About this role
Job summary
Are you a motivated, dynamic, and enthusiastic housing officer with significant experience of working with people that are homeless or rough sleeping? Would you like to work within an acute hospital supporting patients that are homeless or at risk of homelessness?
If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you to be involved in our specialist Homeless Health team at a critical time in its development. We have a Band 5 Homeless Health Housing Coordinator post within the team that we are recruiting to as our team has been funded by an extra 3 years with development opportunities.
The Homeless Health team is multi-disciplinary and operates a reactive and fast- moving service. The team is necessary to redress the stark health inequalities suffered by the homeless population. The average age of death for rough sleepers is 43 years old (women) and 47 (men) compared with 80 and 74 in the general population.
The homeless health team seeks to overcome the barriers that homeless people face accessing high quality services. Through this approach, the team also aims to reduce delayed and premature discharges, and reduce unscheduled admissions and A&E attendances.
The Homeless Health Housing Coordinator will work with patients on our wards, in Accident and Emergency (A&E) and may need to outreach into the community to support patients to secure housing, access health care and post discharge for follow ups. The post holder will be expected to work on site Monday to Friday.
Main duties of the job
You will play a vital role in improving the quality of care for homeless hospital patients by providing specialist housing advice, advocacy, support, and quality discharge interventions, with a particular focus on accommodation options. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary Homeless Health team, you will ensure safe, appropriate, and sustainable hospital discharges and support patients to access housing, benefits, primary health care, and follow-up appointments after discharge. You will undertake detailed housing assessments that will help prove a patient's homelessness, eligibility, priority for housing and established local connection. You will maintain regular contact with and support a caseload of patients during admission and post-discharge, including visiting discharge locations and escorting patients to appointments when necessary. You will accompany patients to Housing Options offices to provide face-to-face advocacy and resolve disputes to achieve the best outcomes. You will act as an advocate for patients within the clinical setting and with external agencies, clearly communicating patient circumstances to hospital staff and external providers. You will assist patients to understand and obtain their welfare, housing, and related rights, addressing barriers such as language, culture, mental or physical health. You will be good at partnership working, building relationships and liaising with Local Authorities Housing departments and hospital clinical teams.
About us
At Imperial College Healthcare you can achieve extraordinary things with extraordinary people, working with leading clinicians pushing boundaries in patient care.
Become part of a vibrant team living our values - expert, kind, collaborative and aspirational. You'll get an experience like no other and will fast forward your career.Benefits include career development, flexible working and wellbeing, staff recognition scheme. Make use of optional benefits including Cycle to Work, car lease schemes, season ticket loan or membership options for onsite leisure facilities.
We are committed to equal opportunities and improving the working lives of our staff and will consider applications to work flexibly, part time or job share. Please talk to us at interview.
Environmental sustainabilityClimate change and poor air quality is a health emergency that harms people's health and wellbeing and widens health inequalities. The Trust is also committed to reducing its impact on the environment by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero by 2045. All our employees have a role to play, and we have an active green network that supports staff to act in ways that ensures that our services are efficient, sustainable and reduce our impact on the environment www.imperial.nhs.uk/about-us/our-strategy/green-plan.
Job description Job responsibilities
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required.
For both overviews, please view the Job Description attachment with the job advert.
Person Specification
Education/ Qualifications Essential
Educated to degree level or equivalent experience. Good general knowledge base in the health issues surrounding homeless people e.g. mental health, drug and alcohol misuse, impact of health needs of no recourse to public funds patients.
Desirable
Completed formal education / specialist course in a relevant area e.g. addictions.
Experience / Skills Essential
Direct work experience with homeless clients or clients with addictions Experience of independent practice with homeless people and within a team Experience of case management Experience of working in partnership and negotiating with a wide variety of agencies Experience of dealing with complex housing issues Able to work in partnership with and negotiate with a wide variety of partnership agencies, and other NHS providers. Ability to write a report. Good IT skills (WORD, POWERPOINT etc.)
Desirable
Experience of working in partnership with voluntary/ statutory agencies Experience of working directly with statutory homeless agencies e.g. Local Authority Homeless Persons Units Able to influence and negotiate independently across complex boundaries
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).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Address Trust wide
London
W2 1NY
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)