Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)/Complaint

NHS Professionals; Exeter; On-site; GBP 16,000 - 19,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

24/7 support

Multi-location shifts

Shift portal access

Training opportunities

Holiday allowance

Pension scheme

Job summary

NHS Professionals is seeking a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)/Complaints Officer to support Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust at Stoke Mandeville or Amersham Hospital. 30 hours per week, Mon–Fri 9am–5pm or 8am–4pm.

3-month duration with a patient-facing role handling enquiries by phone, email, letter and face-to-face. You’ll work with the Patient Relations Manager to deliver a high-quality PALS/Complaints service, learn NHS processes, and contribute to service improvement within a

Qualifications

• Patience and calmness when dealing with patients and families.
• Strong communication and counselling skills are essential.
• Ability to manage sensitive information confidentially.
• Proficiency in NHS systems and basic IT tools, including MS Office.

Responsibilities

• Be the first point of contact for patients, carers and families.
• Log cases in Datix and assign PALS/Complaints numbers.
• Maintain timely updates and ensure cases progress to resolution.
• Collaborate with the Complaints Team and escalate as needed.
• Document communications and chase updates from managers.

Skills

Patience under pressure

Strong communication

Confidential handling

NHS systems

MS Office

Tools

Careflow

Datix

Job description

Job Title: Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)/Complaint

Trust Location: Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Location: Stoke Mandeville Hospital or Amersham Hospital – flexible and willing to work at either location.

Hours: 30 hours per week

Working Pattern: Monday- Friday, 9AM - 5pm, 8AM- 4PM

Duration: 3 Months

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE POST

The Patient Relations Officer (PALS)/Complaints is a patient-facing role helping patients with detailed enquiries by telephone, email, letter and face-to-face.

Key aspects of this role will be to work with the Patient Relations Manager to provide a patient service on behalf of Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust as well as managing PALS and complaints casework.

You’ll learn the following whilst working at the trust:

• An in depth understanding of the roles and responsibilities involved in working within the NHS
• Knowledge of the systems used, to effectively complete your role to the highest standard at all times
• A sense of teamwork, gained through working alongside and supporting colleagues from all levels, within the organisation.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Support and fulfill national complaints and PALS/Complaints requirements

• Support implementation of complaints/PALS policies
• Ensure PALS cases are handled according to best practice, national directions, regulations and standards.
• Work with the PALS and Complaints lead to develop the service
• Work collaboratively with local colleagues, Healthwatch and NHS England to ensure a seamless PALS/Complaints service can be provided to patients/public Collect data that can feed into regular PALS and Complaints reports
• Identify and recommend actions where issues indicate a need for improvement and feed this into the quality assurance process.
• Work with colleagues and line manager to identify areas for change and recommend actions to resolve problems and review practice.

1. Initial Contact and Case Logging

• Act as the first point of contact for patients, carers, and families with concerns or queries.
• Log cases in Datix and assign PALS/Complaints case numbers.
• Acknowledge receipt of concerns within 24 hours.

2. Case Management and Resolution

• Keep cases open until a clear outcome is confirmed.
• Use systems like Careflow to check and relay information.
• Liaise with Service Managers (SMs) for updates and escalated unresolved concerns to General Managers (GMs).

3. Communication and Follow-Up

• Maintain clear and timely communication with patients, including updates and estimated timeframes.
• Confirm with patients whether they wish to escalation unresolved concerns into formal complaints.
• Close cases only after resolution or patient confirmation.

4. Collaboration and Escalation

• Work closely with the Complaints Team to triage and escalation cases appropriately.
• Participate in meetings such as PALS/Complaints Catch Up and Patient Experience team meetings

5. Documentation and Reporting

• Log all email correspondence and maintain accurate records.
• Chase updates from SMs for unresolved concerns.
• Ensure compliance with CQC Regulation 16 and internal SOPs.

You’ll have the following skills/experience:

• Patience and calmness under pressure.
• Strong communication and counselling skills.
• Ability to manage sensitive information confidentially.
• Proficiency in NHS systems and basic IT tools.System Knowledge – MS Office package

As a member of NHS Professionals, you have fantastic benefits:

• Competitive pay rates- work this week, get paid next week
• Essential support when you need it- 24/7 365 days- call us anytime
• Multi locational- work across neighbouring Trusts
• Manage your shifts and timesheets on the go- access your “My Bank” shift portal anywhere, anytime online or through your smartphone
• Varied working options to suit your lifestyle- access to the Bank gives you options of ad hoc shifts or longer-term placements
• Training and development opportunities- Keep up with the essentials and more
• Build holiday allowance for every shift you work- your work life balance is important to us
• Stakeholder pension scheme available- a flexible future for you and yours

Who are NHS Professionals?

We specialise in putting people in place to care. Every year we help thousands of dedicated candidates and highly skilled NHS workers enjoy better career opportunities, access to more shifts and a healthier work-life balance, giving more choice and control to our members.

As an equal opportunities’ organisation, NHSP is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective Bank members and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender reassignment, or marriage and civil partnership. We believe there is a strong case for the Equality, Diversity and inclusion agenda and we strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants form a range of backgrounds to apply.

Disclaimer

Please note, you will be contacted by email throughout the recruitment process, so please check your emails, including your junk/spam regularly. We regret we cannot contact everyone who is not selected for an interview, therefore if you do not hear from us within 21 days after submitting your application, please assume you have not been successful on this occasion