Description
As a Community Support Adviser, you will be a reassuring and supportive presence for people living with dementia and those close to them during their time in hospital. You will listen to what matters to each person, provide trusted information, guidance and emotional support and help them feel more confident about what happens next.
At the heart of this role is advocacy. You will help make sure the person living with dementia remains at the centre of conversations and decisions about their care and support. You will represent their wishes, help them express what matters to them and have the confidence to speak up and respectfully challenge decisions or approaches when their voice is not being heard.
You do not need previous experience in dementia, healthcare or social care. What matters most is your ability to listen, build trust, see a situation from someone else's perspective and stand alongside them when they need support.
This is a hands-on, hospital-based role with most of your week spent on site at Hull Royal Information and Castle Hill Hospitals. You will move between wards alongside hospital teams and other professionals. A hospital parking permit can be arranged.
Main duties of the job
- Support someone and their family during a hospital stay
- Advocate for their wishes in conversations with professionals
- Help them understand the support available when they leave hospital
- Provide guidance face-to-face or over the phone
- Respond to new referrals or connect them with ongoing support in their community
Person Specification
- Are confident advocating for another person and making sure their voice, wishes and choices are heard
- Can respectfully challenge others when the person you are supporting is not being fully heard or understood
- Build warm, trusting and person-centred relationships
- Listen with empathy and see situations from another person's perspective
- Communicate clearly and compassionately with people from different backgrounds and with professionals
- Recognise when to seek further support or raise a concern, including safeguarding concerns
- Stay organised in a busy environment, balance competing priorities and maintain accurate, confidential records
- Are comfortable using IT and working collaboratively with hospital teams and other professionals