Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone.
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
The Discharge Team are looking for a proactive person to join our dynamic team as a Discharge Coordinator. We want you to join us in providing
safe and coordinated care and a high-quality discharge service to all our patients on the Queen Elizabeth Site, Woolwich.
This is a fixed term contract until 31/3/2025.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will provide efficient and effective administration to the Complex Discharge Team and Senior Team Lead, supporting them in the
core function associated with the smooth running of the Discharge processes
Working for our organisation
Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the
patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of
engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as
LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will actively manage a personal caseload of wards and coordinate complex
discharges from the Acute hospital.
• Ensure that all relevant paperwork is completed by the appropriate persons to ensure an efficient and timely discharge (e.g. Discharge
passport, OOB referral, homeless referral).
• Daily records of ECIST coding and pathways.
• Attend the Bed meeting and TOCC meeting according to the service required.
• Provide education in discharge planning to members of the MDT or other professional groups requiring this teaching.
• Act as Trust experts in discharge planning, assisting and supporting the MDT to drive and co-ordinate discharges, ensuring effective,
timely intervention from all disciplines.
• Monitor performance associated with discharge, identifying gaps in service provision that may have a detrimental effect on length of
stay, delayed transfers of care or patient experience.
• Attend daily whiteboard meetings and MDT meetings to ensure accurate EDDs & the medically fit status of all patients are recorded.
• To actively monitor care pathways and lead discharge arrangements for all patients on designated wards.
• Liaise with patients and relatives on admission and discuss expectations, discharge dates and plans.
• To ensure the most appropriate option to meet the patient’s needs has been identified and recommended by the MDT ward.
• The post holder will provide a collaborative approach to the process of discharge underpinning a level of coordination between the
primary and secondary sectors ensuring a seamless transfer of care.
• The post holder will be required to work altered working shift patterns and at weekends on a roster basis to support 7-day working.
• Escalate any delays in discharge to the Discharge Lead.
• To liaise with residential/nursing homes providing regular updates to ensure positive relationship building.
• To organise and co-ordinate family/best interest meetings including sourcing of suitable venue, time and arrange with MDT.
• Communication, both written and verbal, with all members of the multidisciplinary team is key to the success of this role.
• Work with multi-agency representatives to reduce length of stay, numbers of super-stranded patients and delayed transfers of care, to
achieve performance targets related to discharge.
• Follow up any outstanding requests that are causing a delay with the discharge process for the patient.
• The post holder will manage junior members of staff in line with trust policies.
• The post holder will deputise for the discharge team leads as required
Person specification
Essential criteria
1. Educated to degree level or equivalent
2. Significant experience in an NHS acute setting
3. Professional Clinical qualification or equivalent experience in case management in primary, secondary or social care.
Desirable criteria
4. Previous experience as a Discharge Advisor
5. Leadership course mentor L3
Experience
Essential criteria
6. Recent experience of working in an acute NHS care setting.
7. Significant experience of working with multi agencies both internal and external to NHS Trusts
8. Significant experience of working with professionals from other disciplines
9. Significant experience of working with the general public
10. Professional development clinical supervision
Skills, Knowledge and Ability
Essential criteria
11. Ability to work unsupervised using own initiative using evidence and experience to inform safe decision making.
12. Good written and verbal communication skills: ability to communicate complex and sensitive information with patients and carers, where there may be barriers to understanding.
13. Knowledge and understanding of “Discharge Planning process and pathway”.
14. Understanding of Intermediate care and continuing care Ability to provide clear, concise and objective reports and feedback to colleagues and other professionals, both verbally and in writing.
15. Ability to support the provision of a high standard of evidence-based care that is responsive to the needs of patients and carers, assessing risk and considering a range of options.
Information
Essential criteria
16. Ability to use appropriate care pathways and assessment and discharge tools to accurately identify efficient and effective pathways for treatment.
17. Skill and understanding of the management and use of data in a Health or social care setting.
18. Skill and understanding of the audit process and its application to practice.
We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.
As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women’s staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.
Please note, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.