Rough Sleepers Outreach Practitioner: Sponsorship Available

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Job Summary

 

The post holder will use their specialist foundation knowledge and skills in substance misuse to undertake assessment, care planning, implementing and evaluating the case and treatment of clients.

The role will involve working within the borough of Hillingdon including high frequency areas such as Heathrow airport with the target population of rough sleepers or individuals at risk of rough sleeping. They will work closely with partnering agencies, enabling rough sleepers to access drug and alcohol treatment. The post holder will support the team by assisting clients to register with the local GP and by supporting clients to access healthcare and wellbeing services.

The role will also involve working in close partnership with Criminal Justice services to ensure Rough Sleepers, with forensic offending behaviour are able to receive holistic and responsive support. This will help to positively influence behavioural changes whilst working towards overall person centrered recovery goals.

The successful candidate will perform duty assessments to clients that are new to the service, in addition to acting as keyworker to a defined allocated caseload of clients with a low to medium degree of complexity, under the supervision of designated Senior Drug & Alcohol Practitioner within the team.

The post holder will be responsible for ensuring that the delivery of the care and management of this client group is done in compliance with HCC Quality Standards.

 

Main duties of the job

Main Responsibilities:

 

Clinical Duties:

  •  To work as a member of the multidisciplinary team which provides a range of specialist services to problem drinkers and problematic club drug takers attending the service/unit, including harm minimisation approaches, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, care planning individual intervention, health education and detoxification programmes, mindfulness, counselling and group work.
  • To make continuous assessments, under supervision, of the psychological, emotional, social and rehabilitative needs of clients, taking into account the needs of family, local community and developing care plans and evaluation of these plans.
  • To be able to assess and case manage clients who inject club drugs, in particular assessing injection sites and be conversant with the precepts of harm minimisation, taking a predominant role in providing duty assessments to clients who are new to the service.
  • To provide case management and direct clinical care to a defined number of clients as agreed with the Service Co-ordinator and under the supervision of a designated professional within the team. This includes assessment, planning and providing specialist care. It is expected that the caseload will consist of clients with needs of a low to medium complexity.
  • To use agreed and established Outcome Monitoring Tools and any other relevant quality measures.

Person Specification

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

  • Educated to diploma level or NVQ level 4 in health and social care

Desirable

  • Previous training in substance use
  • Motivational Interviewing/Relapse management training
  • Harm reduction training.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

Essential

  • Practical experience of providing high quality care.
  • Experience of conducting risk assessments
  • Evidence of personal and professional development in substance misuse settings
  • Keeping accurate electronic records
  • Ability to treat patients with respect and dignity.
  • Maintain patient confidentiality
  • Demonstrates the ability to manage work under pressure

Desirable

  • Previous experience within an NHS or local authority setting.
  • Experience of working with rough sleepers
  • Managing a caseload in the community
  • Working with patients with substance misuse issues

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES

Essential

  • Knowledge of risk assessment and management
  • Demonstrates the ability to manage work under pressure
  • Good written and verbal communication skills
  • Understand the different roles of the multi-disciplinary team and own role within it
  • Committed to personal/professional development
  • Flexible approach to work with ability to prioritise workload
  • Proficient in Microsoft Software
  • Committed to personal/professional development
  • Flexible approach to work Excellent organisational skills.
  • Ability to work within a Multidisciplinary Team.
  • Ability to work autonomously using own initiative
  • Ability to plan and prioritise workload
  • Understanding of national and local pathways to access substance misuse support

Desirable

  • Understanding of health & safety issues.
  • Understanding of the Data Protection Act and Issues around Confidentiality.
  • Understanding of the Mental Health Act
  • Problem solving skills, stress management skills & conflict resolution skills

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

Essential

  • Motivated to provide the highest standard in a changing service
  • Awareness of Health & Safety issues
  • Willingness to undertake further training relevant to clinical setting
  • Able to recognise signs of stress in self.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Closing Date: 26 June 2025

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.