Job overview
The purpose of this role is primarily to ensure that the East Lancashire NHS Trust meets the National Cancer Strategy recommendation to ensure that people living with and beyond cancer are fully supported and their needs are met.
A key element of the role is to provide practical support to Multi-Disciplinary clinical teams. In particular, you will work closely with the clinical nurse specialist team to support the delivery of the service they provide to their patients diagnosed with cancer. This will include the triage of incoming calls, from patients, relatives, carers, and other health and social care professionals. You must, therefore, communicate information with a high degree of empathy, understanding, diplomacy, honesty and integrity.
Main duties of the job
You will also support the team and provide administrative duties as required, for example, developing information packs for patients, inputting annotations onto Somerset Cancer Register, developing patient leaflets, etc.
In tumour sites where Patient Stratified Follow-up (PSFU) has been (or will be) implemented you will support the pathway implementation and become the key contact for patients on these pathways. The post-holder will use IT systems to aid the remote monitoring of these patients including the co-ordination and tracking of patients and the remote monitoring of surveillance tests. Inputting data, generating and presenting reports will form part of this role, along with co-ordinating and tracking patients and generating appropriate documentation e.g. patient letters. In addition, the post-holder will liaise with and support patients via telephone (or face to face), to support them and signpost to other sources of support, including providing advice on self-care management. This may also include co-ordinating future investigations and appointments for patients.
This role requires a good understanding of cancer patient pathways. The Cancer Support worker will also need the appropriate skills to recognise when patients require immediate or rapid referrals to appropriate members of the Multi-Disciplinary team, and feel confident to deal with challenging situations and hold difficult and sensitive conversations with patients and families.
Working for our organisation
When you walk through the door, one of the first things you’ll notice is that this Trust is full of talented people. Not just in the fields of medicine, nursing or diagnostics but in every part of the organisation. We are professional and passionate people who are all working together in an open and supportive culture.
We are committed to offering you a rewarding career and ensuring you feel a part of a flexible workforce that constantly seeks fresh ways of delivering the best care for our patients.
We don’t just look at you for who you are now; we look at you for who you could be in the future. We take training seriously, and encourage you to do the same. As a Trust we want to recruit, develop and retain skilled and motivated people to maintain a high performance culture.
Come and be a part of it!
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
· Triage incoming calls, from patients, relatives, carers, and other health and social care professionals.
· Provide basic telephone advice and refer on or sign-post to other sources of support and information as required.
· Coordinate the necessary assessments, appointments or investigations if required.
· Demonstrate the ability to recognise and respond appropriately when faced with a sudden deterioration or an emergency situation, alerting the clinical team or enabling rapid response as appropriate.
· Contribute to the holistic needs assessment and the development of a personalised care and support plan as appropriate reflecting experience and qualification.
· In tumour sites where it is appropriate, support implementation of Personalised Stratified Follow-up Pathways (PSFU), working closely with clinical colleagues and be a key member of the Project Team and Task and Finish Groups. This may involve agenda setting and minute taking.
· Act as key contact for patients on PSFU pathways.
· Be a key contributor in the virtual clinic (where appropriate), held alongside the clinical nurse specialist to evaluate the next steps for the patients on PSFU and provide appropriate support to patients following the clinic.
· Work alongside clinical teams to develop agreed patient-initiated pathways and supporting documentation.
· Co-ordinate and track patient pathways including the remote monitoring of surveillance tests using various IT systems.
· Develop patient information leaflets and workbooks to support PSFU
· Planning and organising of health and wellbeing events or similar supported self-management events
· Undertake an important role in the management and co-ordination of care, by supporting patients to navigate the Patient IT Portal (when available) and signposting to other sources of support
· Administrative duties as deemed appropriate by the clinical team e.g. inputting information to Somerset Cancer Register, developing patient information packs etc.
· Document and monitor all aspects of care coordination and service delivery, supporting data collection for audit.
· Organise and prioritise the designated workload.
· Evaluate outcomes of care delivery with the registered practitioner.
· Coordinate and organise appointments and assessments as required.
· Coordinate the handover with other teams to facilitate safe and effective transition of care between services in order to provide seamless support for people.
· Act as advocate and facilitator to resolve issues that may be perceived as barriers to care.
· Coach patients and carers on individual self-care management principles to include signs and symptoms and situations to be aware of and provide consistent planned aftercare to reinforce and further promote this information. In addition to coaching patients and carers on how to make contact when they feel that their condition or needs have changed, including what to do out of hours.
· Deliver patient-centred, self-management support and education as necessary to non-complex patients, including how to self-assess.
· Develop an understanding and awareness of the relevant community support and support services.
· Encourage and support active and healthy lifestyle choices.
· Coordinate remote surveillance and monitoring through appointments for investigations and feedback of results for non-complex cases.
· Coordinate face to face appointments for those with complex results from remote surveillance and monitoring investigations.
· Support and contribute to audit processes, governance, research, clinical research trials and service development.
· Order supplies and equipment as required supporting service delivery.
· Manage petty cash funds in relation to Health & Wellbeing Information sessions
· Understand that there will be frequent exposure to distressing/highly distressing situations and when to seek appropriate support/advice.
· Demonstrate an awareness of the limits of own practice and knowledge and when to seek appropriate support/advice.
· Provide cover for other Cancer Support Workers where necessary.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
* GCSE English & Math’s at level 4 or above or equivalent
* NVQ3/ equivalent qualification in healthcare/ customer care or equivalent experience
* Communication skills training or willingness to undertake
* ECDL or recognised IT experience
Experience
Essential criteria
* Experience of working with multiprofessional teams across health care settings.
* Communicating with patients and carers using various modes of communication.
* Use of trust IT systems, including Cerner.
* Experience of undertaking a range of administrative duties.
* Experience of using MS Office systems.
* Knowledge and use of medical terminology.
Desirable criteria
* Working autonomously to deliver projects/ initiatives.
* Experience of working with spreadsheets and/ or databases.
* Working in a clinical environment.
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
* Ability to communicate verbally in a clear and effective way, both face to face and on the telephone; to make oneself easily understood; polite and friendly telephone manner
* Good written communication skills
* Ability to deal effectively with a wide range of people (e.g. Patients, Carers, Clinicians, Nurses and other professionals from all sectors of health and social care) in a helpful manner
* Willing and able to work both independently and as part of a team
* Ability to prioritise workload and to quickly re-prioritise own work in light of unexpected events; to plan own work for the day/week
* Ability to work to deadlines
* To be able to use own initiative and be aware of where assistance is required.
* To work unsupervised within set boundaries
* Ability to react to a changing situation and use problem solving skills as required
* Ability and willingness to handle highly confidential information without compromising confidentiality or trust
* High level of accuracy and attention to detail required
* Ability to learn new skills and knowledge
* knowledge Ability to present information.
Other
Essential criteria
* Able to work flexibly across sites as requested – although will be allocated main base