NursingNetUK

Job overview

Hello, my name is Jim Welch. I am the Lead Nurse for Mental Health Liaison Services at Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust and I am looking for a Peer Support Worker (Expert By Experience) to join our 24/7 team based in Gloucester and Cheltenham hospital. 

The Peer Support worker role is a new and important development within the Liaison Service locally and we are keen to ensure that the voice and presence of people with lived experience is embedded into every part of service design and delivery.  

Peer support workers are experts by experience of mental illness, supporting patients in their journey into hospital, through admission and eventual discharge into their community support network.

I will work with you to ensure that we support your personal and developmental needs, this includes a bespoke induction to ensure that you are fully prepared and supported in delivering this role.

Our aim is to work closely with our Acute Hospital colleagues to deliver a pro-active, patient focused service that delivers the right care at the right time and your work will ensure that the value of personal experience is fully recognised.

If you have excellent interpersonal skills, the desire to deliver high quality care and you are ready to use your experience to support others then please get in touch to talk through the role.

Main duties of the job

The role of the peer support worker is:

• To support the multi-disciplinary team in promoting recovery orientated environment by identifying recovery focussed activities and fostering a culture of hope.
• Deliver an approach that is underpinned by the principals of trauma informed care.
• To work alongside a number of service users on a one to one basis, which may include supporting the person through their admission and discharge, ensuring the voice of the person is heard and facilitating discharge home for a period of up to 72 hours.
• Contribute to the development of training to raise awareness and reduce stigma.
• To be an active member of the Community of Practice for people with complex emotional needs in partnership with peers within the Complex Emotional Needs Service.

Working for our organisation

We have in excess of 5000 staff working over 50 sites, providing a diverse range of services. We strive to support an organisational culture that is welcoming, builds and celebrates inclusivity and diversity and provides a sense of belonging and trust. 

The annual NHS Staff Survey  gives our people the opportunity to tell us about their experience working at the Trust.  For the 2023 survey just over 2800 colleagues gave us their views (58.5%).   It was great to see from the results that colleagues are saying that:

• 89.7% believe they are making a positive difference to patients/service users; 
• 73.3% would recommend the organisation as a place to work; 
• 82.4% agree that care of patients and service users is the organisations priority;
• 76.7% would be happy with the standard of care for a friend or relative     

Our results put us as 5th nationally as a Community, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities NHS Employer of Choice and 1st equal amongst all NHS Provider Trusts in the South West. However, we know we have more to do and will continue to drive forward our commitment to making GHC a Great Place to Work.