Discharge Facilitator (Nursing or AHP)

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking healthcare organization as a Discharge Facilitator, where you will play a vital role in enhancing patient care by coordinating discharges for complex cases. This role emphasizes effective communication and collaboration with various healthcare professionals to ensure seamless transitions from hospital to home. You will utilize your clinical expertise to advocate for patients, improve their discharge experience, and contribute to best practices in patient care. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of patients while working in a supportive and dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Professional registration with NMC or HCPC required.
• Experience in complex discharge management is essential.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and oversee the discharge process for complex patients.
• Ensure clear communication with patients and multidisciplinary teams.

Skills

Effective leadership skills

Excellent verbal and written communication

Ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team

Negotiation skills

Innovative thinking

Time management

Education

Degree level qualification

Job description

Job Overview

Join Our Team as a Discharge Facilitator!

We are looking for a dedicated and compassionate Discharge Facilitator to join our team at WICU & the Seacole Community Hospital. In this new, key role, you will be responsible for coordinating and overseeing the discharge process for our most complex patients, ensuring safe, timely, and seamless transitions from our community hospital to home or other care settings.

As a key point of contact for patients, families, and multidisciplinary teams, you will use your clinical experience and expertise to facilitate clear communication, support complex discharges, and collaborate with a variety of professionals including health, social care, and voluntary sector colleagues. You will work to enhance patient experience, improve continuity of care, and ensure that discharge planning is carried out in line with best practices and national guidelines.

We are looking for

• An individual with a professional registration (for example NMC, HCPC) with significant experience of complex discharge management
• An individual with a vision to improve the experience that our service users have of going home
• A capable practitioner who can work clinically, travel between sites and attend meetings essential for flow and discharge planning
• An excellent communicator and patient advocate who can work with service users, their families, carers, MDT and MK System Partners
  
  

Main duties of the job

The Discharge Facilitator uses clinical expertise to enhance patient care and support families, carers, and healthcare professionals in ensuring safe discharge planning. This role acts as the central point of contact for coordinating and managing the discharge process for patients across WICU and Seacole.

The Discharge Facilitator’s main goals are to reduce unnecessarily long hospital stays and improve patient experience, ensuring continuity of care by serving as the single point of contact for complex discharges, whenever possible, and providing clear communication with patients, families, and carers.

The Discharge Facilitator will need to provide assessments and set individualised goals that are essential for getting people home. The practitioner is expected to carry out any relevant clinical duties with competence and expertise working flexibly across the Seacole Community Hospital and WICU settings.

Working for our organisation

There’s a place for you at CNWL.

We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.

Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people.

We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.

With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you're at, there's always a place for you at CNWL.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

Be the key point of contact for arranging a patients discharge and overseeing the coordination of the discharge process.

• To ensure communication is clear and carried out in a way that consistently displays professionalism at all times to ensure effective working relationships with colleagues, clients/patients and other professionals/agencies.
  
  

Direct liaison with the NHS Continuing Health Care Assessment team and contribution to CHC assessments and DST meetings.

Direct liaison with the Housing team(s) to ensure timely management of discharge for those who are homeless and in need of a duty to refer and housing input.

Overseeing the booking of transport, referrals and other services that are needed for getting people home.

The post holder will communicate in person, via telephone calls, emails and MS Teams and ensure information is provided and received in line with GDPR and Information Governance. This will require high levels of interpersonal skills and a level of tact and empathy. This will also require advising and signposting to appropriate services.

Provide a presence and support across WICU and Seacole to facilitate safe and timely discharges from the hospital including attendance at board rounds to partake in setting Provisional/ Planned Date of Discharge and identify and resolve any barriers to achieving Planned Date of Discharge.

To report daily into the WICU, Seacole and Home 1st Unplanned Care management updates on patients discharges.

Provide Information and support to patients, families and staff in relation to complex patients discharge from initial contact to 72 hours post discharge

Lead and/or participate in MDT meetings, discharge planning/professional and best interest meetings to support patient discharge

Work alongside the other members of the teams to promote WICU and Seacole’s role in discharge planning. This involves educating and empowering other professionals to be involved in discharge planning.

Work with the MDT to implement discharge requirements for each patient on admission to the ward and ensure early referrals.

Recording all information regarding the patient in the electronic patients records.

Being accountable to your own professional organisation working in collaboration with health, social care and Voluntary Community and Social sector professionals to ensure safe and seamless discharges for patients from WICU and The Seacole Community Hospital.

Adhere to the clinical governance systems within the Trust, working at all times to improve the quality of patient care.

Participate in the development and delivery of training and education to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviors of other professionals across WICU & Seacole.

Ensure that patient communication is maintained as integral to all the work of WICU and Seacole ensure that patients/NoK/carers are asked what they require on discharge and are kept updated of discharge plans.

Maintain good working relationships with other health and social care professionals, including Voluntary Care Sector (VCSE), to promote collaborative working to support discharge processes.

Contributing to the daily and national discharge sitrep data in line with information support teams by updating board round proforma and Length of Stay Application and generating appropriate data reports.

Participate in own supervision and the supervision of others if applicable at a minimum of once of every eight weeks

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Member of a Profession specific body (NMC/HCPC)
• Degree level qualification
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Practice Supervisor/ Assessor or profession equivalent
  
  

Experience

Essential criteria

• Multidisciplinary working
• Clinical/ operational Experience
• Previous knowledge and practice of complex discharge planning
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Previous knowledge/experience of discharge co-ordination
  
  

Skills

Essential criteria

• Effective leadership skills.
• Has excellent verbal and written communication
• Ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Facilitator of plans
• Innovative
• Effective negotiation skills
• Ability to challenge decision-making in a constructive manner
• Car driver with access to a car for work
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Change management ability
• Undertake Audits to improve the service
  
  

Personal and people development

Essential criteria

• Aware of current issues in relation to supported discharge and admission avoidance and new advancements in the discharge process in the NHS
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Experience of change Management
• Leadership course or equivalent experience
  
  

Communication

Essential criteria

• Team player
• Ability to work under pressure
• Good time management
• Pro-active