Eye Care Liaison Officer (ECLO) - Burton

NHS; Burton upon Trent; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading charity for sight loss in Burton upon Trent seeks an Eye Care Liaison Officer to provide essential emotional support and guidance to patients affected by sight loss. The successful candidate will play a critical role in developing referral pathways within health services and ensuring effective communication while maintaining accurate patient records. Strong IT skills and an ability to work independently are essential for this rewarding position.

Benefits

26 days holiday plus bank holidays

Enhanced family friendly benefits

Contributory pension scheme with up to 11% employer contribution

Employee discounts across over 800 retailers

Qualifications

• Proven experience of delivering information and advice services.
• Experience in health, social care or community support services.
• Ability to work independently and manage time effectively.

Responsibilities

• Provide emotional support and guidance to patients.
• Develop referral pathways with health and community services.
• Maintain accurate patient records and adhere to GDPR policies.

Skills

Advanced communication skills

IT literacy with Microsoft 365

Experience in delivering person-centred support

Organisational and time management skills

Ability to influence other professionals

Job description

Eye Care Liaison Officer (ECLO) - Burton

Were the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and were here for everyone affected by sight loss. Working for us means working for one of the UKs biggest charities, supporting almost two million people living with sight loss in the UK.

RNIB is leading the creation of a world where there are no barriers for people with sight loss. One of our key priorities is to ask people to see sight loss differently, reversing inaccurate perceptions and changing public behaviours so everyone expects equal participation from people with sight loss and the creation of a fully accessible society.

RNIB is pleased to announce this exciting opportunity to join our Eye Care Support Service in Staffordshire. This is a rewarding role providing the right individual the opportunity to make a difference every day working with people affected by sight loss.

You will provide critical emotional support, information and guidance face to face within a hospital setting, remotely via digital platforms and in community locations, as required. Each day you will support people affected by sight loss to identify their needs, access information and make informed choices which enable and empower them to maintain their independence.

Admin tasks are a large part of this role, you will create and input accurate patient records into a variety of databases and use Microsoft 365 each day.

Main duties of the job

What we are looking for

You will have proven experience of delivering information and advice services working directly with the people you are supporting as well as maintaining professional relationships. Key to this role will be your excellent communication and relationship building skills with patients, clinicians and a wide range of cross sector partners.

You will have the ability to work in different hospital locations as required.

You should be confident to work on your own initiative, have excellent organisational skills and be a confident user of IT systems. Impeccable record keeping skills are also key to this role.

As an RNIB ECLO, you will also complete the RNIB & City University Eye Clinic Support Studies qualification: essential for the role, access to Clinical Supervision, peer support and the opportunity to support RNIBs priority of no diagnosis without support.

What We Offer

RNIB prides itself on being a great place to work with a positive, progressive culture. We offer a wide range of benefits including 26 days of holiday per year (plus bank holidays) which rises with service, enhanced family friendly benefits, a contributory pension scheme with an employer contribution of up to 11% and a rewards platform with employee discounts across over 800 retailers.

About us

HOW TO APPLY:

To be considered, candidates are required to submit their CV and a Supporting Statement which responds to the following:

Question 1What interests you about being an ECLO and what skills and qualities do you feel you would bring to the role?

Question 2 -Using examples, tell us about your experience in delivering advice or information services.

Question 3 -Using examples, demonstrate how you have worked with people using person-centred care approach.

Question 4 -Using examples, tell us how you have worked with colleagues across health, social care or community services demonstrating your understanding of each professionals role.

Question 5 -Using examples and highlighting your communication styles and skills, tells us about your experience of influencing or motivating other professionals, resulting in positive outcomes for customers.

Question 6 -Using examples please demonstrate your IT Literacy, knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 and your understanding of the importance of Information Governance in handling customer records.

Job responsibilities

Responsible for:

In this role, you will be a vital member of the team workingdirectly with people diagnosed with conditions causing sight loss, their familymembers and carers.

You will provide critical emotional support, information andguidance face to face within hospital settings, in community locations and viatelephone or digital platforms as required.

Each day you will support people affected by sight loss toidentify their needs, access information and make informed choices which enableand empower them to maintain their independence.

You will be critical in developing referral pathways andpartnerships with Statutory and Third Sector partners, NHS Eye Care Servicesand community-based partners to develop referral routes, relationships andpartnership working to support the needs of people living with a sightcondition.

No budgetresponsibility.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Provideadvice, information, practical and emotional support, to people of all agesaffected by sight loss.

2. Providea person-centred screening of needs by telephone, in person and via digitalplatforms, ensuring those affected by sight loss feel more confident aboutwhere and how to get support, advice and guidance, signposting and referringpatients to a wide range of services and organisations, as identified in thescreening of needs.

3. Developpositive working relationships to establish and maintain referral routes with arange of health, statutory and third sector organisations.

4. Providebasic visual awareness training to eye clinic staff and others asrequired.

5. Toprovide information and guidance on the certification and registration processfor people with sight loss. To support eye clinic staff with the processing ofthe Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI)

6. Maintainan up-to-date and comprehensive relating servicesavailable for people with sight loss.

7. Supportpatients, family and carers with advice on falls prevention and refer toavailable services where appropriate.

8. Whenneeded, act as an advocate for patients to navigate the complexities of thesight loss pathway to ensure they receive appropriate services.

9. Collateand maintain accurate patient records, inputting quality data, using multipleIT systems. Undertake high-quality case recording in line with the higheststandards and best practice principles, whilst ensuring compliance with allGDPR and information governance policies and procedures.

10.Engage patients, their family members or carersto gather feedback on the ECLO service. Positively contribute to RNIBevaluation, monitoring and continuous improvement of the service.

11.Attend clinical audit meetings, steering groups,forums and other events to promote the benefits of the service.

12.Positively contribute to a range of local andnational ECLO team meetings, networks, training and information events. Attendmandatory ECLO seminars and take responsibility for own CPD.

13.Ensure that specific safeguarding risks, GDPRand regulatory requirements are understood, applied and managed in line withrelevant NHS and RNIB policies.

14.Support volunteers within the ECLO service andwider RNIB activities, where appropriate.

15.Undertake any other duties as required for therole

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Skills and Experience Required
• Proven experience of delivering information and advice services, preferably within a health, social care or community setting.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering person-centred support to customers and their family and carers.
• Demonstrable experience of working in health, social care or community support services and understanding the functions of their practitioners.
• Proven advanced communication skills, including positively influencing other professionals across health, social care or community services.
• Demonstrable IT literacy with proven experience of working with Office 365 and bespoke systems whilst adhering to GDPR Information Governance Policies and maintaining appropriate customer records.
• Ability to organise and manage time effectively and to prioritise workload in order to meet deadlines.
• Flexibility and adaptability in order to meet the demands of the role and to work within varying locations and different settings.
• Self-motivation and an ability to work independently and on own initiative.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in a structured way and with a range of individuals, both verbally and in writing.
• Experience of the preparation and delivery of presentations to varied audiences in a manner which meets their needs.
• Ability to listen to and have empathy with patients whilst remaining impartial and non-judgemental.
• For ECLOs working in Wales the ability to speak Welsh is desirable but not essential.
• May be required to travel and attend meetings and training as required. This may involve occasional overnight stays.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.