Health and Justice Partnership Coordinator - Kent PDU

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Overview of the job

The job holder is strategic lead on strengthening and developing continuity of care pathways so those leaving prison can access treatment and support on release, as part of the organisation’s aims on reducing/breaking the cycle of reoffending.

As a strategic role within the Probation Service (PS), post holders are accountable to the Head of Community Integration.

The role will work regionally and be based within a community probation office with the expectation that post holders will travel as and when required, including regular visits into selected prisons.

In line with PS policies and procedures, the job holder must at all times demonstrate a commitment to equality and inclusion and an understanding of their relevance to the work they do.

Summary

The job holder will be expected to lead on continuity of care pathways working in tandem with relevant local partners and HMPPS colleagues to develop practice related to substance misuse and health-related release planning.

This includes designing and consulting on processes to enable information sharing, improving the use of substance misuse and health-related licence conditions, and understanding of health and substance misuse resettlement pathways.

The post holder must adhere to all policies in respect of the sensitive/confidential nature of the information handled whilst working in this position.

Responsibilities, Activities and Duties

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

Develop effective relationships with key partners including prisoners, people on probation, prisons, treatment providers in custody and community and commissioners to identify opportunities to improve join-up, locally innovate and drive forward national priority workstreams.Lead strategic discussions with partners and stakeholders to ensure a whole system approach to the delivery of health and justice pathways from custody to community setting.Use performance data to drive activity to improve probation and prison practice and inform partnership working. With a key of focus on Substance misuse and continuity of care pathways. This is also to include engagement with prisoners and people on probation to understand how to improve health and substance misuse pathways.Lead joint partnership working with health and substance misuse partners to design a more integrated health and justice partnership, focusing on continuity of care pathways. Where the service exists, drive improvements in service integration between probation and NHS England and Improvement’s Reconnect service.Identify good practice and innovation opportunities to improve substance misuse and health continuity of care pathways. Drive these forward locally and share with national teams.Provide a key interface between national Offender Health teams within HMPPS and regional probation delivery. This includes escalating local concerns and needs and ensuring communication and delivery of agreed national activity.Increase understanding within Probation about good practice and health and substance misuse pathways to support continuity of care, operating as a specialist point of contact across the region for both Probation and its partners.Drive partnership working with the prison Drug Strategy Leads and PGD leads offering advice and support to manage the transition into the community to improve substance misuse continuity of care.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

Behaviours

Changing and ImprovingCommunicating and InfluencingWorking TogetherLeadershipSeeing the Big Picture

Experience

Worked with prisoners or those engaged in the criminal justice system with a proven record of good practice in a variety of settings.Experience of working across stakeholder groups and Other Government Departments.Excellent influencing skills, showing the ability to deal effectively with conflict and deliver objectives.Experience of working under pressure and fulfilling demanding deadlines with experience of setting goals and achieving targets.Experience of working flexibly as a member of a team to achieve performance targets.Experience in delivering change across large organisations and multiple stakeholders.Evidence of ability to evaluate practice.Demonstrable achievements in managing/supporting change and effecting improvements in quality and efficiency.Able to demonstrate well developed IT skills, including evidence of ability to interpret and apply performance reports.Experience of proactively championing diversity and inclusiveness both internally and externally.Knowledge of health pathways for those leaving prison, particularly for substance misuse and mental health, including the key partners involved.Sound understanding of probation processes, including release planning.