Our teams - Adults

The Adult and Autism team (AAT) covers the whole of Cambridgeshire supporting individuals from the ages of 18 years up to 75 years as well as their linked informal carers. We support those with Autism without a related learning disability, and others with eligible needs under the Care Act 2014 who do not sit with another statutory social care service. We also work with young people entering adult services to consider their support once they reach 18.

The team is based in St Ives, Cambridgeshire.

A message from the Team: “‘No two days are ever the same in AAT, working with a wide range of individuals and situations. The work can be challenging and demanding but is ultimately rewarding, working to support individuals to develop their life chances. The team is supportive and knowledgeable, with people working together in a flexible way for the best outcomes for those we work with.’

Cambridgeshire County Council have an Adult Service and work with people who are in need of care, support and safeguarding from age 18 upwards.

There is a Prevention and early Intervention Service as well as four locality teams within Cambridgeshire based in Cambridge, East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon and Fenland. Each team aspires to enable people to make choices and take control to ultimately live healthy, fulfilled, socially engaged and independent lives. They do this through a dynamic and innovative approach, utilising the strengths within communities and families to enable people to live within their communities for as long as possible.

Cambridgeshire values and supports aspiring social workers, providing a carefully managed caseload, high quality regular supervision and continuous development opportunities and a new and inclusive Appraisal system that rewards good practice and supports progression and succession planning within social work teams.

The Care Home Support Team are a team of social worker practitioners offering a new service and fresh approach to supporting residential and nursing care homes as well as learning disability supported living providers across Cambridgeshire. The team collaborate with the Council's Contracts Team, Operations Teams and the Integrated care Board and use the intelligence to prioritise practice support for those homes that need it.

The team take a lead in working alongside care home managers in a supportive partnership that aids in developing good practice within settings. The team use their core social work values, skills and knowledge to support the home manager to implement change. The team utilise models and theories of social work practice and role model what good practice looks like. The support is flexible, intensive and preventative with the ultimate outcome of ensuring good quality care for the adults living there.

The team is dedicated to ongoing development of its service based on reflection and evaluation of their outcomes and feedback from providers. The team additionally utilise their reflective practice skills to facilitate practice sessions for providers to attend. The team also create a monthly practice newsletter for providers to aid in wider sharing of knowledge and information, as well as a way of sharing the strengths and good practice they have observed.

The team have a hybrid approach to working and spend time in care settings, working from home and working at New Shire Hall.

A message from the team: “The Care Home Support Team is a great team to be part of. As an evolving team we have a unique opportunity to be creative in our practice and shape the way in which we provide support to our residential, nursing and learning disability providers. The team has a strong emphasis on Social Work values and best practice. Within the team there is also dedicated time and space for reflection and learning”

The Council's Continuing Healthcare Team supports the Local Health and Social Care system to ensure that individuals are accessing appropriate funding streams. We support teams across adult social care in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to understand NHS Continuing Healthcare and work in partnership with our colleagues in NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to improve outcomes for the citizens of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

A message from the team: "Working in the Continuing Healthcare Team has highlighted the need to get things right for the people we work for, a person who meets the threshold for full continuing healthcare does not pay a contribution towards their care - this can make a considerable difference to a person’s quality of life’ when they need it most.

It is an exciting fast paced team with excellent opportunities for learning and development, around NHS Continuing Healthcare and the low".

The DoLS team has an important role in upholding the Article 8 Human Rights of residents, who are 18 years +, in care homes and hospitals across Cambridgeshire.

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) is a procedure prescribed by law, aimed at protecting individuals who lack mental capacity to consent to their care arrangements, to make sure that care is being provided in their best interests.

The DoLS team is made up on Best Interest Assessors/ Senior Practitioners, DoLS coordinators and the DoLS Team manager but the work involves joint working with individuals, families and other professionals such as consultant psychiatrists, advocates and care providers.

The work of the DoLS team is centred around excellent application of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and up to date knowledge and application of case law. Work in the DoLS team provides a unique opportunity to truly work with people in a way which promotes their rights and focuses on their views and wishes.

Cambridgeshire County Council's In House Services support adults with learning disabilities and older people. We have a range of service offers from day opportunities and employment support to 24/7 support services. We are passionate about providing quality, personalised support and focus our strengths and skills on promoting independence and opportunities for the adults we support.

Each service has a highly skilled and experienced staff team, with supportive and motivated managers who understand what it takes to be an excellent front line worker. Our staff teams are offered excellent training opportunities and we use the apprenticeship levy to ensure staff can develop and grow within their careers.

Our services make a difference to every individual we support and we are always keen to recruit new, motivated and passionate individuals to join our team.

The Learning Disability Partnership (LDP) is a model which is nationally recognised by NHSE as a fully integrated health and social care service that delivers seamless and innovative community support to adults across Cambridgeshire.

The teams are located across Cambridgeshire including Cambridge, Ely, Papworth, Fenland and Huntingdon.

A message from the team: “If you are an energetic and motivated social worker with a commitment to excellence in practice and successful outcomes for people with a learning disability, then this role will appeal to you. You will work alongside a team of dedicated, dynamic and highly skilled professionals managing complex cases within community”.

Launched in April 2022, this service has been embedded in the health and social care system during 2022-2023. It’s focus, is on quality of life and improved outcomes and its remit is to support and review all adult social care funded individuals living permanently in a Residential or Nursing Care within or external to Cambridgeshire.

Additionally, the team supports self-funders, they lead safeguarding enquiries and attend Decision Support Tool meetings (DST) for consideration of health funding for individuals with a primary heath need.

Having a tailor-made focus enables experience and skill to be enhanced for practitioners within the service and the team have built stronger, consistent relationships with providers by having dedicated staff for specific homes, which has enhanced closer relationships with GP’s, District Nurses, and infection control nurses, etc. All of this has improved our system intelligence around service quality and safety.

Peterborough City Council (PCC) and Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) have delegated responsibility for the delivery of adult social work services, for people aged 18 years and over with needs associated with their mental health, to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT). The primary intention of this arrangement is to enable the effective delivery of a well-coordinated health and social care mental health service that appears seamless to the people who use the service and their carers. As such the Social Work Teams work alongside their mental health multi-disciplinary colleagues across Cambridgeshire to positively promote peoples’ rights and bring the legal frameworks of the Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Mental Health Act 1983, Human Rights Act 1998, and Equality Act 2010 to life and support the achievement of person-centred goals and outcomes. This supportive and proactive interface role also enables the “Making Safeguarding Personal” Principles, enshrined within the Care Act, to be a thread that runs throughout.

The role of the social worker, based within CPFT, focuses on enabling, supporting, and empowering adults, using nationally recognised practice tools such as strengths and asset-based approaches. This arrangement provides excellent opportunities for social workers who are passionate about mental health and experienced within adult social care, to bring their professional perspective to promote wellbeing and self-determination in real partnership with the people they support.

CPFT and Cambridgeshire County Council work in close collaboration to enable and support continued professional development and link effectively with local Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) including Anglia Ruskin University to promote access to Social Work learning opportunities; this particularly, but not exclusively, includes Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) and Practice Educator training. A regular Social Work Forum also supports professional development opportunities, and is attended by the Social Work England Regional Engagement Lead.

The teams have base locations in Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Fenland, and opportunities for flexible working are supported.

A message from the team: “Mental health is a really good opportunity for someone – experience in these teams is invaluable. Anyone wanting to develop their career, you couldn’t do better than mental health work”.

The Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is a collaborative arrangement between the Police, Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC), the Fire Service, and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) that supports joint working around child protection and safeguarding adults.

The Adult MASH team’s main responsibilities are:

• Triage and risk assessing adult safeguarding referrals.
• Identifying inappropriate referrals and sign posting to the most appropriate partner agencies.
• Ensuring appropriate immediate action is taken.
• Either carry out a section 42 (s42) enquiry or identify the key team or organisation that will carry out the enquiry.
• Collate and share any relevant information with the key team or organisation undertaking the s42 enquiry.
• Provide guidance and support to care teams on safeguarding issues.
• Oversee the collection of safeguarding management information.

The Adult MASH is based at Police Headquarters, The Hex in Huntingdon. Co-location facilitates closer working and appropriate information sharing and the provision of advice and support.

The Adult Social Care MASH works closely with our MASH Partners to ensure Right Person Right Care and supports a positive customer journey.

The Practice Standards and Quality Team has responsibility for the quality assurance and continuous improvement of adult’s social care practice, policy, service quality and improvement. The team works closely with the Principal Social Worker for Adults and across Adult Social Care Operational teams to promote understanding and commitment to practice quality assurance, to achieve the delivery of effective, person-centred, and legally compliant services. The team is responsible for ensuring that Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) can provide strong evidence of Adult Social Care practice and outcomes to meet the requirements of the Enhanced Assurance Framework.

The team is a small group of senior social workers and auditors. Some of our key activity includes completing case file audits, sharing, and celebrating examples of good practice, facilitation of practice development sessions, writing of practice guidance and the development of practice processes.

Prevention and Early Intervention Services provide advice and support to anyone over the age of 18 who is seeking support or social care, supporting them at the earliest points to remain independent in their communities.

The teams are made up of social workers, occupational therapists, adult support co-ordinators and welfare benefit advisors from a variety of backgrounds. They offer support to individuals and also to families and carers.

The teams cover across Cambridgeshire.

The Reablement team provide short term support to people in their own homes. Individually tailored care plans enable people to maximise their independence in daily living. The team is made up of social workers, occupational therapists, care coordinators, support workers and adult support co-ordinators. People are at the centre of everything we do.

A message from the team: We love working in the Reablement Team because we love helping people and are caring and compassionate.

The Transfer of Care Team (ToCT) is a fast paced and exciting service, who provide support to adults being discharged after an acute stay in hospital. We organise support for people to enable safe discharges. The team also refer people in need to a range of other care services. The (TOCT) have a home first approach, however other pathways are considered depending on the person’s individual needs:

Pathway 0 – Home - Patient can be discharged to the same setting as pre-admission.

Pathway 1 – Home Based Care – Patient may need support via a package of care, an increase in care, reablement support or Intermediate care if they have therapy goals.

Pathway 2 – Short term beds – Patient is fit for discharge; however, a rehab bed may be required until a return home if safe and goals have been achieved.

Pathway 3 – Long Term beds – Home is not an option, therefore 24x7 care is required in either a nursing or residential setting.

Transfer of care offers a unique opportunity to work with individuals who may have a physical disability, mental health or learning disabilities; alongside supporting individuals who may have a cognitive impairment, an acquired brain injury, traumatic brain injury or alcohol and substance misuse challenges. We also manage safeguarding concerns and work with the hospital’s safeguarding leads where adults are at risk of harm or abuse.

Transfer of care works with multidisciplinary teams and the person receiving care to develop and agree a discharge plan. TOC work hard to promote diversity and work with people to ensure their voices, views and wishes are at the heart of what we do. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion run through the veins of our work and a fundamental aspect of the assessment process with patients and their families as well as our Teams.

The teams ensure the discharge plan takes account of the person's social and emotional wellbeing, as well as the practicalities of daily living. Vital to the process of discharge planning is the support, engagement, and collaboration of multi-disciplinary working with system partners, community teams and voluntary organisations. We engage with multi-disciplinary teams within the hospital to identify whether any specialist equipment or adaptations are needed to promote a safe discharge.

In addition to this, families and informal carers play a significant role within the discharge planning process; the team offers a holistic and systematic assessment of individual lives and the systems that support, ensuring outcomes are achieved for all individuals.

We value feedback and use this to improve services and patient journeys. Equally, reflective practice, peer group supervisions and being open to challenge is a key feature of being in Transfers of Care.

The teams are based in three locations: Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge; Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon; and Peterborough City Hospital. We also cover Queen Elizabeth Hospital and West Suffolk Hospital for Cambridgeshire people needing care and support upon discharge.

The Young Adults Team sits within the Disability Social Care 0-25 Service, and is based at Scott House in Huntingdon (although flexible working arrangements are in place for staff.)

The Young Adult’s Team work with young people aged 16-25 years, across the whole county of Cambridgeshire, who have a diagnosed learning disability and require ongoing care and support in adulthood. Following the recent expansion of this team’s staffing structure, we have developed an exciting new way of working which sees all staff working in a highly supportive environment, being led by a high number of senior social workers, alongside the team manager. There are plenty of opportunities for ongoing professional development due to the varied nature of the role. Carefully managed caseloads reflect worker’s experience and skill set, along with a raft of opportunities for joint working with a range of departments and provider services, making this a really interesting and rewarding place to work.

We are looking for motivated, committed and passionate individuals to join this fun and supportive team, who are dedicated to improving the lives of young people, encouraging independence, and increasing choice and opportunities in adulthood. Knowledge and experience of working with people with a learning disability is desirable but not essential, and we would ideally like candidates with previous experience in Care Act, Mental Capacity and adult safeguarding work.