Senior Practitioner

Senior Practitioner – Hospital Discharge Team
Fixed term post until 30th September 2027.

Are you an experienced Social Worker ready to take the next step into a leadership role? Do you have a passion for supporting people to return home safely and maintaining independence following a hospital stay? If so, we would love to hear from you.

Our hospital social work team is currently undergoing an exciting period of transformation, with a strong focus on delivering a Home First approach and ensuring people are supported to return to their own homes wherever possible. As part of this development, we are recruiting a Senior Practitioner to support the delivery and ongoing development of our team. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of shaping how our service operates, supporting both staff and partners to deliver high-quality, person-centred outcomes.

We are seeking a confident and experienced Social Worker who:

• Has significant experience in hospital social work or short-term assessment teams.
• Has experience supporting or supervising staff and providing professional guidance
• Is enthusiastic, motivated, and committed to improving outcomes for individuals and families
• Is adaptable and resilient, with the ability to support a fast-paced hospital environment
• Is confident working collaboratively with health colleagues and multidisciplinary teams
• Has strong knowledge of safeguarding and adult social care practice
• Is passionate about promoting independence, strengths-based practice, and Home First principles

As a Senior Practitioner, you will play a key role in supporting the effective delivery of the hospital discharge service. Your responsibilities will include:

• Supporting the day-to-day running of the service and ensuring effective operational delivery alongside the team manager and senior practitioner.
• Managing and supporting staff, providing guidance, oversight, and professional support
• Attending and contributing to multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings with health colleagues
• Providing oversight of safeguarding concerns and ensuring appropriate actions are taken.
• Supporting Social Workers with complex cases, decision making, and best practice
• Contributing to the development and continuous improvement of the service.

Why Join Our Team?
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a team at a pivotal time of development. You will be part of a team that is:

• Forward-thinking and innovative
• Supportive and collaborative
• Committed to delivering high-quality outcomes for individuals and families
• Focused on embedding a strong Home First approach

Your leadership, experience, and professional insight will play an important role in shaping how our service continues to grow.

Joss Harbron, our Assistant Director for Adult Social Care says “Darlington has an established and successful track record in adult social care, where high challenge comes with high support. There is strong engagement with citizens and strong partnerships and collaboration across the directorates. I believe we deliver strong visible leadership, with clear governance, accountability and in a culture which welcomes active contributions from the teams whilst delivering high performing services. “

In May 2025 Adult Social Care in Darlington was CQC rated Good achieving an overall score of 73%

This is what CQC said about us –

“There are open and transparent relationships with senior leaders and staff felt they had the ability to challenge and influence policies and practice. Leaders had an impact on staff retention, and we heard reports of a positive workplace culture. 

There were good preventative measures in place with a Responsive Integrated Assessment Care team (RIACT), which provided a thorough assessment with very positive results. There were no delays to hospital discharge and the data around reablement and outcomes following discharge were better than the national average.

We found staff were creative and supported people to remain independent in a person-centred and strength-based way.
There was a clear focus in the local authority on providing short-term support to prevent longer-term care. Leaders and partners agreed there was a strong relationship around hospital discharge and the local authority’s work in reablement and short-term interventions was well regarded and effective. They had a consistently low number of discharge delays with high performance in reablement delivery and outcomes. There was a clear process map for reablement for staff handling referrals.

Staff said the local authority was a good place to work, highlighting positive relationships and career progression, including apprenticeships and the step-up to social work program. Staff who had worked elsewhere said they appreciated the good workplace support and feeling looked after, heard, and listened to. Supervision was always available, and there was a focus on wellbeing”.

If you are an enthusiastic and dynamic professional, who brings passion and commitment to achieving the best for the most vulnerable people and have experience in working within health and social care we would like to hear from you.

We have a strong commitment to professional development throughout all our Adult Service areas, with a training programme that is workforce-led and has strong links to supervision, appraisal and audit.

The rewards for working at Darlington Borough Council go beyond the salary you will receive; we have numerous additional benefits such as:

• 32 days Annual Leave, plus Bank Holidays, with option to purchase additional Annual Leave (pro-rata for part time working)
• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme with option to make Additional Voluntary Contributions
• Flexi-time scheme
• Flexible working
• Generous Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave schemes
• Staff equality forums
• Green Car Leasing Scheme
• Access to a wide range of training, learning and development
• Physiotherapy service
• Confidential counselling service
• Great wellbeing offer
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Dolphin Centre Fit for Life Discounts
• Local and National retailer discounts
• Vivup employee benefit app and Lifestyle Savings
• Arriva Employee Travel Club

For the full range of benefits we offer, please see our Why work for us internet page, which also includes our Total Reward Booklet and Employee Benefit Video.

Find out further information about us and what it’s like to work for our great team by visiting the Jobs and Careers home page.

For detailed information on this role, please refer to the Role Profile and Person Specification.

Provisional Interview dates for this post will be 10th June 2026

General Information for Applicants:

For a further informal discussion, please contact Sarah Appleby, Team Manager for RIACT, via email at View email address on northeastjobs.org.uk or by phone at View phone number on northeastjobs.org.uk. Alternatively, you can contact  Stef Simpson on View phone number on northeastjobs.org.uk or email View email address on northeastjobs.org.uk

If you have any further questions regarding applying for this role or the questions and required fields within the application form, please contact the HR Support team on View phone number on northeastjobs.org.uk or View email address on northeastjobs.org.uk . 

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We are an equal opportunities' employer. We welcome applicants from all sections of the community. We aim to interview any applicant who declares a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job.