Social Work Team Lead

• Role Title: Social Work Team Lead - Acute Medical Surgical
• Role Type: Permanent, Full-time
• Role Grade: Social Work Level 4
• Department and Location: Social Work, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst
• Salary: $121,658- $124,607 p.a + Super + Salary packaging

Better and fairer care. Always.

We are St Vincent's Health Australia, Australia's largest not-for-profit provider of health and aged care services.

Founded by The Sisters of Charity in 1857, our +30,000 healthcare superheroes operate public and private hospitals, residential aged care, community and virtual care, and outreach programs.

About the Role:

• Permanent Full-time role leading a social work team across the Medical and Surgical streams-including gastroenterology, orthopaedics, plastics, neurosciences, and vascular medicine.
• Provide advanced social work interventions while fostering a collaborative, high-performing multidisciplinary team environment.
• Guide and support the team in conducting comprehensive psychosocial and risk assessments to inform person-centred care, recovery-oriented practice, and clinical decision-making across acute inpatient medical-surgical settings.
• Lead and coordinate complex care planning and discharge processes by collaborating closely with hospital teams, community services, and external agencies to facilitate safe and smooth patient transitions, including accommodation and ongoing support arrangements.
• Provide expert supervision, mentoring, and professional development to social work staff and students, fostering clinical excellence in therapeutic counselling, advocacy, and managing complex applications to government and non-government bodies.
• Drive continuous quality improvement initiatives, contribute to research, and promote best practice aligned with St Vincent's Hospital's mission, policies, and strategic goals.
• Participate on the 24-hour on-call social work crisis service, ensuring timely and effective support and interventions are delivered outside standard hours by the team.

About You:

• Qualified Social Worker with a degree in Social Work, eligible for membership with the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), bringing advanced clinical expertise in acute illness, trauma, domestic violence, guardianship and NDIS all delivered within a person-centred and strengths-based framework.
• Demonstrated advanced clinical skills in psychosocial assessment, counselling, therapeutic interventions, case management, advocacy, and complex discharge planning specific to acute medical and surgical settings.
• Recognised clinical leader providing expert social work advice within multidisciplinary teams, experienced in managing high-demand critical care environments, promoting patient and family participation in decision-making, and leading service improvements to enhance patient care and outcomes.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, negotiation, and organisational skills, committed to fostering collaborative team practice, ongoing professional development, and mentoring junior staff and students through clinical supervision and education.
• Proven ability to contribute effectively to the 24-hour on-call social work crisis service (5pm-8am shifts), ensuring a comprehensive and responsive social work service that supports patients and clinical teams during critical times.

Why Work at St Vincent's?

• Join us on our mission to provide care to all, including the most at-risk people in our community
• Discounted access to many gyms for you and your family with Fitness Passport
• Access to discounted private health insurance with Medibank
• Access to a government salary sacrifice program to make a proportion of your salary tax-free
• Financial support for educational development, scholarship programs, paid study leave

About the Hospital:

In this role, you will be based at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst.

• A busy inner-city hospital in a beautiful location
• Surrounded by great cafes, galleries, and theatres, parks, nightlife, and nearby glorious beaches
• A place of expert clinical care for at-risk people
• Closely partnered with universities & affiliated research institutes, many of which are located on-campus
• Centres of excellence include heart & lung transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, cardiology, cancer care, AIDS/HIV, respiratory medicine, mental health, homeless health, drug & alcohol services, and correctional health

Pre-employment Checks:

Your employment is conditional upon the completion of all role-required pre-employment checks, including relevant immunisations.

Equal Opportunity:

We celebrate diversity & inclusion and are committed to equal employment opportunity for everyone.

As part of our commitment to reconciliation we encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply and join us in delivering care that heals body, mind, spirit and community.

How to Apply:

The closing date for applications is 17 October 2025

Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter highlighting how your interest, skills, and experience align with the role and address each of the criteria.

Further information please contact

APPLY HERE