Patient Experience OfficerNHS

Job summary

An opportunity has arisen to join the Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust as a Patient Experience Officer.

The post holder will play an important role in ensuring that the experiences of patients, their families & carers are heard, understood & used to support learning & improvement across the Trust. Working within the PALS Team, you will provide a compassionate & accessible point of contact for people wishing to raise concerns, ask questions, provide feedback or seek support in relation to their experience of care.

This is a varied role supporting the delivery of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), complaints functions. You will work closely with patients, families, clinical & corporate colleagues & external organisations, helping to resolve concerns sensitively & ensuring accurate and timely information is maintained.

We are looking for someone with excellent communication, organisational & interpersonal skills who can work sensitively with people who may be experiencing difficult or distressing circumstances. You will need to manage competing priorities, maintain high-quality records and correspondence, and contribute to a culture where patient feedback is valued as an important opportunity for learning & quality improvement.

Above all, this role is about listening to patients and families, supporting them with compassion and professionalism, & helping ensure their experiences contribute to improving care at The Christie.

Main duties of the job

As a Patient Experience Officer, you will be an accessible point of contact for patients, carers, families and members of the public who wish to raise a concern, make an enquiry, provide feedback or seek advice about services provided by the Trust.

You will listen sensitively to people's experiences, help resolve concerns wherever possible and provide clear information about the Trust's complaints process where someone wishes to make a complaint. You will work with colleagues across the organisation to ensure concerns are handled appropriately and with compassion.

The post also provides wider support across complaints, PALS, claims and inquests, making this an excellent opportunity for someone who wants to develop their knowledge and experience of patient experience and NHS governance.

Your responsibilities will include:o Providing information and non-clinical advice and explaining the complaints process where appropriateo Liaising with clinical and corporate teams across the Trust to obtain information and respond to concernso Maintaining accurate recordso Supporting the day-to-day administration of the teamo Liaising with colleagues and external organisations, where requiredo Supporting the preparation, analysis and presentation of patient experience information.o Organising meetings, preparing agendas, taking minutes and monitoring actions.

For further duties of the role, please see attached Job Description & Person Specification

Job description

Work closely with the PALS & Complaints Officers and Complaints and Claims Manager to ensure that the PALS team provides a service that meets the national core standards (within agreed timescales) and in accordance with The Christie Values.

To act as an accessible and clear first point of contact for patients, their carers/family or members of the public when there are complaints, concerns, enquiries and compliments about services provided by the Trust and, where appropriate, making an enquiry or requesting information and responding appropriately. Use judgement to ensure appropriate information and non-clinical advice is provided.

Advise those patients that wish to complain of the Trusts complaints process and signpost to independent advocacy services.

Act as a support to patients, their carers/family, and actively listen, when required, to help them resolve their concerns and act with sensitivity and compassion at all times in what may frequently be distressing situations. There may be occasions where the post holder will be exposed to angry and/or upset individuals and will provide reassurance that the issues raised will be investigated.

Ensure sensitive telephone, email and face to face concerns and enquiries are dealt with promptly, effectively, sensitively and in a helpful and diplomatic manner whilst maintaining confidentiality at all times. All concerns, enquiries and complaints taken must be actioned promptly and must either be dealt with and resolved or passed to the appropriate senior member of Trust staff to resolve.

Ability to cope with emotional clients and meet with patients or relatives in person to discuss their concerns. This can include attending wards or other appropriate areas of the hospital and ensuring that the relevant senior managers are contacted if/when appropriate.

Ensure all contacts with the PALS team have access to high quality information and advice from the Trust, with support from senior team members if needed.

To provide guidance and support to directorates on resolving concerns. Liaise with relevant managers to ensure that actions that have arisen from the concerns/queries are raised as appropriate.

Ensure that all PALS and complaints activity is logged onto the incident and risk management system (Datix) and that the electronic records are well maintained and updated as required.

Be aware of users individual needs, i.e., language/communication and responds appropriately to the specific requirements to access services.

Organise Complaints and PALS meetings and ensure that the individual has an audio recording and written prcis of the meeting.

Claims Liaise with all levels of staff across the organisation in order to assist with ensuring that Claims are handled speedily and effectively, in line with Trust process and the Civil Procedure Rules.

Support the team in the day-to-day management of Claims received by the Trust.

To assist in obtaining all relevant documentation, information, and reports to assist the legal advisors in assessing liability and quantum of claims.

Assist in maintaining comprehensive records on the incident and risk management system (Datix) recording the type of and subject of claim outcomes and learning, status, and financial information.

Inquests To assist with the day-to-day handling of Inquests, liaising directly with the Coroners Office as well as Trust employees to assist in the smooth running of the process.

To request and receive reports for the Coroner from appropriate staff ensuring that staff receive appropriate support and guidance in providing such reports. To keep staff involved and updated on developments and progress in Inquests.

To assist in the review of written reports to ensure they are of a high quality.

Ensure that the tracking sheet monitoring the progress of Inquests is updated. Ensure that the electronic records are well maintained and updated as required.

General The post holder will need to be able to prioritise their own workload and work with some independence to ensure the needs of the service are met and that all standards are complied with. There are likely to be frequent interruptions because of the need to respond to PALS queries in a timely way. The post holder will be expected to work to clearly defined procedures.

The successful applicant will be expected to organise agendas for committee meetings and minute those meetings, ensuring that all attendees receive a copy of the minutes and any identified actions.

Provide support as required by senior members of the Quality and Standards team in the absence of the Complaints and Claims Manager.Promote good patient experience and the philosophy that every contact is an opportunity for learning by preparing posters, setting up displays and attending departmental meetings to advise on best practice etc.

About us

The Christie is one of Europe's leading cancer centres, looking after more than 64,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 25% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country.

We are the largest radiotherapy provider in the NHS with one in 20 treatments delivered at The Christie. We have up to 15 linear accelerators operating across our network of sites. We operate the largest chemotherapy unit in the UK on our main site and treatments are also provided at 13 other networked sites, and in patients homes. And as a specialist tertiary surgical centre, we focus on rare cancers, complex procedures, and multidisciplinary approaches to cancer surgery, specialising in colorectal, peritoneal, gynaecological, urological and plastic surgery.

We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We have been named by the UK's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), as one of the best hospitals providing opportunities for patients to participate in clinical research studies, with more than 800 studies open at any time, caring for over 3,000 patients.