Specialist Dementia Services Lead

Are you ready to contemplate your next career move in social care? Are you someone who would relish the opportunity to lead and develop our innovative  therapeutic 20 bedded dementia care community for people living with distress and complex needs in Preston?  A community where the essential question is not ‘what’ but ‘why’; why is the person acting and feeling this way? A service where a team comes together to think differently and do differently. Would you relish the chance to specialise and develop your practice alongside a senior team of clinicians Including Professor Graham Stokes, a leading thinker and academic authority in Dementia Care in the UK? If so, please get in touch with us as we continue to reshape nursing dementia care in a social care setting.

Meadow Bank care home has provided care for people living with dementia for many years and for over 2 years Sabrina House has provided HC-One’s first Specialist Dementia Care Community (SDCC), following considerable investment in the layout and design of the living environment, workforce, L&D and assessment documentation. 

We’re now looking for a Specialist Dementia Service Lead, due to retirement, someone who is passionate about supporting people who are emotionally distressed by their dementia and require a specialist service to ensure their needs can be met appropriately.

Sabrina House SDCC is a therapeutic care setting that demonstrates that quality of care and quality of life are of equal significance. It provides a bespoke low arousal environment embracing space and calming de-escalation rooms, along with enhanced staffing, specialist roles and training for Colleagues in positive approaches to behaviour, psychosocial therapies and de-escalation interventions. The therapeutic ambition will be that people will be understood as having needs to be met, rather than being defined by their condition, and as a result will have a quality of life previously denied them.

In your role as Specialist Dementia Service Lead, you will have a visible leadership presence, offer professional advice and guidance, and inspire as you lead by example. You will be responsible for the supervision and coordination of the multi—disciplinary team.

The Specialist Dementia Service Lead will help shape the service, its values and ethos, have a knowledge and understanding of Positive Behaviour Support and will have significant experience supporting all those affected by dementia, including family and friends. 

To meet the requirements of expert practice, the Specialist Dementia Service Lead will be involved in service performance discussions with internal and external clinicians and social care professionals.  The Lead will play an integral part in showcasing the work the SDCC does as well as  working alongside our commissioning team to raise the specialist community’s profile and promoting the value of the service.

The postholder will work collaboratively with colleagues to initiate change, provide effective leadership and support to deliver the highest level of specialist practice within the SDCC and contribute to the development of specialist dementia care provision within HC-One.  The post holder will work to provide better outcomes for people living with dementia by striving to improve the quality of HC-One specialist care and embedding the safeguarding of vulnerable adults by ensuring that all legal requirements relating to Mental Capacity Act (2005), Mental Health Act (1983 – amended 2007) and Liberty Protection Safeguards (2020) are considered and adhered to in relation to all resident care.

The post is fulltime with your time divided between management and resident support responsibilities which will include rostered weekend and possible nightshift working to ensure the integrity of the SDCC is sustained and stays true to the SDCC’s Standard Operating Procedure.

Professional leadership

You will act as a role model for the following values and behaviours:

• Care - encourages the delivery of high-quality evidence-based care
• Compassion - demonstrates empathy, kindness and respect
• Competence – has proven experience in dementia care in a relevant role or setting and maintains professional registration where required
• Communication - displays advanced communication and presentation skills, and is open to feedback
• Courage - manages risks, embraces change, and learns from experience
• Commitment - vision and enthusiastic leadership

Expert practice:

You will:

• Deliver expert leadership in pre- and post-admission assessment, person-centred care, and supervision.

• Utilise and advise on the use of specialist assessments for effective care planning.
• To be able to communicate complicated and sensitive information to residents, their loved ones and other care professionals and to manage complex issues around consent.
• Provide expert knowledge of the care needs of people living with dementia and utilise this in the development of intervention protocols. Provide advice on evidence-based and innovative therapeutic interventions for individuals with complex presentations.
• Promote and protect the human rights of people living with dementia whose needs are complex.
• Work with Dementia Care Manager (DCM) and Head of Specialist Services (HSS) to ensure evidence-based practice is cascaded to the team and implemented effectively into practice.
• Provide clinical and operational supervision and mentorship to the SDCC team working with complex resident presentations.
• Utilise and promote highly specialised dementia approaches and interventions that are evidence-based.
• Work within up-to-date standards, guidance and strategies and where applicable, maintain own professional registration or requirements.
• Understand,implement and oversee the delivery of the SDCC Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)so it becomes embedded in practice and shapes day to day operations.

Professional specification

You will

• Have significant experience in dementia care in a relevant role or setting including, social care professional, registered nurse (RMN/RGN/RNLD), occupational therapist or clinical psychologist
• Be educated to degree level or equivalent and/or working towards or completed a Post Graduate award in a dementia related subject, a relevant health and social care subject or equivalent qualification

The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong understanding of the impact of dementia on caregivers and the experience of people living with dementia whose needs and behaviours are complex and will as a result work closely with the Head of Specialist Services and the designated Dementia Care Manager, who provides wrap around support to the SDCC, to embrace evidence- based initiatives and innovation to enable the SDCC to deliver positive outcomes and give people living with dementia their best lives possible. 

HC-One would like to attract, recruit, and retain its people, on the basis that their individual values and behaviours align with our 5Cs and Kindness the HC-One Way

1. Curious – We are curious and ask questions, look for clues and seek to understand

1. Compassionate – We are compassionate and try to walk in the shoes of others to understand how we can best support them.
2. Creative – We are creative yet practical, using imagination to make things happen
3. Courageous – We are courageous and want to support people live the life they want without shying away from managing the risks that go with that
4. Counted on – We can be counted on and will always look for ways to be there

It is these values-based behaviours and competencies that will be measured during recruitment and selection and performance development reviews.

We are passionate about ensuring that our current and future Colleagues can be their true selves, and that our workforce represents the communities we serve. We prioritise inclusive working practices and invite applicants from all backgrounds into our HC-One family and we are committed to providing the quickest possible turnaround from the point of making you a job offer to you starting with us on day one.