Job summary
- Main area
- PALS & Complaints
- Grade
- Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent: Mon- Friday 9:00am- 5:00pm (Core Business Hours 8:00am-6:00pm)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday (Core Business Hours 8:00am-6:00pm))
- Job ref
- 391-NMUH-7168392
- Employer
- Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- North Middlesex University Hospital NHS
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £34,521 - £41,956 per annum including HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 12/06/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Band 5 PALS & Complaints Officer
Band 5
The North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust is a medium-sized acute and community trust with over 525 beds and over 600 community staff, serving more than 600,000 people living across Enfield and Haringey and the surrounding areas, including Barnet and Waltham Forest.
The hospital has been on its present site for over 100 years and was established as an NHS trust by statute in December 1990. The Trust’s services are provided on the North Middlesex University Hospital site as well as a range of community sites across the London Borough of Enfield, including at partner hospitals. They provide services in collaboration with a range of partners, including local GPs, acute, mental health and other community health service providers across North Central London.
In the year ending 31 March 2022, the Trust reported a turnover of £419.7m and employed almost 4,000 staff. Following the transfer of Enfield Community Services on 1st April 2023, this has increased as we have welcomed over 600 new staff including District Nurses, Community Matrons, Community Physiotherapists, Psychologists and many more across a wide range of adult and children’s community services in Enfield. It is an exciting time to join North Mid as we continue our journey to become an integrated care organisation to deliver high quality, seamless care in our local communities, with a focus on tackling health inequalities.
Job overview
The PALS & Complaints Officer plays an integral role in delivering an excellent frontline support service by listening, managing and learning from patient experience to improve quality of services we provide at North Middlesex University Hospital.
The post holder will perform a range of specific tasks in relation to the administration and coordination of complaints and other feedback, ensuring policies and procedures are followed in accordance with the relevant legislation and associated guidance. The post holder will also be responsible for delivering the Patient Advice and Liaison Service for the Trust by providing high quality, responsive assistance to the general public and external organisations. This will include listening to experiences and, where possible, resolving concerns immediately and providing a signposting service to members of the public.
The PALS & Complaints Officer is also key to driving the improvement agenda within the patient experience function – working actively with Divisions, service areas and wards to co-design services and solutions that meet the expectations of our patients and families. Provide relevant PALs (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) and complaints reports for allocated divisions. Ensure timely and accurate reporting to relevant stakeholders and maintain data integrity and compliance with reporting standards.
Main duties of the job
The PALS & Complaints Officer plays an integral role in delivering an excellent frontline support service by listening, managing and learning from patient experience to improve quality of services we provide at North Middlesex University Hospital.
The post holder will perform a range of specific tasks in relation to the administration and coordination of complaints and other feedback, ensuring policies and procedures are followed in accordance with the relevant legislation and associated guidance. The post holder will also be responsible for delivering the Patient Advice and Liaison Service for the Trust by providing high quality, responsive assistance to the general public and external organisations. This will include listening to experiences and, where possible, resolving concerns immediately and providing a signposting service to members of the public.
The PALS & Complaints Officer is also key to driving the improvement agenda within the patient experience function – working actively with Divisions, service areas and wards to co-design services and solutions that meet the expectations of our patients and families. Provide relevant PALs (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) and complaints reports for allocated divisions. Ensure timely and accurate reporting to relevant stakeholders and maintain data integrity and compliance with reporting standards.
Working for our organisation
NMUH North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Hospital Trust (NMUH) is one of London’s busiest healthcare providers, providing hospital care and community services for the 350,000 people living in Enfield, Haringey and beyond. Our specialist services include HIV, cardiology, blood disorders, diabetes, fertility, sickle cell and thalassemia. In addition to a full range of cancer diagnosis and treatment services, the Helen Rollason Cancer Support Centre is based on-site and provides services to support cancer patients’ wellbeing. We also provide community services and have a dedicated 0-19 service for children and young people in Enfield so that they can get the best possible start in life. This includes health visitors and school nurses who are delivering the national Healthy Child Programme, which provides a structured framework for the delivery of key interventions to support the health and wellbeing of children and families from 0 to 5 and school aged children from 5-19. The 0-19 service aims to improve pathways and partnerships with services in the hospital and deliver excellent care for the children and families. For more information, please access the following link: https://www.northmid.nhs.uk/
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description and Person specification for more information on the role requirements and duties
Person specification
Values
Essential criteria
- Demonstrable ability to meet Trust values
Education & Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to diploma/ degree level or equivalent experience
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria
- Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) and listening skills.
- Excellent interpersonal and networking skills.
- Ability to work autonomously with the skills to make independent decisions.
- Good organiser with exceptional attention to detail and the ability to manage own workload to defined deadlines.
- Highly developed IT skills working across a range of Microsoft Office packages and databases (including Outlook and Excel)
- Empathy, ability to deal with distressed patients/ relatives. Good negotiation and conflict resolution skills to manage and deescalate potentially difficult/ contentious situations
Desirable criteria
- Skills & Abilities
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working in a customer service environment/ role.
- Experience of analysing problems and providing solutions.
- Experience of dealing with distressed angry and unhappy customers/ service users
- Experience of working with professionals from different backgrounds and across a variety of providers to provide outstanding customer care
Desirable criteria
- Experience
Other Requirements
Essential criteria
- A commitment to Continuous Professional Development
- Knowledge and understanding of NHS complaints process
- Knowledge of rules surrounding confidentiality, information governance and the Data Protection Act
- Understanding of the issues surrounding equality of access for all, data protection and confidentiality as well as the role of clinical governance
- Ability to secure co-operation of colleagues at all levels
- Highly motivated and resourceful
- Knowledge of health related terminology and concepts
- Knowledge of patient record systems
- Understanding of various methods of engaging patients, service users or customers to obtain feedback
- A team player who is prepared to go above and beyond to support others
- Knowledge and understanding of Quality Improvement methodologies
- Patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- Ability to maintain high standards of diplomacy and confidentiality
- Ability to convey complex information to anxious and distressed patients
- Ability to deal appropriately with frustrations of patients, service users and the public which may occasionally be manifested as verbal aggression
Desirable criteria
- Other requirements
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Trudy De Cordova
- Job title
- Head of Patient Experience and Patient Engagement
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0208 887 3716
If you have problems applying, contact
- Address
-
WHT
- Telephone
- If you have any queries, please contact NLPSS Recruitment Helpdesk tel. 020 3758 2060
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