Cancer Support Worker - Colorectal Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Antistatique; Dorchester; Hybrid; GBP 24,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in healthcare is seeking a dedicated Cancer Support Worker to join their Colorectal team at Dorset County Hospital. This full-time role offers a unique opportunity to work closely with patients affected by cancer, providing essential support and coordination throughout their treatment journey. The ideal candidate will possess recent clinical experience and a strong commitment to patient care. With the flexibility of working from home up to two days a week, this position allows for a balanced work-life dynamic while making a significant impact on patients' lives. If you are passionate about cancer care and thrive in a collaborative environment, this role is perfect for you.

Benefits

Flexible Working Hours

Supportive Work Environment

Professional Development Opportunities

Qualifications

• Recent clinical experience in a health or social care setting is necessary.
• Knowledge of caring for adults with acute or chronic illness is essential.

Responsibilities

• Support and coordinate the needs of patients diagnosed with cancer.
• Conduct holistic needs assessments and care planning.
• Deliver health and wellbeing clinics for patients affected by cancer.

Skills

Cancer Care

Communication Skills

Holistic Needs Assessment

Care Planning

Patient Support

Team Collaboration

Education

Clinical Experience in Health or Social Care

Knowledge of Caring for Adults with Illness

Tools

Trust Wide Systems (SCR, PAS, PACS, ICE)

EPR Systems

Job description

An opportunity has arisen to appoint a full-time Cancer Support Worker for the Colorectal team at Dorset County Hospital, working with patients affected by cancer. This post offers a great opportunity for interested and suitably qualified people to experience working in the field of cancer care.

The support worker will work with the CNS's and other members of the MDT to support patients affected by cancer. The role will include direct communication with patients, their families, and other healthcare professionals.

A fundamental part of the role will be to help deliver core elements of the personalised care agenda, including undertaking holistic needs assessments, care planning, collating treatment summaries, and facilitating health and wellbeing events. The role will involve supporting patients on a remote monitoring pathway.

Recent clinical experience in a health or social care setting is necessary along with knowledge and experience of caring for adults with acute or chronic illness. Ideally, the post holder will have experience working with cancer although this is not essential.

The post holder will be based at DCH but will be expected to work from home up to 2 days a week to fit with the needs of the service.

A part-time role will also be considered.

If the candidate opts for full-time hours, there will be an element of administrative work.

1. In collaboration with Clinical Nurse Specialists, support and coordinate the needs of patients diagnosed with cancer, during and after completion of treatment.
2. Coordinate the necessary assessments, investigations, and appointments required prior to patients starting treatment.
3. Co-ordinate the transfer of care between service teams, or facilitation of service provision across interfaces of care – for example primary and secondary care.
4. Refer and sign post to the clinical team as appropriate for higher-level decisions.
5. Triage incoming calls from patients and initiate appropriate responses based on clear protocols and frameworks.
6. Monitor, audit and report response times to inbound telephone calls.
7. Contribute to the holistic needs assessment, care plan, and review of patients in line with practitioner guidance, protocols, and procedures.
8. Evaluate outcomes of care & support with a registered nurse.
9. Make pre-planned outbound telephone calls to patients under the guidance of the registered healthcare professional.
10. Contribute to the clinical/quality management team reviews of any issues in relation to the patient pathway.
11. Support the clinical teams to produce timely treatment summaries for patients and GP’s.
12. Take a pivotal role in delivering health and wellbeing clinics and activities for people affected by cancer.

At DCHFT, we pride ourselves on the care we provide for our patients, and on the culture we are creating for our staff. We work hard to create a fair, inclusive environment for our staff.

Our Mission is to provide outstanding care for people in ways which matter to them, and our vision is Dorset County Hospital, working with our health and social care partners, will be at the heart of improving the well-being of our communities.

We are a Trust that celebrates diversity, and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We welcome applications from people in all under-represented groups.

Responsibility for Patients

1. Provide support to patients diagnosed with cancer.
2. Identify and maintain databases of all patients stratified as low risk.
3. Once deemed competent in terms of knowledge, provide advice and information for patients and their relatives/carers.
4. Working collaboratively with colleagues to ensure relevant cancer targets are met, including holistic needs assessments, treatment summaries, and necessary surveillance plans for low-risk patients.
5. Communication with patients to ensure they are kept up to date and informed as appropriate of their diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up plan.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development

1. With the support of the clinical nurse specialist, plan and organise workload and activities – ability to adapt and re-prioritise at short notice.
2. Once deemed competent in terms of specialist knowledge and skills, take an active role in the delivery of health and wellbeing events for patients affected by cancer.
3. Keep comprehensive and accurate documentation in line with trust policy.

Responsibility for Financial and Physical Resources

1. The post-holder is responsible to ensure that all areas of work give consideration to the financial impact and to keep this at a minimum.
2. Personal duty of care to ensure any equipment used is used appropriately.

Responsibility for Staff

1. The post-holder is responsible to ensure any staff allocated to work with them, are given comprehensive and high-quality information regarding all aspects of the service being provided by the post holder.
2. To work closely with all members of the multidisciplinary team, but especially the cancer nurse specialists to promote seamless, supportive care pathways for people affected by cancer.

Responsibility for Information Resources

1. Conversant with Trust wide systems to enable data input and retrieval (ie SCR, PAS, PACS, ICE).
2. Conversant with systems outside the trust such as EPR (Poole).
3. Complies at all times with the Trust and National data protection and Confidentiality policies.

Responsibility for Research and Development

1. To collect necessary data for audit purposes as agreed by the clinical nurse specialist.
2. As soon as it is known by the post holder, to inform the research department if patients on clinical trials are admitted to hospital.

This advert closes on Thursday 12 Dec 2024.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.