Job overview

The post holder will uphold the values of the organisation and lead by example supporting a working culture across the Lancashire & South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (LSC ICB):

• To lead on Court of Protection (COP) cases to ensure ICB compliance with The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and Court of Protection (CoP) for a specified cohort of service users. 
• To support and advise colleagues in matters relating to the MCA and DOLS, to ensure current case law and legislation is being embedded into clinical practice to promote best practice and compliance with the law.
• This role sits in the ICB Lancashire & South Cumbria alongside the Safeguarding  Team where health funding is in place, supporting patients in receipt of NHS funding including Continuing Healthcare (CHC), joint funding and complex care funding. 
• The post holder will be responsible for developing and setting best practice standards relating to the MCA, safeguarding and associated legislation. 

This is an exciting and challenging opportunity for a highly motivated and enthusiastic Nurse/Social Worker or health professional with significant experience and genuine commitment to Court of Protection activity. It is also an opportunity for further development.  

Appointments to Patient Contact Posts are subject to an Enhanced Disclosure with the Vetting and Barring Service (Criminal Records Bureau).

Please be aware that the organisation is undergoing a period of reform and organisational change.

Main duties of the job

Professional 
- To be responsible for initiating and completing CoP applications and advising and supporting patients and their representatives throughout
 - Provide advice and support to commissioning colleagues in relation to the MCA, and CoP matters, this will include supporting in capacity assessments and best interest meetings. 
 - To provide support with the current tracking system of CoP applications required across the ICB, triaging referrals utilising a prioritisation model.
 - To provide highly skilled communication to individuals from all care groups and ages with varying levels of communication needs (this includes face-to-face, written and telephone contacts)
 - To be skilled in effectively communicating complex sensitive information
 - To have the ability to deal with frequent difficult situations arising from the complex nature of CoP applications and applying least restrictive principles as per MCA (2005). 
 - Providing some cover to the wider team in periods of unexpected colleague absence or service pressures
 - To maintain professional confidentiality in all matters relating to patient care seeking advice where required when sharing patient information.
 - Maintain contemporaneous clinical records in line with professional responsibilities and Standards for Record Keeping
 - To maintain up to date knowledge regarding developments in legislation specifically The Mental Health Act (MHA), Mental Capacity Act (MCA), safeguarding and associated case law

Working for our organisation

The Lancashire and South Integrated Care Board (ICB) was formally established as a new statutory body on 1 July 2022, replacing the eight clinical commissioning groups across Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Our role is to join up health and care services, improve people's health and wellbeing, and to make sure everyone has the same access to services and gets the same outcomes from treatment.  Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB is a highly complex organisation serving a population of over 1.8 million people.

We uphold the values of the organisation and lead by example supporting a working culture across the ICB from a commissioning and safeguarding perspective is founded on:

• Striving in everything we do to ensure high quality of care
• Effective clinical leadership and constructive clinical challenge

Please note that the main headquarters of Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB is County Hall, Preston.