Hospital Support Worker – Bournemouth Bournemouth, England
Job description
Leukaemia Care Job Description
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job title Hospital Support Worker – Bournemouth
Hours 7.5 hours per week
Remuneration £20,000 per annum pro rata (up to £27,500 depending on experience)
Type of contract: Fixed term contract for 3 years (with possibility for a permanent role)
Location Royal Bournemouth Hospital
Report to HCP Relations Manager
Work closely with: Anyone affected by leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). This includes patients, carers and family members. Liaising with hospital staff, nurses, other support charities, care workers and staff at Leukaemia Care.
You will work closely with the Regional Coordinator for your area and refer patients, carers and family members internally to advocacy, welfare, support groups and other services as appropriate.
WHO WE ARE, AND WHAT WE DO
Leukaemia Care is the UK’s leading leukaemia charity. For over 50 years, we have been dedicated to ensuring that everyone affected receives the best possible diagnosis, information, advice, treatment and support.
We are here for everyone affected by leukaemia and related blood cancer types – such as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN).
We provide information, advice and support for anyone affected, this includes patients and their friends and families too. We raise awareness of the issues impacting people affected by leukaemia, MDS and MPN, and campaign to fix them. We are driving early diagnosis, raising public awareness, improving services and ensuring access to effective treatments.
How do we do this? We have a wide-range of services aimed at patients and their loved ones from diagnosis and beyond. Our support services range from nurse-led helplines, support groups and free-of-charge medical information to access to paid counselling, grants for those feeling the financial strain of a diagnosis and providing buddies so people always have somebody to talk to who have experienced something similar to them. We encourage you to have a read of our website and find out all the ways we support from diagnosis and beyond.
Crucial to our work is raising awareness of leukaemia as a blood cancer and the importance for early diagnosis. Leukaemia can be difficult to spot as the symptoms are similar to many other common conditions. Unfortunately, most people are not aware of the signs of leukaemia and this leads to diagnosis being delayed, which can worsen outcomes for patients.
As well as working to educate the general public through our #SpotLeukaemia campaign, we are working closely with our colleagues working in front line medical services to ensure they have the most up-to-date information on diagnosing leukaemia. We know that by raising awareness and working to educate health care professionals, we can save lives and improve outcomes.
Overview
This is an excellent opportunity if you wish to develop your career in patient support and services. Any necessary training will be provided for the successful candidate. You should be proactive, enthusiastic, and excited about becoming part of a team looking to develop and implement the charity’s plans for the patient service team.
You will provide patient support and raise awareness of the services we have at Leukaemia Care at the hospital. You will talk to patients, carers and family members, offering support, information and clear signposting to our services and other relevant organisations.
You will be based on the haematology ward/clinic and this is a non-clinical role. You will be required to record all your work so administration is part of this role.
Travel to our Worcester Head office may be needed at times to attend any training session, plus a one-day NHS induction in Bournemouth, and any other required visits as part of the induction process.
A laptop and mobile phone will be provided, along with patient resources. You will be reimbursed for parking at the hospital.
Duties and responsibilities
By working with the HCP Relations Manager and Head of Patient Services
· Develop and implement Leukaemia Care patient services initiatives which underpin the strategic plan.
· Work with the Patient Services team to support those affected by leukaemia, MDS and MPN.
Job role
1. To attend Royal Bournemouth Hospital to provide support on the Haematology Ward or clinic.
2. Liaise with consultants, nurses, and other health care professionals in providing patient support. This may involve giving out booklets and information within the consulting room itself
3. Speak to patients, carers and anyone affected by a blood cancer or allied blood disorder to offer tailored advice or support
4. Refer patients, carers and family members internally to our services
5. Signpost patients to other blood cancer charities
6. Support patients by phone through the CNS referral process
7. Attend a local support group if needed.
8. Regular feedback into the Patient Services team on how many patients we are supporting and any booklets we need to send out.
9. Constantly being a proactive ambassador and patient support worker for the charity.
10. This role is one day a week for the haematology clinic (Thursday).
Service Awareness
1. Build relationships with healthcare professionals at Royal Bournemouth hospital – e.g. consultant haematologists, clinical nurse specialists and haematology nurses - in order to promote the charity’s services for patients and healthcare professionals.
2. Promote our healthcare professional training - such as nurse forums and our Nurse Academy.
3. Sign up Healthcare professionals across the haematology department to Leukaemia Care communications
4. Represent Leukaemia Care at our patient and carer conferences and at non-Leukaemia Care events (at the request of the HCP Relations Manager).
5. Check our patient information booklets are displayed within the haematology outpatient clinic and haematology ward to promote the charity’s services for patients and healthcare professionals.
Work with the Leukaemia Care Staff
1. Refer patients experiencing difficulties that the hospital hub cannot resolve to the Patient Advocacy Team at Leukaemia Care or signposted accordingly
2. Make patients fully aware of Leukaemia Care’s other support services and asked if they wish to receive information from Leukaemia Care, recording their consent or otherwise against their database record
3. Promote nurse education (Nurse Academy, nurse conferences, nurse forums) to the clinic nurses
4. Work closely with their Regional Coordinator as appropriate
Analysis and Impact
1. Analyse the impact of our activities and effective methods, using agreed metrics
2. Report on the progress of the activities internally, including recommendations and areas of improvement
3. Understand and consider where each project fits within the wider programme of work
Other
1. Provide regular reports on your work and against your KPIs to your line manager.
2. Record your contacts in the Raisers Edge database
General
In addition to the specific duties and responsibilities outlined in this job description, all Leukaemia Care employees should be aware of their specific responsibilities towards the following:
· Uphold the values of the charity and to not behave in a manner that is likely to bring the charity into disrepute.
· Adhere to all health and safety and fire regulations and to co-operate with the charity in maintaining good standards of health and safety.
· Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing learning and development and to participate in any training relevant to the role.
This job description is not exhaustive. It acts as a guide and may be amended to meet the changing requirements of the charity at any time after discussion with the post holder.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Qualifications
Essential:
· Degree (2.1 or 1st) and/or relevant professional qualification/experience
Desirable:
· Healthcare background
· Community Support.
How assessed:
· CV and interview
Skills or Competencies
Essential:
· Excellent organisational and time management skills
· Excellent communication, presentation and listening skills
· Empathetic towards anyone affected by cancer or undergoing chemotherapy treatment
· Committed to supporting patients, carers and family members
· Ability to work unsupervised
· Able to carry out office administration tasks as part of role
Desirable:
· An understanding of blood cancers
How assessed:
· CV and interview
Knowledge
Essential:
· IT literate (MS Office, Teams, GoogleDocs, Zoom)
· Local services that may be relevant to blood cancer patients
Desirable:
· Leukaemia, myeloproliferative neoplasms, myelodysplastic syndromes and the impact of a diagnosis
· Scientific Experience
· Knowledge of hospital frameworks
· Cancer patient support
· Raisers Edge database
How assessed:
CV and interview
Previous experience
Essential:
· Previous experience in sales/promotion of services.
Desirable:
· Working in the charity sector, or with cancer patients and their families
· Using the Raiser’s Edge database
· Liaising with healthcare professionals
How assessed:
CV and interview
Personal qualities
Essential:
· A good team player – able to link in and work well with a range of people within the organisation
· Ability to manage own workload
· Able to work flexibly to meet the needs of the role with sufficient notice
· High levels of motivation, when working alone or with a team
· Ability to problem solve
· Ability to learn quickly
How assessed:
CV and interview
Revised: December 22
Why it’s great to work at Leukaemia Care
As well as the satisfaction of knowing you improve the lives of people with leukaemia, blood cancer, we also offer the following:
- Pension scheme with NEST - we will match employee contributions up to 7% of qualifying earnings
- Life Assurance (also known as death in service benefit) of four times annual salary
- Employee Assistance programme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Enhanced sick pay (as set out in our staff handbook)
- Bereavement leave of up to three days paid leave should the need unfortunately arise
- Five “duvet days” – a proportion of annual leave that can be taken with no advance notice, subject to work commitments, to support mental health
- Eye tests and glasses contribution
- Flu jab for all employees who are ineligible to receive a free one on the NHS
- Annual leave of 33 days including 8 bank holidays, rising by 1 day for each complete year of service up to a maximum of 36 days (for full-time staff, pro-rata for part-time staff)
- Additional discretionary annual leave between Christmas and New Year
- Free onsite parking at our offices in Worcester (if applicable)
- Headspace subscription
- Induction training and ongoing training to help you deliver your role
- Staff social events – in person and online to ensure all employees have an opportunity to get involved
- A staff representative that employees can confidentially feedback to about any issues or concerns
We will also ensure that you are supplied with the right equipment for the job and to work safely - this may include a laptop and mobile phone, as well as equipment to make your working day as comfortable as possible. If the job requires it, we also reimburse pre-approved travel expenses.
Job Types: Part-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 36 months
Part-time hours: 7.5 per week
Salary: £20,000.00-£27,500.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Sick pay
- Wellness programme
Day range:
- No weekends
Physical setting:
- Hospital
Shift:
- Day shift
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Bournemouth, BH7 7DW: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Experience:
- Hospital support worker: 1 year (preferred)
Work Location: In person
Application deadline: 09/05/2023
