Job overview
We are recruiting for a Cancer Support and Information Health Care Professional who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.
You will provide a safe and comprehensive support, advice and information service to patients and carers receiving treatment at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre.
Responsible for the drop in centre and helpline, managing and on-going training of volunteers and liaison with MVCC staff as appropriate. In addition to the coordination and delivery of pre and post treatment patient courses and health & wellbeing initiatives, some of which will be delivered outside of normal operating times.
Main duties of the job
Responsible for the development of our HCP led services which includes a helpline and drop-in services to ensure we remain flexible and adaptable to the changing needs of our patients,
Advise on cancer support and information for those affected by cancer, staff, volunteers etc as required.
Work with other Health Care Professionals to ensure consistent quality of service is provided.
Oversee the required training for staff and volunteers in order to ensure this is achieved.
Support and supervise the volunteers who work at the centre.
Assess the information and support needs of users of the cancer support and information service (e.g. patients, carers), provide guidance and with the appropriate level of intervention signpost to other services.
Maintain data collection for Cancer Support and Information Services.
Support clients attending for appointments e.g. therapies
Support of pre-treatment and post treatment sessions and follow up on the non-clinical needs of patients attending these sessions (attending to the holistic needs of patients and carers)
Identifying when patients who visit the centre need to be referred to their health care team and liaising with HCPs (i.e. clinical nurse specialists or registrars) as appropriate.
Coordination and delivery of pre and post treatment patient courses and health & wellbeing initiatives.
Working for our organisation
At East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general and specialist services we provide and our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible and innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.
We run the following hospitals:
* The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
* New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
* Hertford County, Hertford
* Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC), Northwood
We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient-led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant transformation and our staff and patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.
We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees. This means that any employee is entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns and we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made and considered formally, and will need to be balanced against service needs, but our starting point will always be to find ways to support making them happen.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification applicant pack for further detailed information regarding this role.
Person specification
Qualifications / Training
Essential criteria
* Educated to degree level or equivalent in a health related subject e.g. nursing, radiotherapy etc.
* Specific oncology qualification and/or considerable experience.
* Communication skills/counselling skills training
Desirable criteria
* Counselling qualification/experience
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
* Experience in a professional capacity of working with people affected by cancer
* Experience of providing person centred cancer support and information
* Experience in communicating and working with multi-disciplinary teams and with other health and social care agencies
* Experience of working with volunteers
* Experience of managing staff
* Experience developing a staff team and providing both on and off the job training
Skills
Essential criteria
* Ability to manage health information resources
* Ability to identify good quality and research-based patient information
* Understanding the needs of people from a diverse background
* Understanding of the needs of those from vulnerable backgrounds
* Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence, negotiate, motivate and influence
* Ability to work autonomously and as a member of a team in an emotionally charged environment within a hospital setting.
* Excellent verbal, written and presentation skills
Knowledge
Essential criteria
* Understanding of a range of cancers, and their potential impact on patients/carers
* Knowledge of current treatments for cancer
* Knowledge of computerised Patient Information Systems (e.g. Lorenzo, PIMS) and office IT solutions (E.g. Word, Access, PowerPoint)
* Knowledge of cancer wait times
* Knowledge of confidentiality in the workplace and information governance rules
Desirable criteria
* Working knowledge of the welfare and benefits system in the UK
* Understanding of quality & service improvement methods
Other Requirements
Essential criteria
* Experience and evidence of engagement around equality, diversity and inclusion issues in relation to policy, service development and service delivery in respect of both services to users and the management of staff
* Role model our Trust values every day