Welcome to FCMS!
Post: Homeless Hospital Discharge Link Worker
Pay: £13.82 per hour
Hours: 15 hours over 2 days a week (likely Tuesday and Thursday)
08.00 16.00 with a 30-minute unpaid lunch break
Accountable to: Head of Inclusion Health
Base: Blackpool Victoria Hospital main base
There will be some co-location work to support this role linking with housing teams across Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre
Closing Date: 14th June 2026
Overview of Role:
This role will enhance and support the hospital discharge process for people who are homeless and are admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital. The successful post holder will also support patients who attend the Emergency Department and the co-located Urgent Treatment Centre. This is an integrated care role, working across local health and housing teams and the wider multiple disadvantage partnership.
This provision is delivered collaboratively with the Hospital Discharge Team/nominated Discharge Facilitator, Housing Teams (Blackpool, Fylde, Wyre) and wider partners who provide care via the community system delivery model for complex and multiple disadvantaged patients.
Main duties of the job
The purpose of the role is to provide timely and expert advice, assessment and support to patients on all pathways and to ensure that housing needs are identified, and appropriate support and referrals actioned, especially when there are health concerns or when the person is at risk of rough sleeping and / or known to be vulnerable.
The Integrated Discharge Service is a multi-agency single point of access that supports the Acute Trust in transitioning patients from hospital to their next care setting, whether that be home or to another facility.
About us
The ethos of FCMS as a social enterprise, health and wellbeing services provider is to be passionate in its drive to ensure that patients and callers remain the central focus of all that it does. Coupled with excellent and well-established clinical governance systems and extremely effective operational expertise, it has meant that the company has the ability to strategically visualise, develop, and implement award winning services.
Over many years we have invested in our staff so that we have a core team of highly trained individuals who can manage the needs of our patients and callers. Our staff are able to significantly improve the service delivery and user experience due to their considerable experience and commitment to what they do.
Come and be a part of our amazing team!
We offer NHS Pension
Cycle to Work Scheme
Career Development Opportunities
Attendance Bonus
Staff Benefit Scheme
Free Tea & Coffee
Eye Care Contributions
Job description
Job responsibilities
Day to Day Duties to include, but not exhausted:
Identification of inpatients who are homeless. This will include people with no fixed abode, people who are at risk of homelessness, and/or people who cannot safely return to their home.
Supporting people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, to have a safe, planned discharge from hospital following an inpatient admission.
Liaison between Fylde Coast Housing Teams and the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Bed Flow Team and Emergency Department.
Reducing inappropriate and preventable A&E attendances at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and supporting the patient to access the services they need.
Taking referrals from Northwest Ambulance Service, NWAS, for people and who are identified with housing as a contributory factor to their health and social care needs.
Ensuring the delivery and raising the awareness of the discharge pathway for people who are homeless and ensuring the hospital Duty to Refer team, refer people who are homeless/threatened with homelessness into a Local Authority - completing these referrals when needed.
Supporting onward referrals and follow-up care including Transfer of Care and raising any safeguarding concerns
Working across the Blackpool Multiple Disadvantage partnership to enable people to achieve a safe discharge from hospital and to access support from the right person to meet the patients needs.
Attending the weekly Multiple Disadvantage Partnership meeting and contributing to this from a homeless link worker position.
Working closely with the Care Navigators based in the homeless nursing team.
Ensure compliance to internal, local and national safeguarding procedures and advocate for patients who meet the criteria for assessment under the Care Act 2014.
Patient Identification
Use hospital systems and liaise with ward staff, discharge teams, and FCMS manager and frontline staff to identify homeless patients.
Attend wards and multidisciplinary team meetings to identify patients.
Work with Trust colleagues to support frequent A&E attenders and address underlying needs.
Help prevent unsafe or early discharges by coordinating with the hospital and community teams.
Discharge Planning & Housing Support
Complete initial needs assessments and share with local housing teams.
Notify housing teams and out-of-hours services of potential discharges.
Ensure compliance with housing legislation (Housing Act 2004, Homeless Reduction Act 2019, etc.).
Maintain discharge protocols and follow up post-discharge to confirm support is in place.
Provide patients with alternative healthcare options and refer frequent callers to appropriate services.
Maintain a Housing Options resource pack for staff and deliver training as needed.
Provide patients with details of support services available prior to discharge and undertake any relevant referrals e.g. to substance use providers.
Collaboration & Communication
Work closely with BTHFT Safeguarding adults team for all service users of the Trust.
Build strong links with inpatients, ward staff, housing teams, GP practices, Primary Care Networks and partners supporting people experiencing multiple disadvantage.
Refer patients to housing providers for accommodation and make social care referrals when needed.
Work with homeless health team and substance misuse providers to support patients at risk of self-discharge when it is believed unsafe to leave the hospital.
Attend Risk Management and Multi-Agency Oversight Group meetings.
Ensure whenever possible that no patient is discharged to the street.
Service Development
Contribute to service improvement and protocol development.
Work within organisational policies and your own competence, seeking advice when needed.
Undertake training and awareness sessions to support role delivery.
Activity Monitoring and Reporting
Complete patient contact notes in the relevant hospital system and the Homeless Health Community Instance of EMIS to provide transparency and to aid in collating reporting data.
Complete the KPI data for to include:
o Patient demographic data
o Patient locality
o No of people who are homeless or at risk of homeless and have received supported with a safe discharge.
o Accommodation status
o How patients are identified
o Frequent attenders
o Number of onward referrals and who the patient has been referred to.
o No Duty to Reside data.
o Discharge outcomes including patient destination.
o Quarterly Case Study
Accurately record advice and outcomes of assessment, care planning and interventions having due regard to legal aspects, confidentiality, and managerial information requirements
Provide an update report highlighting successes and challenges, for discussion at the Joint Governance meeting between FCMS (NW) Ltd and Blackpool Victoria Hospital and housing providers.
Contribute to / completea Homeless Checklist including Duty to Refer as per the Emergency Department pathway, checklist and toolkit PowerPoint Presentation (england.nhs.uk)
Working Relationships
The main people that the postholder will be expected to communicate with will be:
Patients, their carers and relatives
BTHFT Safeguarding Adults team (including ISVA & IDVA practitioners)
Hospital bed flow and discharge team
Local authority housing teams in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Councils
Ward-based teams
Hospital emergency department
Disabled Facilities Services
Health and Social Care services.
Wider multiple disadvantage support services
Our key expectations are:
Self-awareness Living authentically.
Adaptability- Being ready to adjust depending on the situation.
Openness What you see is what you get.
Positivity with a real sense of being able to strive for the impossible
Generosity of spirit- Everyday should be an opportunity to act with kindness.
Ability to have fun Taking the role seriously, whilst being yourself
Our Why: To nurture an environment of inspiration, innovation and disruption so this people in our world receive exceptional healthcare for this generation, and the next.
Values:Our organisational culture is very important to us, so it is vital that the successful candidate lives and breathes complimentary values and behaviours. Our behaviours should be in line with our values which form part of our Company DNA:
Fun: People rarely succeed unless they are having fun. Happiness is healthy!
Awesome: We arent here to be average, were here to be awesome!
Humble: Were here to make a difference to the lives of others, NOT to see how important we can become
Brave: We challenge the norm. We have the courage to get the difficult jobs done
Oompf: We have natural oompf! Its infectious!
Go-getting: We are intuitive to changing needs and respond quickly which we do with energy, ideas, and positivity
Disability Confident Employer
As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.
DBS - This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exemption Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions. This will require three forms of valid ID to be produced and verified. The onboarding process is also subject to an Occupational Health check, suitable professional references and eligibility to work in the UK (with the requirement to provide relevant documentation as evidence). For Driver positions you will also be required to undertake a Driver check.
The organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. You will be expected to fulfil your mandatory safeguarding training at the level applicable to this role.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Proven experience working with vulnerable groups, including homeless individuals.
- Firsthand experience delivering frontline services.
- Excellent communication and partnership-building skills.
- Ability to manage complex cases and coordinate across multiple agencies.
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- Proficient in IT systems and comfortable using multiple platforms.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively within multi-agency teams.
- Skilled in engaging with a diverse range of clients.
- Experience working in a multi-disciplinary environment.
- Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
- Effective caseload management and prioritization skills.
- Competence in conducting assessment interviews.
- Identifying safeguarding concerns and reporting these appropriately.
Desirable
- Good understanding of housing legislation and hospital discharge planning.
- Previous experience in health or social care environments.
- Knowledge of substance misuse and mental health issues.
- Familiarity with hospital systems and discharge protocols.
- Direct experience supporting individuals with alcohol, drug, or mental health challenges.
- Lived Experience relevant to the community we serve.
Qualifications
Essential
Desirable
- A good standard of education
- GCSE English / Maths or equivalent
- Motivational Interviewing
- Up to date mandatory training e.g. Safeguarding.
- Health & Social Care NVQ 3 or equivalent
- CIH Level 3 Certificate in Providing Homeless Services or equivalent.
- IT Qualification EDCL
- DANOS
- Trauma Informed knowledge and training
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Technical and Organisational Skills
- High level of IT ability (IT is integral to the role and will form part of the interview process).
- Excellent record-keeping and attention to detail.
- Strong organisational and time management skills, with the ability to prioritise workloads and meet deadlines.
- Ability to implement processes effectively to deliver all aspects of the role.
- Communication and Interpersonal Skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including active listening and adaptability to meet patient needs in stressful or complex situations.
- Effective negotiation and problem-solving skills, including the ability to present issues persuasively and resolve challenging situations.
- Ability to build and maintain positive relationships with colleagues and partner agencies, even where agendas differ.
- Personal Attributes and Professional Approach
- Non-judgemental attitude and ability to remain calm under pressure.
- Capacity to work independently and collaboratively within a multi-agency team, managing a personal caseload and exercising sound judgment to achieve the best possible outcomes, even when complete information is not available.
- Creative and lateral thinking to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Reliable, conscientious, and committed to maintaining confidentiality.
- Ability to navigate complex social issues, including working with people experiencing homelessness who face stigma, discrimination, and systemic exclusion.
- Frequent concentration is required during patient assessment, care provision, and meetings.
Desirable
- Knowledge of Core20PLUS5, an improvement approach designed to reduce health inequalities at both national and system levels.
- Understanding of local homeless services.
- Working knowledge of relevant legislation.
- Working knowledge of the benefit system and how it relates to the client group.
- Understanding of local and national homeless strategies.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
