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Vision Rehabilitation Specialist

We’re looking for a qualified Vision Rehabilitation Specialist (ROVI) to work for an important charity offering a wide variety of services to vision-impaired people across Cheshire, Halton, and North Wales.

Position: Vision Rehabilitation Specialist (ROVI)

Location: Home based with regular travel across Wrexham, with the requirement to work from the Council Offices and company offices on occasion

Hours: Full-time (37 hours per week)

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £33,977.84 - £35,246.40 per annum

Closing date: 19th September 2024

Benefits of working for the organisation: Full 2 week induction where you will meet the teams and experience each service, access to a training suite and regular reviews of any required training, annual team building days and regular staff socials, 26 days’ holiday increasing to 32 days after 5 years’ services (plus bank holidays) and access to an employee assistance programme which includes free 24/7 counselling, legal and information line.

About the role:

As Vision Rehabilitation Specialist, you will identify, deliver and evaluate professional rehabilitation interventions to vision impaired people to enhance their skills and confidence to maximise their independence.

You will provide a person-centred outcome-focussed approach to rehabilitation; supporting people to identify measurable outcomes, carry out assessments and develop a plan that will support each person to achieve their outcomes and meet their needs, reducing risks and lessening the impact of their VI.

The Vision Rehabilitation Specialist will work collaboratively with other services within the organisation to ensure individuals are receiving support whilst waiting for assessment and rehabilitation.

Key areas of responsibility include:

Triage – To carry out an initial conversation, in line with the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act, to identify further actions, and risk factors, refer and signpost to the organisation’s wider services and other organisations to meet the individuals’ desired outcomes.
Assessment - To undertake specialist VI assessments with the person to identify their needs and aspirations to promote independent living.
Plan – To agree a plan with the person about how their needs can be met, through other services, equipment and rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation and service provision – To implement, evaluate and review rehabilitative services to the vision-impaired person aimed at maximising and maintaining independence, safety, dignity, and choice. Rehabilitation may include, but not be restricted to:
- Daily Living Skills – to include the teaching of new skills or adapted practice for all aspects of daily living, home management, employment and leisure.

Communication Skills – to include all forms of access to communication including but not limited to print, Braille, Moon, audio description, ICT, telephones, Deafblind manual and block alphabet.

Mobility training – To develop planned programmes of training to develop independence in indoor and outdoor mobility environments, including training in guiding skills, pre-cane, long cane, orientation (including specialist equipment) and route planning techniques.

Low vision - To provide training/therapy in coordination with local NHS low vision services that help individuals make the best use of functional vision.

Risk –To identify, assess and mitigate risk throughout the rehabilitation provision.

To work with vision-impaired people who have additional complex needs.
To assess and recommend minor works of adaptation and liaise with all relevant parties in line with appropriate budgets and policies.
To provide statistical information to feed into quarterly contract monitoring reports.
To enable the Local Authority to maintain their Partially Sighted/Sight Impaired and Blind/Severely Sight Impaired Registers.

Key skills required for this role:

Foundation Degree in Rehabilitation Studies (Visual Impairment) or equivalent.
Ability to develop clear plans and communicate these to service users and other staff.
Recognised rehabilitation work qualification (or currently working towards it)
Proven experience in performing rehabilitation assessments with visually impaired people and providing mobility, communication and daily living skills training.
Working knowledge of good practice relating to safeguarding.
Ability to deliver training/advice sessions to individuals or groups of service users, carers and other organisations.
Knowledge of Health and Safety legislation, including lone worker policies.
Ability to travel and work in all areas of Flintshire and Wrexham.
Strong personal organisation/time management.
Proven track record of maintaining and updating personal records for clients.
Ability to record service management statistics.
Be calm and deal sensitively with people and be open-minded to all cultures and ways of life.
Work on own initiative, whilst exercising discretion and confidentiality.
Be a team player.
Be willing to work flexibly (outlook, work hours, work location).
Able to implement programmes in partnership with other agencies.

About the organisation:

The employer is a well-established organisation with a strong history of promoting independence and support to people with vision impairments (VI). Offering a wide variety of services for vision-impaired people across Cheshire, Halton and North Wales, including counselling, digital skills, financial wellbeing and benefits advice, home visiting, community outreach, and peer support. These services complement rehabilitation to create a wraparound service for our clients.

The organisation delivers the vision rehabilitation contracts to four local authorities across Northeast Wales. The team are managed and led by qualified and experienced Vision Rehabilitation Specialists (VRS), ensuring the best support from people who understand the role. You would be a part of a wider team of VRSs, meeting regularly to share learning and to give and receive support.

The employer understands the importance for all their staff to receive additional training as needed and support from the wider sector, so RWPN registration and membership fees are covered for the VRS team by the organisation. The organisation is also represented in the Wales Rehabilitation Officers Forum (WROF) and the Wales Vision Forum, to ensure that we are up to date with any changes affecting VRS working in Wales. VRS are also able to meet with other VRS more widely than Wales through the organisation’s membership of Visionary.

PLEASE NOTE: This role is being advertised by NFP People on behalf of the organisation.