Job summary
- Main area
- Additional Clinical Services
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 409-7095847
- Employer
- Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- ST HELENS AND WHISTON
- Town
- ST HELENS
- Salary
- £26,530 - £29,114 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 20/06/2025 23:59
- Interview date
- 17/07/2025
Employer heading
Haematology Cancer Support Worker
NHS AfC: Band 4
After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
Job overview
This is an exciting opportunity to join our Haematology Cancer team at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to deliver 5-star care to patients. Funding has been provided by the Cheshire and Mersey Cancer Alliance for a 12 month fixed term post.
The successful post holder will be part of the specialist nursing team and the wider Cancer Support Workers team within the Trust.
The post holder will need to demonstrate excellent organisational skills, must be flexible in approach, able to exercise initiative and demonstrate integrity, a consistently high standard of professionalism and an awareness of the importance of maintaining confidentiality.
The post holder must be willing to undertake on-going training and development, supported by the clinical team.
The post holder will be based at Ormskirk Hospital site but will be required to work across all Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust sites to deliver a comprehensive service to patients with cancer and their relatives / carers. They must be flexible to suit the service including evenings and weekends.
Successful applicants will require an enhanced disclosure from the criminal records bureau.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will provide non- clinical support to patients and families through the provision of personalised care and support the delivery of Personalised Supported self-management following a diagnosis / treatment of a haematological cancer. The successful applicant must have excellent communication and people skills.
The role involves patient education and support from diagnosis through to completion of treatment or surveillance. The successful applicant will identify patient concerns through holistic needs assessment and health MOT’s and refer non- clinical concerns to support agencies / groups etc creating a plan of care for patients around their needs. They will provide information on the wards to patients and be involved in health promotion.
Working for our organisation
The Secretary of State has approved the partnership between St Helens & Knowsley and Southport & Ormskirk Hospitals.
From 1st July we have come together as a single organisation under the name Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Trust delivers acute hospital care, intermediate care, community, and primary care services to a population of over 600,000 people with a combined workforce of around 9000 dedicated and skilled staff from 17 locations including Whiston, Southport & Formby, St Helens, Ormskirk and Newton hospitals.
The Trust provides regional services for burns, plastic surgery and spinal injuries to more than 4 million people across Mersey and West Lancashire, Cheshire, the Isle of Man and North Wales.
Our Vision is to deliver 5 Star Patient Care:
- CARE that is evidence based, high quality and compassionate
- SAFETY that is of the highest standards
- COMMUNICATION that is open, inclusive and respectful
- SYSTEMS that are efficient, patient centred and reliable
- PATHWAYS that are best practice and embedded, but also respect the individual needs of patients
Our achievements include:
- Trust rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- Awarded National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for our Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Please see our Wellbeing & Benefits booklet for more information on our staff benefits. Accessible version available upon request.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
Communication
- Develop and maintain effective working relationships with clinicians, managers and others within department and Trust wide service users.
- Be the point of contact for all non-routine enquires facilitating communication and information flows, initiating and responding to correspondence and resolving enquiries.
- Organising incoming and outgoing mail both paper and electronic.
- Liaise with GPs/cancer services as appropriate.
- Liaise with patients and other consultants’ secretaries.
- Specifically assist the CNS’s in coordinating care by tracking patient pathways and providing a point of access, including rapid re-entry into the system for those people identified as having urgent or specialist needs.
- Triage incoming calls, using a risk assessment framework and initiate appropriate response according to protocols and individual pathways.
- Using good communication skills, and appropriate tools and procedures, liaising as appropriate with the CNS when non routine and refer complex decisions to the team for assessment and review.
- Provide basic telephone advice and refer on or sign-post to other sources of support.
- Liaise closely with the MDT co-ordinator ensuring robust systems of notification and where appropriate co-ordinate transfer of care.
- Coordinate/act independently to make OPD appointments for those with abnormal results, fast track patients back into the system if required, and to respond appropriately when faced with a sudden deterioration or an emergency situation by alerting other members of the team.
- Communicate and signpost to appropriate needs related information.
Service Improvement
- Support and contribute to audit processes, governance, research, clinical research trials and service development.
- Take an active part in Team Meetings and audits as required.
- Make changes in own practice and offer suggestions for improving the services.
- Ensure the implementation of departmental policies and procedures.
- Support the development of services in order to meet the requirements of patients and service users.
- Ensure the effective deployment of resources to ensure delivery of an efficient well organised service.
- Administer fail safe to ensure patients’ results are registered accurately and action taken appropriately.
Quality
- Coordinate patient questionnaires.
- Demonstrate in practice the Macmillan Human Rights Standard for Cancer Care.
- Follow the approved Standard Operating Procedures used in the Department.
- Comply with all relevant legislation, policies and procedures.
- Use and maintain resources efficiently and effectively. Prioritise own workload.
- Ensure same standard of work when covering for sickness and annual leave.
Equality and Diversity
- Maintain an up to date knowledge of the parameters of legislation and Trust Policies and procedures related to equality and diversity.
- Treat everyone equally and with dignity and respect.
- Acknowledge others’ different perspectives.
- Recognise that people are different and makes sure they do not discriminate against other people.
- Report behaviour that undermines equality and diversity.
Services and Project Management
- Coordinate the handover with other teams to facilitate safe and effective transition of care between services.
- Work in the Macmillan information centre on rotation monthly.
Co-ordination of services
- Co-ordinate and track patient pathways for diagnosed Haematology cancer patients.
- Liaise with the MDT co-ordinator ensuring robust systems of notification and where appropriate co-ordinate transfer of care.
- Support patients and their families to access appropriate information and support, by sign-posting to a range of clinical and support services.
- Under supervision of the CNS deliver patient-centred, support and education as necessary to non-complex patients.
- Encourage and support active and healthy lifestyle choices.
- Under supervision of the CNS, patients and their families to understand what signs, symptoms or situations to be aware of that would indicate concern.
- Advise patients and their families on how to make contact when they feel that there are delays in their pathway.
- Advise patients and their families on how to make contact when they feel that their condition or needs have changed, including what to do out of hours.
Information Processing
- Registration of patients onto relevant databases ensuring all patient data both clinical and personal is electronically and accurately recorded.
- Support information prescription delivery; this role may include printing out information prescriptions, assisting people accessing emailed information prescriptions.
- Arrange and book appropriate outpatient appointments.
- Document and monitor all aspects of care coordination and service delivery, supporting data collection for audit and outcome data.
- Diary management.
- Utilisation of local or Trust case note tracking system.
- Ensure investigation reports are obtained, shown to medical staff, action taken and filed in patient case notes as soon as possible.
Information Collection and Analysis
- Undertake work to help the Directorate with any Audit information needed.
- Use databases and computer packages to initiate and maintain records and generate statistics for analytical purposes.
- Collect, collate and report routine and simple data.
- Manage workload and liaise with colleagues in periods of annual leave and sickness.
Teaching & Training Responsibilities
- Identify personal education needs and skills development with the registered practitioner.
- Be responsible for own personal educational, keeping up to date with changes to practice, to ensure highest possible standards of work.
- Participate in an annual review with the Haematology Cancer Nurse Specialist and Lead Cancer Nurse ensuring highest possible standards of work.
- Review own work against KSF outline and identify with the relevant people the activities to be undertaken to support learning and development.
- Actively take part in learning activities and maintain a record of these in personal portfolio in order to obtain skills required for the post.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to GCSE level and/or equivalent qualification and/or equivalent experience
- ECDL and/or equivalent qualification and/or equivalent experience
- Willing to undertake learning and development courses
Desirable criteria
- NVQ in Care
- Basic counselling certificate
- Evidence of continued learning
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience working with the public in Health or Social Care
- Understanding of Macmillan Cancer Support
- Experience co-ordinating a patient workload
- Demonstrate knowledge of cancer treatments and terminology
- Understanding of personalised care
Desirable criteria
- Experience of teaching patients and carers
- Understanding Macmillan Recovery package
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to use Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and internet
- Able to use own initiative and work without supervision
- Able to prioritise work and work of others
- Good communication skills
- Effective organisation skills
- Good observation skills
- Practical problems solving skills
Other
Essential criteria
- Ability to work flexibly dependant on the needs of the service
- Must be prepared to work across different hospital sites
- Ability to ask sensitively about information needs
- Ability to retrieve information from a wide range of sources and in different formats
Desirable criteria
- Ability to travel to various hospitals by own car/ assisted driver
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
- Nicola Goffinet
- Job title
- Cancer Nurse Specialist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01744 646796
- Additional information
For an informal discussion about the post, please contact:
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