PURPOSE OF THE ROLE: The post holder will be responsible for: Contributing clinical expertise to continuing healthcare process, leading a team to deliver multi-disciplinary assessments and reviews for patients including those in Somerset and out of county in line with standard operating policy and procedures KEY RESPONSIBILTIES OF THE ROLE: To manage the day to day service requirement of the CHC, FNC and PHBs To directly manage and provide expert leadership to a team of CHC Assessors including all managerial supervision, appraisal, professional leadership, performance review and management as needed To provide line management cover in the absence of Team Leaders to Assessment Teams as needed To co-ordinate reviews for existing CHC patients To ensuring consistency in the application of national and local policy on eligibility for CHC To identify and support any requirement in relation to performance of staff and work with HR as appropriate, this may include formal review of capability To lead on CHC assessments and reviews for patients in Somerset and provide care management for CHC patients placed out of county To provide assessment of highly complex cases which require expert management due to difficult circumstances where there may be antagonism To co-ordinate highly complex packages of care to meet individuals needs To co-ordinate and plan Personal Health Budgets for eligible patients To maintain full awareness of ethical considerations with regard to CHC issues To actively promote and drive compliance with 28 day time frame from checklist to decision. To undertake regular quality assurance reviews of new applications to support quality and consistency. To provide expertise to CHC panels and to the wider CHC team in relation to CHC applications and care provision To create and maintain effective working relationships at all levels, internal and external to the NHS Somerset CCG, including NHS and non NHS organisations locally and nationally To support in the development across the organisation in the personalisation agenda and to support the pathway delivery for Personal Health Budgets within NHS Continuing Healthcare To co-ordinate and monitor individual contracts for packages of care To work with Contract and Commissioning Managers to ensure that Providers of care to CHC funded patients are delivering care that is safe and effective through clinical quality contract review To undertake and support audit requirements relating to CHC To support the development of and implement local policies, systems and processes around CHC, linked to the relevant key national and local priorities To promote excellent customer care throughout the CHC process ensuring local resolution of any concerns where possible. This will include providing and receiving highly complex, sensitive and contentious information requiring agreement or co-operation where there are barriers to understanding. This relates to external organisations and the public as well as to staff of the ICB and local authority To support service requirements, undertake training and assessments (Best Interest Assessor) relating to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) To ensure effective timely communication and liaison with key stakeholders, including partner agencies, GPs, patients and their families, and care providers To work with CHC manager and cascade information as appropriate To be responsible for providing first level contact for disputes between partner agencies or with patients / families / legal bodies, for example following unwelcome financial decisions To undertake preparation of appeals cases within the defined policy, to include the up to date clinical information required and involving liaison with families in complex situations where there is often hostility displayed To implement patient / carer involvement at all stages of the CHC process To ensure that the local authority is involved appropriately in the CHC decision making process, and informed of the outcome where appropriate To promote awareness of NHS funded CHC To provide information relating to the monitoring of CHC activity and contract compliance To act as an expert resource to health and social care workers, patients, families and other organisations and individuals as appropriate To investigate and respond to any complaints about CHC in partnership with the CHC Operational Manager To be responsible for letters, rationale and minutes sent to patients, families, solicitors and referrers To devise and provide training packages for multi-agency staff on CHC issues, and promoting good practice. These training sessions will accommodate in excess of 30 individuals and are delivered regularly (3-6 monthly) on a rolling programme To deliver expert clinical and non-clinical advice in relation to CHC To work with discharge teams to promote timely discharges and support understanding of CHC as part of the discharge process To provide senior support to clinicians and resolution of complex discharge issues To maintain expert knowledge of county-wide services including public and private sector provision To undertake necessary training To undertake chairing of CHC Panels as required including complex MDTs To identify priorities within own workload. Devise and implement programmes to manage work load demands To contribute to professionally related working groups in excess of 30 participants involved in the development of local policies To lead in projects, pilots, research related to CHC, for example in response to specific requests for local data from the Department of Health and provide comprehensive reports to Service Lead. To maintain full awareness of child protection issues and alertness to potential vulnerable adults To raise safeguarding concerns where appropriate and working with Safeguarding leads in support of CHC funded individuals To support quality improvement in relation to the services provided to CHC funded patients To authorise Joint Equipment Service (JES) requests for CHC patients To case manage out-of-county placements To attend case conferences as necessary To contribute to the development of contracts and commissioning arrangements for packages of care To implement local systems and processes around CHC linked to the relevant key national and local priorities To cascade and ensuring implementation of policies and guidance to Trust staff and partner organisations To maintain accurate records with CHC database To monitor the systems in place to meet CHC patients assessed needs appropriately To collate information to ensure quality standards are met and sustained To be able to travel independently across a wide range of settings To frequently use PC and have a wide knowledge of IT systems To show awareness of equity of service provision and value for money with regard to CHC across the county To provide and receive highly complex, sensitive and contentious information, communicating unwelcome financial decisions to members of the public and using interpersonal skills to overcome barriers to acceptance where there may be hostility and antagonism. To liaise is an integral part of the role and will take the form of regular contact by telephone, face to face meetings, written and electronic communication, presentations and training sessions. To be responsible for ensuring value for money in all matters relating to packages for continuing NHS healthcare. To ensure that the transition between children and adult services within NHS Somerset is smooth and seamless