Hospice at Home Co-Team LeadNHS

Job summary

As a Hospice at Home Team Lead, you will provide clinical and operational leadership across our Hospice at Home service, working in partnership with a second Team Lead to deliver outstanding specialist palliative and end-of-life care across the Rowans Hospice catchment area.

As an experienced autonomous practitioner, you will lead urgent end-of-life assessments, coordinate complex care, provide expert symptom management, and support patients and those important to them to remain in their preferred place of care whenever possible. Working collaboratively with GPs, community teams, hospitals and other specialist services, you will help ensure seamless, compassionate care and timely discharge into the community.

This role also offers the opportunity to undertake Non-Medical Prescriber (NMP) training, where required, enabling you to further enhance the timely delivery of end-of-life symptom management.

Main duties of the job

• Provide visible clinical leadership, supporting and developing the Hospice at Home team to deliver safe, compassionate, high-quality care.
• Lead urgent end-of-life assessments and coordinate care for patients with complex palliative care needs in their own homes and other community settings.
• Deliver expert symptom management and specialist clinical advice to patients, families and healthcare professionals.
• Work closely with GPs, community nursing teams, hospitals and wider multidisciplinary partners to ensure coordinated, patient-centred care.
• Manage referrals, prioritise caseloads and allocate resources to ensure an effective and responsive service.
• Contribute to the strategic development and continuous improvement of the Hospice at Home service.
• Support the recruitment, induction, education and professional development of colleagues, acting as a positive role model and mentor.
• Ensure high standards of clinical governance by maintaining accurate records, participating in audit and quality improvement, and working in accordance with the NMC Code, hospice policies and safeguarding responsibilities.
• Champion excellence in palliative and end-of-life care, promoting best practice across the organisation and the wider healthcare community.

Job description

Key Areas of Responsibility / Key AccountabilitiesClinical

• Deliver and oversee clinical treatments and procedures in line with current evidence-based practice.
• Undertake comprehensive assessments of patients and those important to them, identifying needs and referring to appropriate internal and external services.
• Provide specialist advice and support on symptom control, palliative care and care management to healthcare professionals.
• Administer, prescribe (where qualified), order and store medicines safely, reporting medication incidents in accordance with Hospice policy.
• Complete and discuss Lilac Trust-wide uDNACPR documentation following accreditation and competency requirements.
• Verify expected deaths, provide care after death, and support families in accordance with community procedures.
• Maintain accurate, timely and legally compliant clinical records.
• Recognise, report and contribute to the management of safeguarding concerns, complaints and clinical incidents.
• Complete bereavement vulnerability assessments and associated documentation.
• Maintain clinical competencies, including medicines management and other mandatory clinical skills.
• Participate in the Palliative Care Support Hub duty clinician rota (one session per week).

ELERT (End of Life Emergency Response Team)

• Provide a rapid response to urgent end-of-life referrals, undertaking holistic assessments in patients' homes and acute hospital settings.
• Lead clinical decision-making and coordinate complex care plans in partnership with patients, families and the multidisciplinary team.
• Deliver expert symptom management, anticipatory care planning and specialist palliative care interventions.
• Act as a specialist resource for community colleagues, providing clinical advice and support.
• Develop and maintain competence as a Non-Medical Prescriber (where applicable), integrating prescribing safely into clinical practice.

Leadership & Coordination

• Provide clinical, operational and strategic leadership for the Hospice at Home service, supporting its ongoing development and contributing to wider system initiatives.
• Manage referrals, prioritise caseloads and allocate staffing and resources to ensure safe, responsive and effective service delivery.
• Escalate operational risks or service pressures to the Clinical Lead or Clinical Director as appropriate.
• Lead, support and develop the Hospice at Home team through effective recruitment, induction, supervision, appraisal and wellbeing initiatives.
• Facilitate effective communication through regular team meetings and multidisciplinary working.
• Coordinate complex patient care, discharge planning and partnership working across health and social care organisations.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with patients, families, carers and partner organisations.
• Promote compassionate, person-centred care and a positive, supportive working environment.
• Support effective budget management and the efficient use of resources.

Education & Service Development

• Role model clinical excellence and compassionate leadership.
• Support the education, supervision and development of colleagues, students and external healthcare professionals.
• Maintain own professional development and undertake structured training towards the Non-Medical Prescriber qualification, where required.
• Contribute to clinical audit, research, quality improvement and service development initiatives to support continuous improvement.

Governance & Professional Standards

• Deliver care in accordance with the NMC Code, Hospice policies, clinical governance standards and relevant legislation.
• Promote patient safety through effective risk management, infection prevention and control, health and safety, safeguarding and information governance.
• Ensure compliance with data protection and patient confidentiality requirements.
• Contribute to the development and monitoring of clinical standards, service performance and organisational objectives.
• Participate in audits, service evaluation and quality assurance activities to support continuous improvement.

About us

Rowans Hospice is a local charity providing free specialist palliative and end-of-life care to adults living with a life-limiting illness across Portsmouth and South East Hampshire. Since opening in 1994, we have supported thousands of patients and those important to them, helping people live as well as possible, for as long as possible.

Everything we do is made possible through the generosity of our local community, whose support comes through donations, fundraising, gifts in Wills and our network of retail shops.

Our care extends far beyond our inpatient unit. Through our Hospice at Home, Living Well and Family Support services, we provide expert care, advice and emotional support from diagnosis, throughout a person's illness, and into bereavement. We believe hospice care is about living well, supporting people to achieve the best possible quality of life and respecting their wishes every step of the way.

Our dedicated staff are supported by an incredible team of volunteers from all walks of life, whose compassion, commitment and generosity are at the heart of everything we do. Together, we are committed to helping people live well to the end of life, with dignity, comfort and compassionate care.