Clinical Coordinator

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Title: Clinical Coordinator

Line Manager: Clinical Coordinator Team Lead

Professionally Accountable to: Clinical Director

Job Purpose:

The role involves liaising with healthcare professionals, patients, families and carers as a first point of contact in often distressing circumstances and to co-ordinate referrals to hospice services using a telephone network supported by the Crosscare computerised system. This includes handling sensitive and confidential information in order to direct the call to the relevant team. Information taken is accurately recorded and relayed to the relevant Health Care Professionals.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Communication

Act as first line contact for patients/carers. These calls are often from distressed people where empathy is required and calmness and professionalism is needed at all times.

To respond to telephone calls and messages from patients, carer and relatives in a sensitive, compassionate and courteous manner, ensuring that messages are promptly relayed to the most appropriate person or service.

Often first point of call following the death of a patient. Speaking directly with bereaved relatives/friends and arranging for a GP to verify the death of the patient.

To liaise with internal and external Health Care Professionals in processing referrals and answering general enquiries regarding access and referrals to the service.

To contact GP surgeries and request relevant information as needed and ensure that this is attached to Crosscare and the relevant team informed. This includes use of the Musgrove Park Hospital E-Pro system to chase documents. This can involve contacting the acute hospitals. Also use of Rio and EMIS systems.

To assist staff with queries regarding operational, personnel or other issues, referring on to the relevant line manager where required.

Point of contact for enquiries in Reception. Our duty is to speak with the person to ascertain how best they can be helped and pass them on to the relevant team.

To develop and maintain effective working relationships with other team members.

Administration

To respond promptly, efficiently and professionally to all types of referrals to the service, dealing with interruptions to planned tasks, and re-prioritising own workload at short notice. This requires excellent organisation and ability to multi-task under pressure.

To co-ordinate and prioritise patient referrals requiring the use of independent judgement and exercising initiative whilst operating within procedural guidelines.

To promptly and accurately record and maintain deaths and discharges on the Crosscare database system. Producing reports for various teams on a regular basis.

Management of in-patient hospice requests to Taunton Hospice. This involves booking of ambulatory transport (often urgent) within strict timescales and liaising with doctors/ward clerks/patients/hospitals.

Management of the bed state, whilst liaising with ward clerks to ensure patients are accurately added to the in-patient waiting lists.

To update ward clerks with any changes to the bed state and ensure that the Acute Trusts are informed each day.

To arrange regular meetings, booking rooms, preparing agendas, and as needed taking, writing up and distributing minutes.

To provide administration support to the wider multi-disciplinary team for the efficient running of the service, including typing of correspondence and documents, filing, photocopying and distribution.

Send urgent supporting documentation via encrypted email/ NHS account to outside agencies. This may include District nursing, Financial support or Continuing Health Care referrals for example.

Systems / Programs

Record all referral data accurately on a spreadsheet and communicate with Clinician of the Day as to whether the referral is accepted or not. Ensure follow up action is taken to complete the referral including contacting the relevant team.

To propose and facilitate implementation of systems that will improve and help in the administration of the service and maintain records of activity (both manual and computer based) and to ensure they are accessible and available on demand, including creating and formatting databases/spreadsheets and for the retrieval of information that may require some analysis.

Training / Induction

Participate in the orientation and induction of new staff including training in administration procedures and equipment as required.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to GCSE (grade A-C) or equivalent with a good command of the English language and numeracy skills

Experience

Essential

• Recent office experience in a busy environment
• Excellent computer skills and good knowledge of Microsoft office software packages, email and the internet
• Knowledge of simple statistical techniques

Desirable

• Willingness to undertake any courses offered in order to improve knowledge of work of Hospice
• Previous experience working in health/social care experience
• Experience of taking minutes at meetings
• Experience of accurate data input

Communication and people skills

Essential

• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Shows empathy and presents a calm, caring, courteous and compassionate manner
• Discrete and aware at all times of confidential nature of work
• Able to communicate with a wide range of people including the Multi-Disciplinary Team, District Nurses, CPCNS, patients and distressed relatives

Organisation skills

Essential

• Ability to prioritise and organise own workload
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

Other requirements

Essential

• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage ones own time and successfully deal with conflicting priorities

Employer details

Employer name

St Margaret's Somerset Hospice

Address

Heron Drive

Taunton

Somerset

TA1 5HA

Employer's website

https://www.st-margarets-hospice.org.uk/home-page (Opens in a new tab)