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Job summary

Main area
Inpatient Discharge and Flow
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 4
Contract
Fixed term: 8 months (Maternity Cover)
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (may include weekend working in exceptional circumstances)
Job ref
193-7481581NCG
Employer
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Royal Berkshire Hospital
Town
Reading
Salary
£27,485 - £30,162 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
26/10/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust logo

Discharge Coordinator (Fixed Term 8 Months)

NHS AfC: Band 4

At the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust we put our patients at the heart of every element of health and care that we provide. The Trust works together as a community to deliver its vision which is “Working together to provide outstanding care for our community.”

Royal Berkshire Hospital are pleased to announce that following our CQC inspection we have been rated ‘Good’ with inspectors reporting that we have made significant improvements.  The Trust’s overall rating has also improved to ‘good’.  

We are Compassionate in our thoughts, words and actions

We are Aspirational and have a true desire to be dynamic and to innovate

We are Resourceful and responsible in the way we work and live

We are Excellent in our development, fairness and sharing best practice

At the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, we value candidates who bring their unique personalities, skills, and experiences to the Trust. When completing your application, we encourage you to highlight your individual achievements and strengths, showing us how they align with the requirements outlined in the job description and person specification. While we recognise that some applicants may use AI tools during the process, please be mindful that AI-generated responses can often lack the personal detail and relevance needed to demonstrate your suitability for the role. AI generated content is discouraged by the Trust and may diminish the candidates chances of success.

Amazing things happen at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust; delivered by amazing people so why don’t you come and join us.  We offer a range of learning and development for all employees may you be clinical or non-clinical.  

Job overview

Band 4 Discharge Coordinator

**This is a fixed-term/secondment opportunity for 8 months.**

The Discharge Coordinator is a key role in the Hospital Discharge Service; working in a patient-facing, ward-based role at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

Discharge coordinators work under the direction of the Ward Manager and in conjunction with the ward multidisciplinary team (MDT) - they assist with the planning and implementation of patient discharge; as well as aiding general flow of patients through the hospital.

Main duties of the job

•    Driving effective and timely transfer of patients from Royal Berkshire hospital to the most appropriate setting to meet their needs.
•    Actively reducing the number of patients whose transfer is delayed from hospital.
•    Effectively communicating with patients and their carers to encourage their engagement  in discharge planning, ensuring they are involved from admission to the ward.
•    Facilitating the planning and implementation of the patient’s discharge - with guidance from therapists as required,
•    Liaising with Doctors, Discharge Services, Social Services, CHC team, BHFT Community Teams and any other appropriate members of the multidisciplinary team to provide a proactive and continuous process of discharge planning.
•    (In conjunction with the MDT) identifying  and escalating concerns relating to discharge or factors that may cause a delayed transfer of care.

Working for our organisation

We are one of the largest hospital foundation trusts in the country, and currently touch the lives of half a million patients in the west of Berkshire every year by providing high quality acute medical and surgical services for our local communities.  

Our values:

  • Compassionate
  • Aspirational
  • Resourceful
  • Excellent

The town of Reading sits on the River Thames and is served by great road and rail links to London, Oxford, and Southampton. With excellent leisure and shopping facilities, and a thriving cultural scene, Reading is a wonderful place to live, work, and play and provides excellent facilities for families, including some of the best state and private schools in the UK.

The CQC recently rated the care provided by The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust as Good.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached Job description and Person Specification for further details of the role.

Note:  This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Person specification

Education

Essential criteria
  • Educated to Level 4, A level or NVQ equivalent or equivalent experience
  • GCSE or equivalent in English and Mathematics, grades A-C
Desirable criteria
  • Discharge training
  • Educated to degree level

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Proven experience of client / customer facing relations role
  • Experience of IT systems
Desirable criteria
  • Discharge experience
  • Experience of working in an acute NHS setting

Information Processing, Collection & Analysis

Essential criteria
  • Competent with software programmes including Microsoft Office- Word and Excel
  • Ability to formulate possible solutions to problems, and to identify the most appropriate one
  • Ability to analyse information and note trends/issues
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of working with hospital databases.
  • Experience of audit

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Good oral communication skills to establish and maintain relationships
  • Good written communication skills
  • Communication of unpleasant and/or upsetting information
  • Organisational skills to arrange meetings, negotiate attendances, allocate actions etc.
  • Organisational skills to arrange meetings, negotiate attendances, allocate actions, etc.
  • Ability to focus on relevant issues and keep others focused also
  • Ability to time-manage and organise own workload
Desirable criteria
  • Presentation skills

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Florence Nightingale FoundationNational Preceptorship for Nursing Quality Mark 2024

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Application numbers

Candidates to be capped at 25 applications per 1WTE position to be recruited

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Santino Smaldone
Job title
Patient Flow Graduate Manager
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07508138802
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