Patient Advice and Liaison Lead

Management and Leadership Provide day to day managerial support for the Patient Advice and Liaison and Bereavement Service. Participate in staff appraisals and 1:1s, identifying training and development in line with the Patient Experience Team and Trust Objectives. Work flexibly within the remit of the role to ensure office cover at all times and, undertake such management duties as necessary to ensure a consistent approach to enable continuity of service. Identify trends from Patient Advice and Liaison enquiries and Friends and Family Test results. Ensure Standard Operating Procedures are updated. Patient Advice & Liaison Service Provide a personal, visible and accessible Patient Advice and Liaison Service and play an active part in making contact with the Trust as easy as possible, signposting patients, service users, relatives and/or carers. To have frontline direct contact with patients, either by telephone, email, correspondence or face to face. Manage difficult situations to ensure concerns are understood and help identify a way to resolve the issue. To support individual patients, carers and family members in order to resolve problems and concerns, offering a number of options and sources of information where possible, including other local and national support networks as necessary. To liaise with health, voluntary and statutory services on behalf of clients to help resolve problems and concerns. To listen to patients concerns, suggestions and experiences and raising these with the people who manage services. To help patients understand the NHS complaints procedure and how to make a complaint, explaining what support can be offered by the Patient Advice and Liaison Service and what a formal complaint investigation involves. To work within agreed protocols regarding confidentiality, consent and equal opportunities. Assist with ensuring patients have access to the Trusts interpreting service in accordance with the Interpreting and Translation Guidelines. Participate in Safeguarding of Adults by tensuring the PALS Office continues to be a designated safe place. Ensure all enquiries are recorded on the Datix Patient Experience Module. Bereavement Service To be responsible for ensuring that clear and accurate records are kept relating to each death within the hospital. To maintain the Bereavement Spreadsheet and ensure up to date information is recorded. To be responsible for ensuring that relatives are contacted the next working day and given all relevant paperwork and are provided with information regarding formal requirements. To support the prompt and correct completion of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death in line with statutory legislation. To support the prompt and correct completion of cremation papers in line with statutory legislation. To liaise with the Medical Examiner Office and Mortuary so that patients can be released from the mortuary in a timely manner. To act as a point of contact between medical staff and relatives, to liaise with the Chaplaincy, Risk Management Department, Medical Records Department, HM Coroners Office and Registrars of Births and Deaths. To liaise with Funeral Directors and Coroners Officers as required, to ensure procedures and arrangements towards the issue of death certificates are expedited. Arrange and accompany bereaved relatives to viewings in the mortuary viewing room. Return patients property to their next of kin or nominated representative. Make arrangements to register the death of patients who do not have any next of kin or nominated representative. Arrange funeral through the Trusts contracted Funeral Director for patients who do not have any next of kin, nominated representative or any funds in the estate to pay for the funeral. Arrange monthly shared cremation for early pregnancy losses. Friends and Family Test Raise awareness of the Friends and Family Test to increase response rates. Monitor feedback received through the Friends and Family Test and identify any low scoring areas or negative comments. Highlight good and poor comments with ward/department Manager. Patient Property To be responsible for the collection of or the acceptance and safe keeping or safe disposal of patient valuable and non-valuable property in accordance with the Trust Policy. Awareness of health and safety issues if property is contaminated (e.g.: blood, faeces, urine, vomit, lice) or contains sharps and ensuring that protective clothing (gloves and aprons) is worn. To have responsibility for the correct return to the patient or the next of kin or disposal of patients property in line with Trust Policy. To investigate the whereabouts of deceased patients property when there is a discrepancy between ward documentation and relatives recollections of patients property. Record information relating to lost property reported to the PALS Office on database. Job description Job responsibilities Management and Leadership Provide day to day managerial support for the Patient Advice and Liaison and Bereavement Service. Participate in staff appraisals and 1:1s, identifying training and development in line with the Patient Experience Team and Trust Objectives. Work flexibly within the remit of the role to ensure office cover at all times and, undertake such management duties as necessary to ensure a consistent approach to enable continuity of service. Identify trends from Patient Advice and Liaison enquiries and Friends and Family Test results. Ensure Standard Operating Procedures are updated. Patient Advice & Liaison Service Provide a personal, visible and accessible Patient Advice and Liaison Service and play an active part in making contact with the Trust as easy as possible, signposting patients, service users, relatives and/or carers. To have frontline direct contact with patients, either by telephone, email, correspondence or face to face. Manage difficult situations to ensure concerns are understood and help identify a way to resolve the issue. To support individual patients, carers and family members in order to resolve problems and concerns, offering a number of options and sources of information where possible, including other local and national support networks as necessary. To liaise with health, voluntary and statutory services on behalf of clients to help resolve problems and concerns. To listen to patients concerns, suggestions and experiences and raising these with the people who manage services. To help patients understand the NHS complaints procedure and how to make a complaint, explaining what support can be offered by the Patient Advice and Liaison Service and what a formal complaint investigation involves. To work within agreed protocols regarding confidentiality, consent and equal opportunities. Assist with ensuring patients have access to the Trusts interpreting service in accordance with the Interpreting and Translation Guidelines. Participate in Safeguarding of Adults by tensuring the PALS Office continues to be a designated safe place. Ensure all enquiries are recorded on the Datix Patient Experience Module. Bereavement Service To be responsible for ensuring that clear and accurate records are kept relating to each death within the hospital. To maintain the Bereavement Spreadsheet and ensure up to date information is recorded. To be responsible for ensuring that relatives are contacted the next working day and given all relevant paperwork and are provided with information regarding formal requirements. To support the prompt and correct completion of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death in line with statutory legislation. To support the prompt and correct completion of cremation papers in line with statutory legislation. To liaise with the Medical Examiner Office and Mortuary so that patients can be released from the mortuary in a timely manner. To act as a point of contact between medical staff and relatives, to liaise with the Chaplaincy, Risk Management Department, Medical Records Department, HM Coroners Office and Registrars of Births and Deaths. To liaise with Funeral Directors and Coroners Officers as required, to ensure procedures and arrangements towards the issue of death certificates are expedited. Arrange and accompany bereaved relatives to viewings in the mortuary viewing room. Return patients property to their next of kin or nominated representative. Make arrangements to register the death of patients who do not have any next of kin or nominated representative. Arrange funeral through the Trusts contracted Funeral Director for patients who do not have any next of kin, nominated representative or any funds in the estate to pay for the funeral. Arrange monthly shared cremation for early pregnancy losses. Friends and Family Test Raise awareness of the Friends and Family Test to increase response rates. Monitor feedback received through the Friends and Family Test and identify any low scoring areas or negative comments. Highlight good and poor comments with ward/department Manager. Patient Property To be responsible for the collection of or the acceptance and safe keeping or safe disposal of patient valuable and non-valuable property in accordance with the Trust Policy. Awareness of health and safety issues if property is contaminated (e.g.: blood, faeces, urine, vomit, lice) or contains sharps and ensuring that protective clothing (gloves and aprons) is worn. To have responsibility for the correct return to the patient or the next of kin or disposal of patients property in line with Trust Policy. To investigate the whereabouts of deceased patients property when there is a discrepancy between ward documentation and relatives recollections of patients property. Record information relating to lost property reported to the PALS Office on database.