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Knowsley Council & PCT � Health and Social Care

What sort of job roles do we have? we have lots of roles in health and social care including:

Social care workers & support workers – who have a key role in actively promoting and maintaining individuals in independent living, and to assist them in improving their health, economic and emotional well being.

Social workers – who help determine what care needs individuals may have and what care packages will help meet these needs. As an adviser, advocate, counsellor or listener, a social worker helps individuals to live more successfully within their local communities.

Nursing and allied professional staff – who provide direct nursing care to individuals in the community. Roles are varied and include district nurses, health visitors and specialist practitioners.

In addition to these roles, we also employ other care professionals like nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists as well as administration and business staff who support our front line delivery.

You can find out more about our roles by visiting our websites at

www.knowsley.gov.uk or www.knowsley.nhs.uk

If you want to discuss starting a career in health and social care with Knowsley then please contact Elaine Plumridge on 0151 443 3480.
Editorial

Working in health and social care is rewarding, challenging and exciting, offering the opportunity to work with a range of people from different settings, caring for them in their homes, as well as in a residential, hospital or nursing home. (Bold black print at the beginning of the text).

In Knowsley, we believe in putting people first and we are nationally recognised as having a different and innovative approach to delivering health and social care to our communities. We believe in appointing people based on their skills, experience and commitment to delivering a high quality service.

What do we do?

Health and social care workers in Knowsley help people to make better health, and lifestyle choices to improve their lives and offer support to individuals and families in times of crisis.

Our staff work with a range of other professionals, for example health care workers, education specialists, housing advisers and support networks in the voluntary sector to support vulnerable adults and children.

There are a wide range of services we provide to our local community.

We have staff who work with children and families in the community, or in residential settings. We have specialists team who work with children with disabilities, children who are leaving care and children who are carers of parents (young carers).

We also have staff who work with Older People either in their homes, in day centres, or in hospitals.

Other staff work with adults in the community who may have a learning or physical disability, or mental ill health. We also have a specialist team who work with drug misuse.

Our nursing staff work with all sectors of the community, and can be based in GP practices, hospitals, schools, clinics as well as providing care in peoples homes. Nurses don’t just care for people but they also prevent ill health by teaching health promotion.

Do you need to be qualified?

There are some posts for which you do need to be qualified before you can start to work.

Social workers, must have the diploma in social work and be registered with the general social care council.

Nursing and other professional caring staff (e.g. therapists) must also be appropriately qualified and registered.

But!... you don’t always have to have a social care or nursing qualification to start your career. No matter what your academic qualifications there are roles you can do and career options you can work towards. In Knowsley we have a specialist work force development team, dedicated to developing career pathways and solutions for our staff.

Once you start working, you will be required to undertake a range of work based training and will be given training in the skills you need to do the job. There are plenty of opportunities to acquire more skills and qualifications such as NVQ’’s.

We have also introduced modern apprenticeships across health and social care and are looking to expand this initiative in 2007.