Advanced Practitioner - North and East Hospital Discharge Team

Overview

Are you looking for a new challenge? Do you want to become part of a hospital discharge team that places a premium on listening and learning, and is determined to make a difference?

We have a fantastic opportunity for a dynamic Advanced Practitioner who is passionate about enabling clients to fulfil their potential to join our Hospital Discharge North and East Team based at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

If you have experience in enabling clients to achieve or maintain independence, enjoy working in a fast-paced environment and enjoy working alongside individuals, supporting them to achieve their goals of living independently, then we want to hear from you!

Contract: Fixed term contract/secondment until end of January 2026

In addition to the salary advertised, you will receive a market premium of £2,525 per annum.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally.  

About the role

To ensure the highest standards of service are provided to the residents of Buckinghamshire, Advanced Practitioners will:

• Work in accordance with the Better Lives framework
• Promote and deliver goal-based support people to achieve greater independence
• Promote equality as an integral part of a role and treat everyone with fairness and dignity
• Provides a proactive personalised approach to the delivery of care and practice
• Respond to people’s needs in a timely manner
• Focus on improving people’s well-being
• Give people greater choice and control over the care that they receive
• Take account of people’s risks and safety at all times, identifying mitigations to reduce that risk
• Support people to achieve the outcomes that are most important to them using all available resources and taking responsibility for the public purse
• Provide personalised information and advice, safeguarding, assessment, support planning and review to individuals/families and their carers
• Our hospital social work team complete assessments in a number of hospitals where Buckinghamshire residents are patients, as well as assessing people in their own homes with short term support and in short term placements following hospital discharge.
• Supervise and support colleagues within the team

The hospital discharge teams operate a 7-day service. At present, this equates to working approximately one weekend day a month. For this you will receive an enhancement and time off in lieu.

About you

You must be a qualified Social Worker (holding a social work degree or equivalent) and be registered with Social Work England.

Naturally, you will be a great people person, familiar with working to a strength-based approach where you think outside of the box and enable people to prevent, reduce or delay the need for care. Bringing your in-depth knowledge of the latest legislation and statutory guidance, you’ll work independently and with colleagues to support adults and their families. Persistence and an adaptable approach are needed in an outcome focused way with our partners such as health services, community sector, housing, care providers and other stakeholders.

Please see the job summary for more information.

Other information

Please discuss with your manager before applying.

Interviews will take place on 17th April 2025.

For more information about this role, please contact Jo Towner [email protected]

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining us, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

We know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Service Area

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to ensuring that our residents stay as independent as they can, for as long as possible. Everyone has the right to live a fulfilling and nourishing life, and for many people, social care plays a key role in achieving that.

We are looking for dynamic Social Workers who are passionate about enabling clients to fulfil their potential, whilst promoting self-determination, and who are passionate, supportive, motivated, and confident when supporting and communicating with people - either on the telephone or face to face.

Your work will include carrying out needs assessments, creating person-centred and strengths-based care plans, ensuring delivery of services, and reviewing outcomes with the individual, their personal networks, and support providers.

You will work in partnership with other professionals and organisations to support our residents effectively and holistically. Our Social Workers will endorse and act by the principles of personalisation, ensuring that care and support plans are person-centred, and as far as is safely possible, you will put the people with whom you work in control of their lives.

You will also demonstrate emotional resilience and intelligence - which is the ability to maintain focus and to ‘keep going’ despite setbacks and stressful situations, a real desire to enable clients to achieve or maintain their goals of living independently and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment.

 So, if you are looking for a new challenge, want to become part of a team that places a premium on listening and learning, and which is determined to make a difference – we want to hear from you!

We recognise and reward you

In these challenging times, we must remain connected as a team. From day one, you’ll be offered a ‘buddy’ who will be a friendly face to support you through your induction and new working world. The wellbeing of our colleagues is very important to us and we encourage you to take control of your work-life balance and adopt a flexible approach where possible.

We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements.

Benefits of working for Buckinghamshire:

• Competitive salary
• Up to 25 days’ annual leave (plus bank holidays) rising to 30 days (plus bank holidays) after more than 5 years’ service
• An attractive Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Relocation allowance up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Development opportunities in key areas of specific lead roles, giving you the opportunity to learn new skills and to develop your practice
• Travel discounts with Arriva
• Access to our corporate health and wellbeing services offering free confidential advice on a wide range of issues
• Discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops, discounted gym memberships and much more: https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/