Jargon Buster - Workforce Category

People who provide different types of health care who are not doctors, nurses or pharmacists. The description includes a wide range of roles, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, and podiatrists.

Categories

• Health and health care
• Workforce

Someone with specialist training who can be called on to arrange for a person to have their mental health assessed, to decide whether they should be admitted to hospital for their own safety or the safety of others. The approved professional’s main job may be social worker, occupational therapist, community mental health nurse or psychologist.

Approved Mental Health Professionals are often referred to as AMHPs.

Categories

• Mental health
• Workforce

A person who has training in helping people and their family members and carers to understand and change their behaviour if it is causing problems for them.

Categories

• Communication
• Workforce

A qualified person like a social worker who completes a Mental Capacity Assessment to decide whether an adult lacks the capacity to consent to care and treatment in a care home or a hospital. Then, if the person lacks capacity to content, the worker completes a Best Interests Assessment to decide whether they have been deprived of their liberty, and if so whether this is in the person’s best interests.

Categories

• Decision-making
• Workforce

Related Jargon

• Best interests
• Best interests assessment
• Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS)

Someone whose job it is to provide people with advice and information about care and support services available in their area and how much they cost, so that people can choose to purchase the care and support that best meets their needs.

Brokers can also help people think about different ways they can get support, for example by making arrangements with friends and family.

Brokerage can be provided by local councils, voluntary organisations or private companies.

Categories

• Workforce

Related Jargon

• Advocacy
• Care navigator (also known as a Broker)
• Signposting

A senior person who works in an NHS organisation or local council and is responsible for making sure that people’s personal information is kept confidential, and is not shared with anyone who does not need to see it.

The law says that all NHS organisations and councils that provide care and support must have a Caldicott guardian.

The name comes from Dame Fiona Caldicott, who chaired a government review of confidential information in the 1990s.

Categories

• Keeping information safe
• Workforce

Related Jargon

• Confidentiality

Someone whose job it is to provide people with advice and information about care and support services available in their area and how much they cost, so that people can choose to purchase the care and support that best meets their needs.

Brokers can also help people think about different ways they can get support, for example by making arrangements with friends and family. Brokerage can be provided by local councils, voluntary organisations or private companies.

Categories

• Workforce

Related Jargon

• Broker (also known as Care Navigator)

Someone who supports or speaks up for a particular thing, such as dementia, or for a specific group of people, such as children or older people. A champion may be someone who works in social care or someone who draws on care and support.

Categories

• People
• Workforce

Individuals who can help people find out what is available to support them their local area and connect people to local services and groups.

Community connectors are often employed by local councils.

Categories

• Workforce

Also known as a ‘community mental health nurse’, this is a specialist nurse who works in communities rather than in hospital, with people who require support with their mental health. They are a key part of local community mental health teams.

Categories

• Mental health
• Workforce

A person who is trained to listen and help people think through particular problems or issues and how they feel about them.

Categories

• Workforce

Someone who knows a lot about dementia and supports people if they, or someone they are close to, has been diagnosed with dementia. The advisor will listen to their questions and concerns, and connect people to sources of further support.

Categories

• Workforce

A worker such as a nurse, social worker, occupational therapist or psychologist, who helps people who require support with their mental health. Gateway workers work closely with GPs and can give people information and advice about support services in their area that may be helpful for them. People may see a gateway worker at their doctor’s surgery or in their own home.

Categories

• Workforce

Someone who supports a person to understand and remember information, make decisions and communicate their wishes and feelings. They will also speak up for a person if the person needs them to. Independent advocates cannot be family members, friends or neighbours.

Under the Care Act 2014, councils have a duty to involve independent advocates to support people who would otherwise find it very difficult to be fully involved in conversations and decisions, and where there is no one else appropriate to advocate for the person.

Categories

• Decision-making
• People
• Workforce

A worker who supports people at high risk of harm from their partner, ex-partners or family members. IDVAs work to secure people’s safety and the safety of their children.

Categories

• Abuse and neglect
• Workforce

A trained person who provides advice and support, independent of the local council, to parents whose child is being assessed for an Education, Health and Care plan. Independent supporters often work for a charity. They can explain the process, help people to understand the support available, and ensure people have all the information they need.

Categories

• Workforce

The main person or organisation that arranges the care and support available in an area to meet the needs of the population.

Categories

• Commissioning
• Workforce

A central person involved in providing and coordinating a person’s care, and a single point of contact for them.

Categories

• Workforce

Different ways of thinking and communicating about disability. The main models are the medical, charity, social and human rights models.

Categories

• Assurance and regulation
• Workforce

A worker who helps a person to organise their care and support. This could be, for example, a social worker, practitioner working for a voluntary or community sector organisation, or lead nurse.

Categories

• Workforce

A specific social worker identified to work with a person.

Having a named social worker means the person knows who to contact, can develop more of a relationship with the worker, and should mean there is more coordination and continuity.

Categories

• Workforce

A person who leads a care service (such as a care home or home care agency) and makes sure that the service is safe and good enough quality. The nominated individual is the service’s main point of contact with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Categories

• Assurance and regulation
• Workforce

Related Jargon

• Care Quality Commission (CQC)

A person who is qualified to help people of all ages to overcome any permanent loss or lack of physical, sensory, mental or communication function.

Their aim is to help people improve their ability to function as independently as possible so that they can participate in whatever activities are meaningful and important to them. Occupational therapists do this mainly by identifying and removing barriers to independence and participation in daily life.

Categories

• Workforce

Related Jargon

• Occupational therapy

Often called a PA, a personal assistant is someone employed to support a person to live independently and do the things that matter to them.

Personal assistants are employed by the person they support, who may pay them using a direct payment or a personal health budget.

Categories

• Self-directed support and personal budgets
• Workforce

Related Jargon

• Direct payments
• Personal budget

A person who works in a skilled job such as social work, nursing or medicine.

Categories

• Workforce

An organisation that represents a group of people who are all part of the same profession, such as doctors or social workers. A professional body supports its members and may also make sure that the work they do is of a high enough standard. If people are unhappy with something that an individual professional has done, they may be able to complain to their professional body.

Categories

• Ways of working
• Workforce

Where a person working in health or social care explores and tries to understand what is happening with an individual or family rather than making assumptions or accepting information at face value.

Categories

• Ways of working
• Workforce

An approach used to support people with their mental health and help people to live their life in the way they want to. The person’s mental health challenges may not ever go away entirely, but this approach can help them to think about the strengths and abilities they have, and the changes they want to make in their life.

Categories

• Mental health
• Workforce

The person who is responsible for running an adult care service such as a care home or home care agency. The registered manager is responsible for leading the service and making sure that standards are high.

Categories

• Workforce

A qualified person who works for a more equal and fair society where human rights are respected and protected.

Social workers advocate for people and families, helping to remove barriers and to coordinate any care and support people need to draw on to live the life they choose to lead.

Social workers have a degree in social work (BA), or master’s degree in social work.

Most social workers are employed by local councils, but some work in the NHS or for independent organisations.

Categories

• Workforce

Related Jargon

• Human rights

Someone who is employed to provide practical help and support to enable people to live as independently as possible and do the things they want to do.

Categories

• Workforce

A worker who is trusted to make an assessment of the care and support a person requires on behalf of one or more organisations, such as a local council, care provider or hospital, so that the person only need to be assessed once. Trusted assessors may come from the health, social care or the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE).

Trusted assessors are used, for example, to support people to return home from hospital, to arrange support such as equipment and adaptations to help people live at home, or to carry out an assessment of a carer’s support needs.

Categories

• Workforce

Teams in local councils that provide information and advice on ways to improve people’s physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing.

Categories

• Workforce