Patient Discharge Facilitator

St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Sefton; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is hiring a Patient Discharge Facilitator to support the Patient Flow Team.

This 30-hour-per-week role runs over 4 days, 8am–4pm, with one Saturday every 6–8 weeks, and requires teamwork and the ability to work independently. You will liaise with clinicians, social care and pharmacy to plan timely discharges, inform patients and carers, and update IT systems across the Trust.

Qualifications

• NVQ level 4+ in Health and Social Care or equivalent.
• Experience in acute and/or community settings.
• Experience in urgent care setting is desirable.
• Strong communication, numeracy and literacy skills.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with clinicians, social work teams and multidisciplinary colleagues to deliver a high quality discharge service.
• Coordinate accurate assessments of patient needs and discharge timescales.
• Provide discharge information to patients, relatives and carers clearly.
• Ensure TTOs are ready with pharmacy and arrange ambulance transport when needed.
• Attend discharge planning meetings and raise issues for timely resolution.
• Record discharge information accurately and communicate to the care team.

Skills

Excellent communication

IT competent

Numeracy and literacy

Teamwork and autonomy

Education

NVQ level 4+ in Health and Social care

Tools

Microsoft Office

Patient databases

Job description

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

The Patient Discharge Facilitator will provide an essential support service to the efficient running of The Patient Flow Team.

They must have the ability to work as part of a team as well as being able to work on their own initiative.

The post holder must have excellent communication skills, IT competent, be able to work well under pressure and prioritise their work load.

They will assist in the safe and timely discharge of patients from both Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals.

This post is for 30 hours per week over 4 days. 8am-4pm with 1 Saturday every 6-8 weeks.

Main duties of the job

• Work closely with clinicians, social work teams and multidisciplinary teams to deliver a high quality patient focused service.
• Liaise with multi-disciplinary teams to facilitate accurate assessments of patient's needs.
• Ensure that patients, relatives and carers are provided with information about discharge planning and that the information and timescales of the discharge are provided and understood.
• Liaise with pharmacy to ensure TTO's are ready for the patients discharge
• Liaise with ambulance control when ambulance transport is required for the patients discharge.
• Liaise with care/nursing homes to ensure timely assessments and completion of required documentation to facilitate discharge.
• Attend the regular discharge planning meetings and raise any relevant issues with the multi-disciplinary team to ensure resolution prior to discharge.
• Ensure that all relevant discharge information is recorded accurately, processed on time and is communicated to the multi-disciplinary team.
• Ensure awareness of the hospital discharge policies are communicated to all relevant parties.

Working for our organisation

The post holder will act as a competent and integral part of the team, supporting the medical and nursing team in the flow of patients out of the organisation from the Accident and Emergency department to the Rehabilitation wards.

They will liaise with key members of the multidisciplinary team, social services and partners to gain intelligence on actual or potential discharges and or barriers to discharges.

The post holder will be able to utilise and update the various IT systems available in the Trust to support the smooth flow of patients across the organisation.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please find attached job description and person specification for main responsibilities and requirements.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• NVQ level 4 or above in Health and Social care or Similar qualification or relevant experience.

Desirable criteria

• NVQ assessors' certificate

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience in an acute/community setting
• Experience in an urgent care setting
• Knowledge of nursing assessments and how to perform

Desirable criteria

• Clear knowledge of the discharge process
• Awareness of key national and local policies and their impact on practice
• Understanding and support of the benefits of clinical supervision and reflective practice

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to communicate both verbal and written
• Excellent numeracy and literacy skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to work both autonomously and as part of a team
• Ability to care for patient workload and manage their needs with supervision from registered discharge co-ordinator
• Ability to undertake nursing assessments and document clearly
• Flexible approach to the workplace
• Good knowledge of IT systems such as patient databases and Microsoft office suite
• Ability to handle sensitive or complex situations and resolve conflict
• Excellent negotiation and influencing skills

Other

Essential criteria

• Work pattern may be unpredictable and involves shift patterns
• The post may have some distressing circumstances when dealing with terminally ill, chronically sick, disabled patients, patient death.
• The post requires frequent exposure to unpleasant condition's, bodily fluids & smells.

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people's race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.