Job summary
- Main area
- nursing
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (bank holidays and weekends)
- Job ref
- 382-CS155-22
- Employer
- Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Blackpool Victoria
- Town
- Blackpool
- Salary
- £22,549 - £24,882 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- Today at 23:59
Employer heading
Swan EOL Bereavement Support Worker
NHS AfC: Band 4
We welcome and encourage application from anyone with protected characteristics, as well as supporting reservists and Veterans who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career within the NHS and especially here at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
As one of the United Kingdom’s largest coastal resort, Blackpool has plenty to offer its residents – it’s not just a good place to work; it’s a great place to live. In addition to its bustling centre and historic seafront, the town is world famous for its many attractions, including the famous Blackpool Tower. Blackpool also offers a number of scenic cycling routes round our local parks and across the surrounding countryside, as well as boasting panoramic views of the coast on its picturesque Promenade. Due to Blackpool’s convenient location, Edinburgh in the north and London in the south can be reached within three hours by train.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as: part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.
Job overview
This is a great opportunity for the successful candidate to support the specialist team to take the service forward and ensure the Swan Model is embedded across the organisation working alongside the end of life, palliative care, chaplaincy and bereavement services.
Do you have experience working in end of life and or bereavement services and a good understanding of the national and local agenda in relation to end of life care?
Are you drive and motivated to play a pivotal role in developing the service and delivering necessary support and education within the Trust to ensure all staff are supported to reach fundamental levels of knowledge and skills in relation to the Swan Model of end of life care.
We recommend that all individuals employed in patient facing roles, or those located on a ward or department where patients receive a service should be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Main duties of the job
If you feel you have the skills and enthusiasm then please consider joining our team. We can arrange a discussion contact our Swan Team on bfwh.swanteam@nhs.net
Working for our organisation
The Swan Service was originally established at the start of March 2020 in response to the pandemic. We are now delighted to recruit to a team that includes bereavement specialist nurses and a bereavement support worker. The service is fortunate to have a recently refurbished modern and welcoming Swan Suite as its base.
"The Swan model of care is about providing excellent, individualised end of life and bereavement care for every patient and every family, every time.
It is patient and family focussed and centres on meeting the unique needs of each individual and their loved ones - we have one chance to get it right and this should be every time for every patient and their loved ones".
We have an exciting opportunity for an individual with experience and passion to deliver high standards of end of life and bereavement care to join our team.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Support Worker will be the initial point of contact and support to patients, their loved ones and staff - duties include:
Triage incoming calls, from patients, relatives, carers, and other health and social care professionals.
Communicate information with a high degree of empathy, understanding, diplomacy, honesty and integrity.
Provide basic telephone advice and refer on or sign-post to other sources of support and information as required.
Coordinate the necessary appointments and follow up as identified
Demonstrate the ability to recognise and respond appropriately when faced with a sudden or emergency situation, alerting the swan team or enabling rapid response as appropriate with the most appropriate team lead
Document and monitor all aspects of care coordination and service delivery, supporting data collection for service records and audit.
Ensure documentation is complete, legible and accurate and countersignature of qualified staff gained where required
Coordinate the support for a defined group as assessed and delegated by the qualified staff
Organise and prioritise the designated workload of self and team.
Contribute to the holistic needs assessment and support the development of an individual care plan as appropriate reflecting experience and qualification.
Support wards in delivery of swan model, preparing and providing memory boxes, hand prints, hair locks for example
Implement, monitor and review the on-going care plan with the patient and carer and modify as appropriate
Input, develop data and audit to evaluate outcomes of the service.
Coordinate and organise appointments and assessments as required
Coordinate the handover with other teams to facilitate safe and effective transition of care between services in order to provide seamless support for people
Act as advocate and facilitator to resolve issues that may be perceived as barriers to care
Advise on individual self-care management principles and provide consistent planned aftercare to reinforce and further promote this information
Deliver patient-centred, self-management support and education as necessary
Coach patients and carers on who to make contact when they feel that their condition or needs have changed, including what to do out of hours
Planning/inviting/organising education, training and meetings
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Vocational level 3 qualification or equivalent plus knowledge acquired through training and experience to diploma equivalent level
- Relevant clinical /previous experience in end of life care, bereavement support
- Educated to A level or equivalent
- Communication skills training
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working with professional teams across health and/or social care settings.
- Communicating with patients and carers using various modes of communication
- Use of IT systems.
- 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
- Willing 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. Work is managed but will work unsupervised within set boundaries and established guidelines
- Ability to react to a changing situation and use problem solving skills and to review policies for own area and propose revisions.
- 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
- Previous experience in administrating audits and surveys
- Experience with students, volunteers, service users within the workplace
- Handling small amounts of money and be responsible for the safe use of equipment and ordering of stocks/supplies.
Skills
Essential criteria
- The ability to communicate effectively with patients, visitors and families, loved ones.
- Can work effectively as part of a team.
- Can delegate appropriately
- Provides effective supervision of junior members of staff.
- 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
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Swan Team - Claire Hickson
- Job title
- Swan End of Life Care & Bereavement Specialist
- Email address
- bfwh.swanteam@nhs.net
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