Macmillan Cancer Support Worker

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)

The closing date is 04 May 2025

Job summary

The award-winning Head, Neck, and Thyroid Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist team have a vacancy for a Band 4 Cancer Support Worker. This is a 13-month fixed-term / secondment position, supporting patients across Worthing and St Richard's Hospital, including those diagnosed with skin cancer at St Richard's.

We are seeking a highly motivated individual with a passion for improving cancer care in Sussex.

About the Role

The Cancer Support Worker (CSW) will work alongside and under the guidance of Macmillan Nurse Specialists, providing support, advice, and assessment for patients diagnosed with head, neck, thyroid, and skin cancers. Often serving as the first point of contact, the CSW will:? Triage calls and offer initial advice and support? Signpost and refer patients to appropriate services? Help coordinate patient care for a streamlined and efficient service? Support early intervention and health and wellbeing initiatives? Ensure timely and accurate referrals between nurse specialists and allied health professionals

About You

The ideal candidate will have:? Experience in patient care coordination? Excellent communication skills with confidence in providing emotional support? Strong IT and computer skills? Previous experience in a clinical environment (desirable)

If you are passionate about making a difference in cancer care and want to be part of an innovative and supportive team, we would love to hear from you!

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will provide support to patients receiving their diagnoses, throughout their investigations and their treatment journey. The CSW will be the primary point of contact for our patients and will offer holistic needs assessments and on-going support; they will triage urgent calls and attend clinics. A large part of the role involves assisting the Clinical Nurse Specialist team in delivering complex care and support and developing pathways to improve the patient experience.

We are developing our pathways to ensure a smooth transition between partner departments and organisations - the post holder will be integral to taking this forward; experience of service development / improvement would be advantageous.

All posts include an amount of patient tracking / data collection and therefore requires competent use of Microsoft packages, including excel.

The post requires the post holder to collect and analyse data, as well as the creation of graphs and presentations.

There is more information on the role of a cancer support worker atCareers in Cancer | Macmillan Cancer SupportorSupport-Workers_tcm9-283189.pdf (macmillan.org.uk)

Please read the information above and job description carefully. Use this information to clearly reflect your knowledge experience in your application.

The role will be based at Worthing Hospital, with travel expected to St Richards Hospital & The Royal Sussex in Brighton.

About us

At UHSussex, diversity is our strength, and we want you to feel included to help us always put the Patient First, as shown in our Outstanding for Caring CQC rating. Your uniqueness and experiences will be part of our creative and innovative community where everyone is encouraged to succeed. We have a range of Staff Networks to help break down barriers, and can offer a buddy to help new members settle in.

We're proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 2) and a Veteran Aware Trust.

We treat our patients and staff with the same compassion and empathy we expect for ourselves. We're here for them when they need us, and we go above and beyond to meet their needs. This can be seen in our Wellbeing Programme for staff which is extensive and designed to support you when you need it - because we know that to look after others we must first look after ourselves. As a university trust and a leader in healthcare research, we value learning, teaching and training so that we can be the best that we can be. From the moment you start with us and throughout your career we will help you to grow and develop. We hope that in choosing UHSussex you are choosing a long and happy career where you will be able to see the difference you make and feel valued for all that you do.

We look forward to receiving your application and the start of your journey with UHSussex.

Date posted

23 April 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£26,530 to £29,114 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

13 months

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time, Job share, Flexible working

Reference number

279-7070423-APR25

Job locations

Worthing Hospital

Lyndhurst Road

Worthing

BN11 2DH

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Cancer Support Worker (CSW) plays a vital role as the first point of contact for patients and carers, frequently triaging their information needs and providing essential support. Our cancer teams work collaboratively to ensure a safe, high-quality, and effective service. This role may also involve working across different disease site teams to deliver holistic care and foster a supportive, multidisciplinary environment.

We are looking for a compassionate and proactive individual with excellent communication skills to work alongside Clinical Nurse Specialists and the wider MDT. The ideal candidate will be dedicated to delivering outstanding patient care, identifying care needs, and contributing to the continuous improvement of patient pathways.

This role requires flexibility to work across Trust sites.

For full details, please refer to the job description and person specification in the advert.

Job description

Job responsibilities

This role requires flexibility to work across Trust sites.

For full details, please refer to the job description and person specification in the advert.

Person Specification

Skills, knowledge

Essential

Evidence of enhanced communication skills in relevant environment
Evidence of appropriate/ transferable skills in health/ social care
Team worker inc multi professional working
Service development and improvement experience
IT skills - microsoft packages including excel spreadsheets / data collection and analysis

Experience/Qualifications

Essential

5 GCSEs or equivalent including english and maths
Educated to at least NVQ Level 3 or equivalent level of competency.
Relevant experience in health or social care setting / demonstrable transferable skills

Desirable

NVQ level 4 in relevant topic

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Essential

Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles (as appropriate to role).
Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues

Person Specification

Skills, knowledge

Essential

Evidence of enhanced communication skills in relevant environment
Evidence of appropriate/ transferable skills in health/ social care
Team worker inc multi professional working
Service development and improvement experience
IT skills - microsoft packages including excel spreadsheets / data collection and analysis

Experience/Qualifications

Essential

5 GCSEs or equivalent including english and maths
Educated to at least NVQ Level 3 or equivalent level of competency.
Relevant experience in health or social care setting / demonstrable transferable skills

Desirable

NVQ level 4 in relevant topic

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Essential

Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles (as appropriate to role).
Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.