TEAM LEADER

The primary and most important aspects of the role:

• To set and maintain the highest standards of personal and social care for the residents at the home
• To promote a caring and proactive environment that through high standards of professional practice and leading the team to meet the physical, emotional, social, intellectual, cultural and spiritual needs of every resident.
• To ensure that each resident receives care appropriate to their individual needs
• To lead by example and act in accordance with the polices and procedures of the home
• To support the management team in the supervision, guidance and support of the care team
• To act in accordance with the social care code of conduct and practice and professional conduct
• To excel within the boundaries of this job description and beyond through hands on clinical practice, leading by example, education and training
• To support the General Manager to ensure an open culture that reports any events or circumstances that adversely affect the well-being of the residents and work alongside and in partnership with the local Safeguarding team, Quality Assurance team and the Care Quality Commission to protect residents from institutional, individual and collective poor practice that constitutes abuse or neglect
• Work collaboratively with the management team and all other team members in order to ensure the best outcomes for the resident, the company and the home at all times

Is the home safe?

• Promote and maintain a culture of meaningful learning from mistakes, poor practice and complaints and being open to observations from other team members, families and residents
• Actively encourage the raising of concerns as part of the day-to- day culture
• Recognise and implement proportional risk assessments at the centre of keeping people safe
• Assess measures implemented to manage risk for residents through care plan and observational audits and ensure that all is in place to allow residents to take reasonable and measured risk in their choices, provision of care and enabling their wishes
• Be aware of your own limitations and communicate openly with the management team in respect of your continuing education and personal development
• Monitor the environment and team practice when on duty to ensure that the all is in place to keep residents safe and measures indicated in formal risk assessments are implemented and adhered to
• Champion effective application of infection control policies and practice

Is the home effective?

• To assess, implement and maintain person centred care plans that meet the clinical, care, physical, emotional, social, intellectual, cultural and spiritual needs of every resident
• Take steps to ensure your understanding and practical application in the team of Deprivation of Liberty and Mental Capacity Act 2005 to always take into account individuals capacity and ability to make choice for themselves
• Be innovative in actively emphasising the importance of eating and drinking well, especially for individuals with difficulty in maintaining adequate nutrition and driving this in the teams practice
• Ensure timely, accurate and comprehensive documentation, then use this to direct care and intervention. Ensure this includes falls recorded and analysed, incidents and actions taken, repositioning, fluid and nutritional intake, social activity and an individual’s well-being for example
• Go out of your way to ensure that individual needs are met and ensure no resident is neglected through support, systems implemented and monitoring practice
• To ensure you effectively and promptly liaise with GP’s and vising professionals to utilise their expertise and ensure our resident receive prompt treatment and support
• Monitor and report changes in resident’s conditions to the relevant healthcare professionals and the management team
• Support residents with the management of tissue viability, continence and general well-being
• To ensure your medication management, practice and record keeping excels and is according to the home’s policy and procedures, legislation and guidelines for good practice
• To ensure confidentiality is kept in respect of resident’s lives, their clinical needs and in keeping records
• To attend, contribute and be open in all senior and care meetings and any other meetings set by the management team that require your attendance
• In the absence of the management team ensure that all notifications to the Care Quality Commission such as notification of death for example are filled in and sent off
• To act as a designated ‘named team leader’ for allocated residents within the home
• To carry out effectively and with diligence procedures such as blood glucose monitoring, blood pressure, temperature measurement, urine testing that the role of team leader dictates

Is the home caring?

• Use innovative and person centred methods of communication, in particular those residents with dementia or medical conditions that hamper communication to involve them as much as possible in their care
• To supervise the care staff when on duty with the service provision of nutrition and hydration, as well as accurate record keeping in respect of this.
• To ensure that within your practice that residents dignity and privacy are maintained at all times. To monitor the day-to-day practice of the care team and ensure they adhere to this in all they do
• To provide direct care to the residents with value, patience and empathy when needed

Is the home responsive?

• To monitor and assist in the development of the activities programme when leading a shift and on duty
• Recognise that person centred care is central to the home and what it does and develop practice and care delivery to focus on this
• Deliver proactive and personalised care, documented in care plans and other documentation created alongside residents, families, friends, advocate and visiting professionals
• Develop and promote positive communication with residents, relatives and team members
• Take steps to ensure you are familiar with the care standards act 2000 and the implications this has for your practice and that of others
• To ensure that your reflective practice delivers responsive and person centred care to each resident living in the home

Is the home well led?

• Lead by example and motivate the team though active guidance, whether on the floor or in an individual supervision and be an excellent role model
• To run your shift as the leader and monitor the practice and record keeping of the care team, instruct and guide them in managing their tasks and to co-ordinate the team to deliver quality care each day
• To challenge poor practice, poor value and never leave anything not dealt with
• Train, support and monitor the care team members allocated to you on duty and in formal supervision and appraisal
• To handle concerns expressed and feedback from residents, family members and team members within the policies, procedures and guidelines set down by the home and as part of an open, honest and reflective culture
• To formally monitor the care delivery on duty in respect of meeting all residents needs and ensure record are accurately kept
• Participate when asked in the quality assurance and elements of the auditing process and assist with the formal evaluation of other practice such as undertaking of observational supervisions
• To deal with short notice absentees in the absence of the management team and ensure prompt cover is in place

Personal responsibilities:

• To act at all times in a manner that promotes the well-being of the residents at all time
• To act at all times in a manner which promotes the company’s best interests
• To maintain at all times a dress code appropriate to the working environment and the company
• To act at all times in a manner which promotes harmonious working relationships with all colleagues and outside agencies
• To undertake any training necessary for the completion of your duties and to keep yourself professionally up to date at all times
• To be aware of and understand the implementation of the company’s policies and abide by them, whilst leading by example in all you do

We expect our team leaders to:

• Prioritise people
• Practice effectively
• Preserve safety
• Promote professionalism and trust

The standards for competence apply to all fields of the role of a team leader and are set out in four main areas of professional practice. These are:

• Professional values
• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Good practice and decision making
• Leadership, management and team working

Within these four areas there are two main aspects to the standards. All team leaders must demonstrate their knowledge and competence to work at Birchwood. We need to be assured that all actions our senior team undertake ensure that our residents families can be confident in the care we deliver. These aspects are:

• The competencies needed to fulfil your role such as the management of medication, person centred care planning for example
• Deliver high quality essential care to all persons in their care
• Provide visiting professionals with the accurate and relevant information they need to make complex and day-to-day decisions to support the care of our residents
• Act to protect our residents, and be responsible and accountable for safe, person centre, evidenced based care practice
• Act with professionalism and integrity and work within agreed professional, ethical and legal frameworks and processes to maintain and improve standards
• Practice in a compassionate, respectful way, maintaining dignity and well-being and communicating effectively
• Act on their understanding of how people’s lifestyles, environments and where care is delivered influence their health and well-being
• Seek out every opportunity to promote health and prevent illness and use the expertise of supporting clinical professionals
• Work in partnership with other health and social care professionals and agencies, residents, carers and families ensuring that decisions about care are shared
• Use leadership skills to supervise and manage others and contribute to planning, designing, delivering and improving future services

This job description indicates only the main duties and responsibilities of the post of Team leader. It is not intended as an exhaustive list and will be subject to additions and change in discussion with the provider. Any changes will be discussed with you directly and you will be informed of contractual changes in writing.