Patient Advice & Liaison (PALS) & Complaints Officer *Internal*

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust; Carlisle; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33

NHS Discounts

Salary Sacrifice schemes including le*

Vivup counselling

Job summary

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting an internal Patient Advice & Liaison (PALS) & Complaints Officer to handle informal and formal complaints, provide information to patients and relatives, and support timely resolutions in line with policy and legislation.

The role requires empathy, excellent organisation, and the ability to identify themes to drive improvements in patient experience. Internal candidates only, with potential relocation support.

Qualifications

• Experience in a customer service environment.
• Experience with difficult conversations.
• Ability to manage confidential information.
• Knowledge of NHS complaints procedures.
• Proficient IT skills including Microsoft Office.

Responsibilities

• Receive, acknowledge and record complaints from patients, carers and visitors to the Trust.
• Provide information and signpost to Trust services to resolve issues.
• Draft responses to complaints verbally or in writing.
• Identify themes to drive service improvements.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Confidentiality

IT skills

Microsoft Office

Education

GCSE English & Maths

QCF 4 in customer service or business administration

Tools

MS Word

MS Excel

Outlook

Job description

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

Patient Advice & Liaison (PALS) & Complaints Officer *Internal*

The closing date is 13 November 2026

INTERNAL ONLY TO NORTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (NCIC) EMPLOYEES ONLY

Are you passionate about ensuring our patients, their relatives and friends have outstanding experience of our care? - then an exciting opportunity has arisen to become a full time Patient Advice & Liaison (PALS) Complaints Officer where you will need to provide a high level of customer service to patients, relatives and visitors who may need information, advice and support about Trust Services. The postholder will provide support to complainants by processing PALS informal complaints and formal complaints in line with Trust policy and National Legislation, work collaboratively with services to provide updates on their caseload. Support with providing responses to complaints verbally or in a written response and identifying themes of complaints to allow the collaboratives to make improvements.

Main duties of the job

PALS & Complaint officers support and signpost people with concerns or queries to ensure timely resolution of issues.

The successful applicant will act as a point of contact for Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) & Complaints role in the team and provide a seamless service for patients and carers / family members wishing to raise concerns and complaints.

The PALS & Complaints officer will receive, acknowledge and accurately record complaints from patients, carers and visitors to the Trust, listening to concerns raised, acting quickly to liaise with Trust staff to facilitate early resolution where possible or processing complaints via the formal route.

The post holder will efficiently record communication with enquirers and ensure that feedback records are updated until they are able to be closed.

We are looking for an empathetic and compassionate individual with excellent organisational skills who is passionate about using feedback to improve patient care to join the Patient Experience Team.

Please see the description for full details of role.

About us

At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding healthcare services to the population of North Cumbria. The Trust is committed to creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout our county.

Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of 'safe, high quality care every time':

• Being a clinically led organisation
• Quality and safety at the heart of our Trust
• A positive patient experience every time
• A great place to work
• Managing our money well

As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.

Across the North East and North Cumbria we are working together to deliver our ambition to be the greenest region in England by 2030. All staff are expected to support sustainability.

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.

Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment.Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed. For further information visit theUK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligible vacancies.

Disclosure and Barring Service:

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.

The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:

Standard Check: £20.00 + Administration cost of £6.50 = £26.50. Deducted from salary over a 4 month period or a one-off payment.

Enhanced Check: £41.00 + administration cost of £6.50 = £47.50. Deducted from salary over a 4 month period or a one-off payment.

NCIC can offer successful future employees the following benefits:

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years

NHS Discounts*

Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work*

Vivup is a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems

*Subject to eligibility

Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.

If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.

Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• A good all-round standard of education (including GCSE or equivalent passes in English and Maths).
• QCF 4 in customer service or business administration or equivalent.

Knowledge and Experience

• Experience of working in a customer service environment.
• Experience of difficult conversations
• Manage the requirements of the post under own initiative while referring to Trust policies and national guidelines
• Deal tactfully and discreetly with matters of a confidential and sensitive nature.
• Experience of using Microsoft office.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Able to work in an environment which leads to frequent indirect exposure to distressing and emotional events.
• Able to recognise the needs of service users in regard of complaints and patient experience.
• Experience of facilitation and presenting.
• Demonstrate knowledge of complaints process
• Demonstrate a knowledge of effective customer care skills.
• Knowledge of legal issues affecting areas of work including safeguarding.
• Knowledge of CQC Key Lines of Enquiry.
• Knowledge of the NHS complaints Procedure 2009
• Working in the healthcare setting
• Dealing with complaints

Skills and Aptitudes

• Sensitive to the needs of patients, carers and their families, whilst possessing a balanced, non-judgemental attitude.
• Able to maintain a high level of confidentiality at all times.
• Ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines.
• Confident telephone manner and good interpersonal skills.
• Ability to produce a good standard of written communications that are clear, concise with good attention to detail.
• Positive regard for teamwork.
• Demonstrate a good understanding of the values behind patient and carer involvement.
• Effective IT skills including in Microsoft office - word, excel and outlook.
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Good telephone manner.
• Effective written and verbal communication.
• Able to prioritise workload and meet the demands of the patient experience team.

Other Requirements

• Support equality and value diversity.
• Willing to work flexibly travel to various locations across the county, and attend meetings and training as required.

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.

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust