Job summary
Monday to Friday - Varied shift patterns from 07:30-18:00
We have a fantastic team of people who are conscientious, caring, reliable, flexible and compassionate, all qualities which are essential to the NHS.
If you want to be part of our team and have the necessary skills, we would like to meet you.
The type of candidate we are looking for is one who has a positive outlook on life, who is open and honest, flexible, reliable, excellent time management skills, hardworking and eager to learn new skills and knowledge.
The successful candidate will be joining the head and neck team team who work closely together.
Main duties of the job
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 head and neck 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.
About us
Established in 2003 East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) is a large integrated health care organisation providing high quality acute secondary healthcare for the people of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.
Our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 700,000 patients a year from the most serious of emergencies to planned operations and procedures. We employ over 8,000 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work and achievements
We're looking for people who want to make a positive difference. You'll make it happen by taking responsibility, building trust and respect and working together to deliver excellence to our service users. Where we can, we also like to keep things simple so that we all contribute to making ELHT an effective, positive and rewarding place to work.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The role sits within the Cancer Services directorate which is part of the Surgical and Anaesthetic Division. The post-holder will be required to travel between hospital sites in order to meet the needs of the role.
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.
The role will involve completing holistic needs assessment with patients and acting on their behalf as a patient advocate to ensure their voices are heard and they can access any services they may require.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The role sits within the Cancer Services directorate which is part of the Surgical and Anaesthetic Division. The post-holder will be required to travel between hospital sites in order to meet the needs of the role.
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.
The role will involve completing holistic needs assessment with patients and acting on their behalf as a patient advocate to ensure their voices are heard and they can access any services they may require.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to GCSE level 4 or above or equivalent
Desirable
- Educated to A level or equivalent
- Communication skills training
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working with professional teams a across health care settings.
- Communicating with patients and carers using various modes of communication.
- Use of IT systems.
Desirable
- Working in a clinical environment
- Working with ENT/Head and Neck/Oral Maxillofacial patients
- Working with cancer patients
Skills, knowledge and special aptitudes
Essential
- 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
- Wiling 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
- Ability to present information.
- Understanding of basic medical terminology
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Conscientious, self motivated to produce good quality work
- Ability to maintain effectiveness and remain calm when under pressure, to cope with unexpected demands
- Proactive, able to work on own initiative and deal with wide range of enquiries
- Flexible
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to GCSE level 4 or above or equivalent
Desirable
- Educated to A level or equivalent
- Communication skills training
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working with professional teams a across health care settings.
- Communicating with patients and carers using various modes of communication.
- Use of IT systems.
Desirable
- Working in a clinical environment
- Working with ENT/Head and Neck/Oral Maxillofacial patients
- Working with cancer patients
Skills, knowledge and special aptitudes
Essential
- 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
- Wiling 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
- Ability to present information.
- Understanding of basic medical terminology
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Conscientious, self motivated to produce good quality work
- Ability to maintain effectiveness and remain calm when under pressure, to cope with unexpected demands
- Proactive, able to work on own initiative and deal with wide range of enquiries
- Flexible
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
