Clinical Nurse Specialist - Triage Facilitator

Job summary

The Triage Facilitator will support specialist clinical telephone triage service for planned community palliative care referrals/calls across the St Giles Hospice catchment area. The service currently operates seven days a week between 08:00-17:00, visiting services Monday to Friday, utilising an office-based support line on weekends. The role will provide clinical triage leadership, supporting the management of complex care pathways, contributing to audit and service development.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will undertake timely specialist palliative care assessments by telephone in response to urgent presentations, prioritise incoming patients and referrals using agreed clinical guidelines and pathways, identify urgent or unmet needs, and coordinate safe and responsive care and support plans, liaising with the rest of the Community Team to facilitate appropriate response times to patient need.

Calls may be received from 111/999, GPs, allied health professionals, community, hospice, acute and virtual ward teams, as well as directly from patients, families and carers. Calls are expected to relate to patients already known to St Giles Hospice.

Working autonomously and in collaboration with internal colleagues, along with other community, primary care, acute and virtual ward colleagues, the post holder will support rapid assessment, clinical decision-making, or onward referrals where appropriate. Demonstration of clear communication with the multiprofessional team, accurate clinical record keeping, safe escalation of clinical risk, support to junior staff members and coordination of service flow is required.

About us

St Giles Hospice is a registered charity founded in 1983 by the Reverend Paul Brothwell, originally to improve the care of local people dying with cancer.

We now support patients, and their loved ones, living with a terminal illness. Our dedicated team provides individually-tailored care, free of charge, either at the hospice or in patients own homes across our communities.

We spend close to £10 million a year providing our specialist services. With less than a quarter of this funded by the Government, we rely heavily on donations and income generation from the local community.

Job responsibilities

The role entails but is not limited to:

Key responsibilities:

Prioritise and triage patients presenting with a range of conditions including palliative, EOL and acute conditions, making any necessary onward referrals in an appropriate manner.

Support the team in implementing and evaluating personalised care planning, providing individual specialised treatment plans, ReSPECT and advanced care planning for patients.

Support the team in providing specialist palliative care and support to patients and their families in the place they call home, as required and in accordance with evidence-based clinical practice.

Support the team in dealing with clinical emergencies.

Liaise with external services and agencies and the patients usual community teams to ensure

the patient continues to be supported appropriately.

Liaise with virtual ward teams to support timely assessment, shared care planning, escalation and safe community-based management where appropriate.

Delegate clinical responsibility appropriately, ensuring safe practice and that the task is within the individuals scope of practice.

Work closely with the St Giles at Home community teams in supporting the needs of all patients under the community services.

General management, supervision, teaching and training

Maintain and develop clinical skills and specialist palliative care knowledge through active participation in caseload management, in-house training, relevant external study days, and continuing professional development.

In conjunction with the line manager, establish and develop effective relationships with internal and external colleagues, agencies, and organisations to promote the clinical services offered by the Hospice.

Participate in clinical supervision.

Attend meetings within the hospice as required.

In conjunction with other clinical departments, participate in the delivery of training programmes regarding referral processes and the advice line for Hospice staff, external referrers and other interested groups.

Provide cover for colleagues as required and appropriate.

Maintain strict confidentiality in relation to staff, patient, and service information within St Giles Hospice.

Participate in risk assessment and contribute to the clinical and corporate governance agenda as appropriate.

Support and participate in shared learning within the system.

Continually review clinical practices, responding to national policies and initiatives where appropriate.

Participate in the review of significant and near-miss events applying a structured approach.

Participate in regular annual staff performance and development review.

Produce work of a high standard and always promote quality.

Uphold St Giles Hospice policies and its commitment to equal opportunities for all current and potential members of staff and patients.

Keep up to date on all matters relating to St Giles Hospice procedures and policies.

Adhere to the professional standards set by the relevant professional body, ensuring registration remains current and engaging in continuous professional development.

Uphold the Hospice philosophy, which is based on an interdisciplinary approach, and participate fully in this model of care.

Maintain accurate, timely and contemporaneous records in line with professional standards, information governance requirements, consent, confidentiality and data protection legislation.

Recognise and escalate concerns relating to deteriorating patients, urgent symptom management, medication-related queries, risk, safeguarding, or unsafe situations in accordance with Hospice policies and agreed clinical pathways.

Comply with lone working, community working and personal safety procedures where duties require contact with patients, families, carers or professionals outside the Hospice setting.

Demonstrate emotional resilience and seek appropriate support, supervision and debriefing when managing distressing, complex or sensitive conversations with patients, families, carers and professionals.

Work in accordance with the NMC Code, maintain current professional registration, and take responsibility for revalidation and continuing professional development.

Adhere to St Giles Hospice safeguarding policies and procedures, recognising and reporting concerns relating to adults, children, families or carers in line with statutory requirements.

Just so you know:

We may review applications before the application review date, however, if you apply after the application review date, your application may not be considered. We will accept applications until we have successfully filled the role, this may be earlier than the closing date.

If you have not heard within 14 days of the application close date, then please consider that your application has been unsuccessful at this time.

As part of your application your data will be managed in line with St Giles Hospice Privacy Policy and kept for 6 months. If you would like to see this in full, please visit https://www.stgileshospice.com/privacy-policy/

Person specification

Values

Essential

• Exhibits our hospice values and behaviours

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Empathetic
• Team player
• Able to work under pressure
• Collaborative
• Ambassador for St Giles Hospice

Qualifications

Essential

• NMC registered Nurse (Degree Level)
• Experience in Palliative Care

Experience

Essential

• Knowledge of Palliative and End of Life care
• Community working and services
• Clinical Assessment

Desirable

• Palliative and end of life qualifications
• Health Assessment qualification or working towards

Skills

Essential

• IT literacy
• Excellent telephone skills
• Good written and verbal communication skills with patients, carers, internal and external professionals

Desirable

• Use of previous health record systems (e.g Systmone)

Other requirements

Essential

• Valid driving licence
• Eligibility to work in the UK
• Please note that St Giles Hospice does not hold a sponsorship licence and is therefore unable to accept sponsorship requests