PALS Officer

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust; St Leonards; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A public healthcare service in the UK is seeking a PALS Officer to be the first point of contact for service users and families. This role involves handling queries and providing support in a professional and empathetic manner. Key responsibilities include managing communications, resolving concerns, and maintaining relationships with staff across the Trust. The ideal candidate will have exceptional communication skills and the ability to remain calm under pressure. This position offers various staff benefits including development and access to onsite services.

Benefits

NHS pension scheme

Access to onsite nurseries

Staff development opportunities

Onsite parking

Staff restaurants

Qualifications

• Ability to handle challenging situations with a calm demeanor.
• Experience in a public-facing role is advantageous.
• Capable of managing multiple tasks simultaneously.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the first point of contact for queries and concerns.
• Handle telephone enquiries from the public and patients.
• Conduct face-to-face meetings to provide support and guidance.
• Liaise with Trust staff to resolve first line enquiries.

Skills

Empathy

Exceptional communication skills

Conflict resolution

Attention to detail

Active listening

Job description

Job Overview

The PALS Officer is the first point of contact for Service Users and their family/friends to raise queries and concerns about the treatment and care we provide, or when they need advice and don't know where to turn and need signposting to other Services/Organisations. On average, the PALS Department at ESHT deals with approx. 550-600 enquiries a month via face to face contact, telephone and email. The role of the Officer is to ensure that these contacts are recorded correctly, escalated and monitored so resolution can be achieved within the informal process, in a timely manner and in line with the Trust Policies and Procedures. At times, you will be dealing with challenging situations and therefore it is vital that you are robust. Furthermore, and essential to the role are empathy, compassion and exceptional communication skills. These coupled with the capability to actively listen and be skilled in conflict resolution are essential attributes for this public facing role. A PALS Officer needs to be able to manage and co-ordinate several activities simultaneously whilst also demonstrating a high level of attention to detail and autonomy in a pressured environment. Please note that this role is based at Conquest but you may be required to travel to EDGH. Training however will be at EDGH.

Key Responsibilities

1. To provide a PALS function that acts as first port of call for the general public, patients under our care and their relatives and carers and is supportive, solution focussed manner, calm, polite and professional;
2. To handle telephone enquiries, queries and concerns from the general public, patients under our care and their families and carers in a calm, polite and professional manner and respond within agreed timescales;
3. To meet with members of the general public, patients under our care and their families and carers on a face-to-face basis in order to provide support, guidance and wherever possible, deliver resolutions to a range of enquiries, queries and concerns in an efficient and confident way, showing empathy and concern at all times;
4. To liaise with staff across the Trust at all levels in a professional manner to address and, wherever possible, resolve first line enquiries, queries and concerns with the best possible outcome in a timely manner;
5. To develop and sustain good working relationships with clinical and non-clinical staff within the Trust and in external partner organisations;
6. To be confident in handling and resolving enquiries, queries and concerns from individuals who may be distressed or angry in a calm, polite and professional manner;
7. To be flexible in working across the EDGH and CQ sites to work with either of the PALS offices;
8. To work autonomously and as part of the PALS team maintaining the professional standards expected, A wide range of staff benefits are available to our staff including staff development, enrolment in the NHS pension scheme, auto-enrolment to our Temporary Workforce Service, access to onsite nurseries. staff restaurants and accommodation.

Benefits and Working Arrangements

Staff development, enrolment in the NHS pension scheme, auto-enrolment to our Temporary Workforce Service, access to onsite nurseries, staff restaurants and accommodation. Onsite parking is available from only £50 a year.