Job overview

The UCR Service provides urgent support, seven-days a week, to help prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. This is achieved by providing a two-hour crisis response delivered by a multi-skilled team of professionals. Support is provided at home or where they usually reside for people who are concerned their health or mobility is declining and are therefore at risk of admission to hospital. Our teams work closely with our local ambulance service to pull category 3 & 4 patients off the ambulance stack, supporting patients in receiving a rapid response in the community by teams with the skills to support them to remain at home. 

The UCR service also provide a general virtual ward service, supported by digital technology and remote monitoring.  Our multidisciplinary teams ensure that patients receive hospital-level care at home safely and in familiar surroundings, helping speed up their recovery while freeing up hospital beds for patients that need them most. As well as home visits, digital remote monitoring is utilised  

Teams are made up of GPs, Nurses, Paramedics, Pharmacists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, and Health & Therapy Assistants who work together to reduce hospital admissions. Patients are reviewed daily by a clinical team and the ‘ward round' may involve a home visit or take place through video technology.  

Our multidisciplinary teams work flexibly to provide a 7-day service, 365 days a year, between 8am and 8pm.  

Main duties of the job

Main duties of the job 

The Urgent Community Response (UCR) Service provides clinical interventions (including intravenous therapy) as part of a multidisciplinary team comprising of Medics, Nurses, Paramedics, Physio and Occupational Therapists for admission avoidance pathways (2 hour response and general virtual wards), in line with the national specification for UCR and general virtual wards.   

Operating 365 days per year, the service receives referrals from a range of health and care professionals and triages, assesses, and delivers care to the patient over several days to ensure the patient can remain safely at home.  

The postholder will be required to provide clinical expertise and problem-solving support for the clinical team as well as clinical care for patients. They will support the coordination of the multi-disciplinary team, allocating visits as appropriate. There is an expectation to develop the service through reflective practice, clinical supervision and audit. The postholder will identify suitable people referred to the service for planned early discharge from hospital or for the prevention of admission to the acute sector or long-term care.

Do you have a passion for admission avoidance? Are you committed to delivering an outstanding service which is fast- paced and reliable? Do you want to work with a team of caring and dedicated staff?  

Working for our organisation

We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.

Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.

Why work for us?
•    Positive 2023 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeing
•    Varied environments: community hospitals, patients’ homes, and bases across Sussex
•    Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retirement
•    Excellent training, development, and research opportunities
•    Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brighton
•    Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networks
•    Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trust
•    Beautiful Sussex location near the South Downs and coast

Our values—Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence—guide everything we do.

We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.

This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.