Band 4 Cancer Clinical Support Worker

The Cancer Clinical Support Worker will form an integral part of the multidisciplinary team approach in providing personalised care interventions to patients diagnosed with cancer and their carers throughout the care treatment pathway and after care support. The Support Worker will work independently within the remit of the role but under the guidance and supervision of the Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) and Personalised Care Team to coordinate and manage patients identified to the service by the CNS team.

The Cancer Clinical Support Worker will ensure patients are:

Supported to regain as normal a life as possible

Given advice about how to minimize their risk of developing further cancer related problems

Given advice about possible future signs of cancer recurrence or long-term effects of treatment

Enabled to re- access specialist services without delay should they need to do so

(Improvising Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer, 2011)

As part of a team, the cancer support worker will speak to patients to discuss what matters most to them through a holistic conversation and assessment. The cancer support worker will provide cancer information and/or signpost them to support services and resources and will develop a personalised care plan which is shared with the patient and specialist team and that this and other communications are documented on the Somerset Cancer Registry.

Main duties of the job

Provide dedicated and knowledgeable support to patients receiving cancer care and treatment at BWCH.

Communicate directly with patients, relatives and carers demonstrating empathy, understanding and respect. Information discussed and received will often require tact or persuasive skills, to ensure safety and understanding around treatment side effects as well as an understanding of complex information around treatment options.

Be aware of the physical and psychological needs of cancer patients, observe and listen and report any patients concerns in accordance with guidance provided.

Refer to and Co-ordinate care between teams where appropriate and following discussion with clinical nurse specialists or members of the MDT

Plan and organise your own workload to ensure patient needs are prioritised.

Complete patient care plans (from an established template), based on information derived from a Holistic Needs Assessment

Participate and support patient experience and service feedback

Be responsible to maintaining documentation and acting on alerts on BWC IT systems as well as Somerset Cancer Registry and Remote monitoring Systems

We are recognised as one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK. Our vision is to Build Healthier Lives, and we recognise that we need incredible staff to do this.

Our commitment to our staff is to create the best place for them to work, and we are dedicated to:

Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff, including a commitment of offering flexible working where we can;Offer our staff a wide variety of training and development opportunities, to support their personal and career development objectives.

UHB is committed to ensuring that our staff are treated fairly and feel that they belong, by creating a kind and inclusive environment. This is about equity of opportunity; removing all barriers, including discrimination and ensuring each individual member of staff reach their true potential, achieve their ambitions and thrive in their work. This is more than words. We are taking action. Our commitment to an inclusive culture is embedded at all levels of the organisation where every voice is heard, driven by our diverse and active staff networks, and at Board level by the Fairness Taskforce led by our CEO. We nurture a culture which empowers staff to challenge discriminatory behaviours and to enable people to bring their 'whole self' to a kinder, more connected and bold place to work.

University Hospitals Birmingham is a Smoke-Free premises hospital.