VACANCY REFERENCE NUMBER: SCH-NUR-009
JOB TITLE: Head of Supportive Care
GRADE: Band 8a
LOCATION: 15 Boswall Road, Edinburgh, EH5 3RW
CONTRACT DURATION: Permanent
HOURS: 37.5 per week
SALARY SCALE: £40,028- £48,034 per annum
CLOSING DATE: Friday 20th November 2015
This role requires the post holder to be a member of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. If the successful candidate is not a current PVG Scheme member for the required regulatory group (i.e. adult) then an application will be made to Disclosure Scotland and scheme membership confirmed, prior to the successful candidate taking up the post.
Here, your caring and compassion
make a bigger difference.
Head of Supportive Care Edinburgh
£40,028- £48,034 per annum + Pension
Put your healthcare experience to work in a more personally fulfilling and professionally rewarding environment. One where you’ll be able to effect change at a patient level and see the positive difference you make every working day.
Heading up our Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Social Work, Chaplaincy, Counselling, Bereavement and Family Support Services at St Columba’s Hospice, you’ll be instrumental in delivering the best possible patient experience and the highest standards of palliative care.
Contributing directly to our 2015-2020 strategy, you’ll also help define the future direction of the hospice and determine how we can extend our reach to meet the changing needs of the community in an ever-evolving healthcare environment.
To meet the challenge, you’ll need to be a Registered Social or Health Care Professional with extensive post registration experience that includes palliative care. It could be that you’re currently working for a health board or a local council, but whatever your background, every bit as important as your professional experience will be the personal qualities and motivations you bring to the role.
An inspirational leader, you’ll know how to bring out the best in multidisciplinary teams of health/social care professionals. And you’ll be keen to explore how we can work in partnership with volunteers, local groups, communities and other organisations to offer outstanding support for patients with life limiting illnesses and their families.
For an informal discussion about the role, call Dot Partington, Director of Clinical Services, on 0131 551 7709. For a full job description and application pack, visit www.stcolumbashospice.org.uk or email
Closing date: Friday 20th November 2015
Scottish Charity No SC003634
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title: Head of Supportive Care
Responsible to: Director of Clinical Services
Department: Clinical
No. of Job Holders: One
Job Reference: SCH-NUR-009
Last Updated: 4rd August 2015
2) Job Purpose
The post holder will have responsibility for the development, management and leadership of the patient and family support team including counselling, adult and children bereavement services, chaplaincy, social work, occupational and physiotherapy, carer support and in addition support members of the core family support staff to lead a team of volunteers.
The post holder will ensure the provision of a consistently accessible, equitable and high quality support service across all clinical departments.
They will influence the psychological and emotional care of patients and families through providing and contributing to educational programmes across professional disciplines and by contributing to the operational and strategic planning of hospice services.
They will ensure the delivery of high quality care to patients and their families/carers by overseeing effective, dynamic and evolving services in line with St. Columba’s Hospice mission and strategy.
3) Role dimensions
1) Line Management/Supervisory responsibilities for counsellors, chaplain, social worker, occupational and physiotherapists and through them a team of volunteers.
2) Developing and managing a patient and family support service across all clinical services.
3) Lead the development of hospice bereavement services including developing and providing support to children and young people.
4) Participate in strategic developments and clinical governance activity within the Hospice.
5) Provide and contribute to educational programmes, research and audit across professional disciplines and care settings.
6) Work in collaboration with external agencies to ensure consistent levels of care provision for families.
7) Be the Hospice lead for safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults, ensuring compliance with legislation and hospice policies.
8) Continue to work directly with patients and families in your professional role.
9) To deputise for the Director of Clinical Services as required.
4) Organisational position
5) Role of Department
1) Provide professional leadership, including a high visibility presence.
2) Ensure the provision of safe, effective, high quality, caring and responsive supportive care services with the needs and choice of the patient placed at the centre of care.
3) To provide high quality psychological, spiritual and emotional care to patients, families, children and carers with complex palliative care needs liaising with external agencies as necessary.
4) To manage and develop patient and family support services in collaboration with the Director of Clinical Services.
5) To contribute to the development, implementation and management of the Clinical Governance strategy within the Hospice.
6) To provide an educational resource in conjunction with local universities and colleges, offering placements in palliative care to students.
7) To provide a resource for staff students and other professionals seeking specialist support, advice and teaching.
8) To develop community engagement through expansion of community based support and bereavement services and by participation in Health Promoting Palliative Care initiatives throughout Lothian.
6) Key Results
Clinical
1) Develop the engagement of the Hospice in supportive care by role modelling and empowering designated teams and individuals thereby encouraging informal, day to day conversations about complex needs and shared knowledge in this respect.
2) To liaise with other health care professionals to identify patients and families with psychological, social, spiritual and bereavement needs.
3) To plan and implement processes by which information regarding user experience of supportive care is collected and used as a basis for service improvement.
4) To ensure that clients receive a comprehensive assessment using advanced level skills.
5) To ensure relevant information is recorded in the patient’s notes and communicated appropriately with other members of the multi-professional care team following patient/carer contact.
6) To provide a resource for staff, students and other professionals seeking specialist bereavement and counselling advice and teaching.
7) To assist in the development and implementation of Hospice policies to provide high quality care.
8) To support individuals and families in decision-making and problem-solving in times of psychological and emotional distress.
9) To chair multi-disciplinary meetings in the In Patient Unit.
10) To work within the clinical teams to identify those potentially at risk in bereavement.
11) To provide a counselling service to patients and families during illness and in bereavement.
12) To ensure coordination and support of voluntary input into the patient and family support service.
13) To engage in practice-based research as required.
14) To ensure effective communication channels within the hospice team through attendance at team meetings.
15) To develop relationships with external bereavement care and other support providers and share elements of best practice.
16) To nurture relationships between the Hospice and community agencies, both statutory and voluntary for the benefit of the patients and families.
17) To lead on the Hospice’s approach to the support and protection of vulnerable adults and children at risk of harm ensuring robust policies and processes are in place.
18) To contribute to the overall achievement of the Hospice’s strategic objectives, leading on key elements of the clinical strategy relevant to the role and professional expertise.
Managerial
1) Recruit, induct, manage, coach and develop designated individuals and teams and ensure that all direct reports have regular one to one meetings and an annual Performance Review. The post holder must ensure a close link between annual objectives, the annual development plan for the team and the strategic plan for the organisation.
2) Ensure managers embed the principles of their required regulatory framework within operational service delivery.
3) Provide advice to managers around budgetary management, human resource management, health and safety and service development. Provide guidance regarding best practice in these regards, highlighting any potential or actual risks to the organisation to the managers and also to the Clinical Services Director.
4) Review the physical environment available to the teams/individuals delivering supportive care to ensure their safety, comfort and appropriateness for the activities/care on offer. Where improvements or developments are required engage proactively with the Director of Clinical Services.
5) Support managers of the supportive care services to review and respond to any complaints received, according to hospice policy, in order that these are resolved in a timely and acceptable way to the complainant and any necessary improvements are put in place.
6) Develop and support bids to external agencies and funders to promote innovation and effect future funding streams for supportive care services.
7) Ensure appropriate supervision processes for all staff managed, reflective of their professional backgrounds and any professional requirements, and contribute to the supervision of other staff in the organisation where appropriate.
8) To co-ordinate skill mix in the department according to the needs of the service, ensuring adequate staffing and volunteer levels are available.
9) To coordinate, lead and develop all aspects of the Patients and Family Support Service.
10) To work flexibly to meet demands of the service.
11) To implement, review and monitor compliance with the bereavement policy, procedure and best practice by all clinical staff.
12) To be responsible for the clinical governance of the family support service, identifying, assessing, monitoring and controlling clinical risk.
13) To identify, develop and implement service development in line with current evidence based practice, best practice guidance and the Hospice strategy.
14) To deputise for the Director of Clinical Services
15) To engage with the Volunteer Services Manager to recruit, train and support volunteers in roles in supportive care.
16) To maintain robust systems for monitoring the uptake and quality of all family support services.
17) To ensure that all new staff participate in an appropriate induction and development programme.
18) To investigate any incidents or complaints on the request of the Director of Clinical Services.
19) To lead and manage change effectively.
20) To identify early signs of potential or actual conflict within the multi-professional team and work with others to achieve a solution.
21) To monitor expenditure against agreed budgets to support effective financial management.
Educational
1) Attend mandatory in house training for staff, and other relevant sessions on a regular basis. Ensure compliance to mandatory training for the supportive care teams.
2) Identify external opportunities (courses, conferences, visits and similar) by which teams delivering supportive care can become more aware of the external health and social care context, and support attendance and dissemination of key messages.
3) To be proactive in identifying and addressing own personal educational and developmental needs.
4) To participate in the educational programmes offered by the Hospice, internally and externally taking an active role in the delivery of education in the specialist field of palliative care.
5) To participate in the staff development group to ensure all clinical staff have the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide family support pre and post bereavement.
6) To ensure clinical placements are effectively facilitated in conjunction with the Education Team
7) To contribute to the advancement of the knowledge base of specialist palliative care through publications and presentations at local and national conferences.
Professional
1) Represent the hospice and develop and maintain local and national networks with relevant organisations, association and groups to enhance and promote the work of St. Columba’s Hospice and develop own knowledge.
2) Encourage ongoing engagement of teams and individuals in the process of audit, identify areas for improvement and build evidence of effectiveness.
3) To maintain CPD log as required by regulatory body.
4) To maintain active registration with professional regulatory body.
5) To retain membership of associated specialist interest groups.
6) To attend educational courses and study days to be aware of developments in own professional field and in the wider family support discipline.
7) To participate in external clinical supervision.
8) To ensure the provision of clinical supervision to counsellors, chaplains and bereavement volunteers.
1) The postholder is expected to operate with a degree of autonomy and professional judgement.
2) Work autonomously and act independently guided by Hospice and professional guidelines making clinical, managerial and professional decisions.
3) Maintain a flexible approach to working hours in order to meet the needs of the service and the team.
4) Works collaboratively within the multi-professional team providing advanced emotional and psychological care in the field of specialist palliative care.
5) Monitors and ensures equitable allocation of workload across the patient and family support team
6) Manages referrals to and from other professional within and external to the hospice for psychological and spiritual support.
7) Manages own workload, generated by the specific service needs and allocates work to the family support team.
8) Anticipates and responds appropriately to problems/needs of service delivery and takes steps to resolve those involving appropriate colleagues.
9) Meets regularly with other team members/attends staff meetings/attends departmental development meetings.
10) Works independently providing one-to-one counselling and group work.
11) Is responsible to the Director of Clinical Services for guidance, professional management, and review of work and formal appraisal of performance.
9) Decisions and Judgement
1) Professionally expected to make decisions on a daily basis analysing and acting on information using advanced and comprehensive knowledge, skills and experience in the speciality, and taking into account guidance from their professional regulatory body, specialist Guidelines and Protocols and Hospice Policies and Procedures.
2) Uses flexible and innovative approach to problem solving and decision making in order to prioritise own workload.