the plan to endeavour to ensure the child’s needs are met and desired outcomes achieved.
• To work in partnership with individual children’s families, working with other agencies and key stakeholders to ensure that all parties undertake their responsibilities within the agreed plan.
• The HV will provide key input in relation to Child Protection and other vulnerable children. The HV will play a key inter agency role in family assessment, planning and delivery of Child Protection services. The HV will participate in regular supervision of child protection cases and work within the child protection policies and guidelines.
• The HV will be responsible for making professional judgments and decisions about the sharing of information about each child and family. This will require a complex analysis of the level of risk to a child; the reason information needs shared, the conditions for processing under Data Protection law, GDPR and the conditions for sharing in relation to confidentiality law, and the conditions for sharing in relation to human rights (family privacy) law. The HV will follow law and guidance, but will use conservable professional judgment to reach decisions to share or not share information.
• The HV will deliver the universal pathway to all children on the caseload, to ensure that their health and wellbeing needs are assessed. This will include being responsible for delivery of a suite of developmental and wellbeing assessments, and being highly skilled in the use of validated tools, using a strengths based and empowering approach to the therapeutic relationship working in partnership with families. The HV requires to be an expert in the assessment and analysis of these tool results to ensure that referral to other services is made in a timely fashion to ensure that each child’s needs are met.
• Support and contribute to continuous quality improvement of families’ care through the use of audit and monitoring compliance to service and professional standards, for example Clinical Quality Indicators (CQI), working in conjunction with the Team Manager to implement corrective action plans. Ensure appropriate audits are undertaken.
• More responsibilities can be found in the attached job description.

Knowledge, training, qualifications and/or experience required to do the job

• Registered nurse or midwife at degree level or equivalent.
• Post registration qualification in Health Visiting/Public Health Nursing and be registered on Part 3 of the NMC register.
• Educated to Masters level in a relevant nursing area, or can demonstrate an equivalent level of knowledge gained through, for example, completion of NES modules on Assessment, Leadership, and Critical Thinking.
• Can provide advice using significant understanding and application of legislation relating to information sharing, data storage and public protection.
• Knowledge of health and social care pathways related to safeguarding, early intervention and protection.
• Experience of caseload management and planning to meet deadlines.
• Experience of using a strength based approach working in partnership with families.
• Able to use a number of assessment tools used to decide referral pathways.
• Management of risks and concerns using critical thinking to enable effective decision making.
• Ability to provide professional advice within a multi agency setting that puts children’s interests and safety first.
• Can lead discussions and make decisions based on an assessment of a range of factors in complex situations.
• Ability to develop and implement policies, procedures, service standards and improvements.
• An ongoing commitment to continuing professional development.

What we offer

We offer a wide range of supportive policies designed to enhance your employee journey, including a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme, Cycle to Work Scheme, bursary scheme and extensive learning and development opportunities.

• A minimum of 27 days annual leave, increasing with length of service, plus public holidays.
• Membership of the NHS Pension Scheme, including life insurance benefits.
• Salary Sacrifice Car Benefit Scheme.
• Development opportunities including study bursaries, e learning and classroom based courses.
• Enhanced pay for working public holidays.
• NHS discounts on a wide range of goods and services.
• Confidential employee support and assistance, including counselling and psychological therapies.

We recognise the importance of work life balance and are committed to offering a range of flexible working options where service needs allow. For roles where less than full time hours can be accommodated, and where the tenure is listed as “various”, we encourage applications from individuals seeking flexible working arrangements. Flexible working will be included as a topic for discussion during the recruitment process.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde encourages applications from all sections of the community. We are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion and are proud of the diverse workforce we employ.

By signing the Armed Forces Covenant, NHSGGC has pledged its commitment to being a Forces Friendly Employer. We welcome applications from across the Armed Forces Community and recognise military skills, experience and qualifications throughout the recruitment and selection process.