Support Worker / Health & Justice Navigator

Job overview

We are recruiting for a full time Support Worker / Health & Justice Navigator based at Eastbourne/Hastings Police Custody in Sussex. The post holder will be responsible for working within a multi-disciplinary team, with the flexibility of working across Sussex, dependent on skill and service need.  The Post holder with be part of a multi-disciplinary team, primarily completing screenings of individuals needs at different stages of their journey through the Criminal Justice System.  The post holder will require additional vetting from Sussex Police / His Majesty’s Prison Service for roles based within the Police Custody settings and Prison Settings.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will use screening tools to identify health and social care needs. The post holder will assist individuals to navigate health and social care services to address identified needs, will be required to complete onward referrals where appropriate and provide short term intensive support to patients and their families.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical:

To provide a high standard of clinical care for service users, under the supervision of the qualified staff, acting within the standards, protocols and guidelines of The health and justice service.  1.    Independently undertake face to face and electronic screening to support the identification of multiple vulnerabilities of people who have been in contact with the criminal justice system or immigration centre, such as police custody, courts, and prison and community settings.  Working to guidelines.  2.    Work within limitations and escalate to qualified staff as appropriate. 3.    To support qualified staff, STR Workers and Lived Experience workers and Admin as necessary. 4.    Provide an embedded service in police custody suites, courts and prisons working within legislation requirements, such as PACE (1984). 5.    Work as part of a team with the freedom to work independently, particularly in relation to providing advice to service users, carers, and professionals who contact the service. 6.    Work with service users in conjunction with other professionals, to devise and implement effective individualised programmes of support. 7.    Liaise with other agencies as required dependant on the person’s presentation, work closely with other agencies, such Custody and Prison Health Care Professionals, and community agencies. 8.    Be accountable for aspects of own clinical practice.   9.    Ensure that those aspects of service, delivered as part of remit, meet local quality standards.  10.    Ensure that the dignity and respect of service users is maintained.  11.    Be proactive in maximising health, well-being and social inclusion.  12.    Participate in relevant health promotion aspects of the service.  13.    Deliver care in a variety of settings including police custody, prison, courts and other community settings. 14.    Obtain informed consent prior to undertaking any intervention.  15.    Participate in the assessment of any risk associated with delivering the service. This includes taking appropriate action to minimise the risk consistent with local protection procedures e.g. applying child or adult safeguarding procedures.  16.    Support and enable service users to maintain their own personal care needs 17.    Monitor and report any changes, both positive and negative, within the service users life to relevant others; housing, care coordinators, line managers etc. 18.    Support service users to gain access to resources to include benefits, welfare rights, housing and health promotion.  19.    Actively promote the service to external agencies as a positive example of user led services.

SCREENING, ASSESSMENT, PLANNING & THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS:  20.    Provide compassion to vulnerable individuals at points of acute vulnerability in the criminal justice process.  21.    To support criminal justice agencies to better identify vulnerabilities in their respective environments.  22.    Provide criminal justice agencies with advice and information regarding pathways to access further support.  23.    To provide high quality information to key decision makers in youth and criminal justice agencies, including the police, courts, probation, prison and Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) relating to individual vulnerability.  24.    To secure referrals into mainstream health and social care services and other relevant interventions and support services from a range of statutory and voluntary providers.  **Please see the attached JD/PS for further details on this role.**