Main area Palliative Care Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours
* Full time
* Flexible working
37.5 hours per week (Hybrid working is available, with minimum 3 days per week on site.)
Job ref 820-6981811-COR
Employer Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Trust HQ Town Birmingham Salary £53,755 - £60,504 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 04/04/2025 23:59
Band 8a Head of Palliative Care and Bereavement Services
Job overview
A rare opportunity has arisen for a registered healthcare professional to join our senior Nursing and Therapies Team, to provide strategic leadership across all clinical divisions, to ensure we deliver outstanding palliative care and bereavement services to the people we serve, and their loved ones.
We are looking for a passionate, innovative clinician who lives our Trust values and has a strong understanding of the need to balance the provision of exceptional care, in line with best practice, and patient experience such that people die with dignity, in the place of their choice, with any symptoms managed, and with their pastoral, cultural and spiritual needs at the forefront of their advanced care planning.
Main duties of the job
The role of Head of Palliative Care and Bereavement services is to provide senior strategic leadership, ensuring that care for patients at the end of their life is compassionate, equitable and clinically effective across our clinical divisions. This will be achieved through the delivery of the Trust end of life strategy.
In addition the post holder will:
* Lead on the development of bereavement care and support for people and families who have received care from our clinical teams.
* Work closely with the Deputy Chief Nurse and Associate Director, Patient Experience, ensuring that Trust education programmes remain clinically relevant and effective to meet the broad range of care delivered across both inpatient areas and community teams for both adults and children.
* Have a pivotal responsibility as a key representative of BCHC at the systemwide collaboration steering group for end of life.
* Support BCHC staff in the delivery of high-quality palliative and end of life care through the provision of information and advice, training and education.
* Manage and further develop our Spiritual Care, Chaplaincy Service.
* Be responsible for ensuring the NACEL audit is undertaken, recorded, analysed and reported both locally and nationally.
Working for our organisation
We are a close team, under the leadership of the Associate Director of Patient Experience, who actively choose to work with an appreciative enquiry approach and QI methodology, to continuously review and improve the way we work and the outcomes we achieve. We are building a diverse team, where we learn from one another and celebrate the richness this brings to both our understanding and practice.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see JD and PS attached for full details.
In your application, please ensure that you tell us what skills and experience you would bring to the role and how these match with the main responsibilities and duties.
You will be an experienced clinician, with specific knowledge and skills in supporting the planning and delivery of care towards the end of life both in community and in-patient settings.
Continuous professional development will be evidenced through your application and you will be able to demonstrate how you learn from your own and others' experiences. Much of this role includes being able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people, including those in their last days, about sensitive and potentially distressing topics. Equally, it also involves championing the drive for improved patient experience at a senior level within BCHC and across the wider healthcare system.
In your application, please ensure that you demonstrate your understanding of self-care and reflective practice as an essential element for maintaining your own well-being. Evidence of writing and presenting reports to a range of audiences is important, as is a high-level of accuracy and experience of analysing data. Where your current experience and skills do not reach those described in the job description, we would be pleased to hear about any transferable skills you already have or learning needs you would like to explore.
Person specification
Qualifications
* AHP or RGN, with current HCPC or NMC registration.
* ENB 998/Mentor PREP or City and Guilds 730.
* Masters Degree or equivalent.
* Palliative Care course or relevant experience.
* Evidence of continuous professional development.
Skills/Knowledge
* Sound knowledge of current government policy on health and social care pertaining to Gold Standard Framework, End of Life Care and national directives.
* Demonstrates a high level of clinical knowledge in palliative and end of life care and relevant recent experience in palliative care.
* Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
* Ability to lead on developments of the service(s).
* Ability to use patient information system or similar patient administration system.
Experience
* Extensive post-registration experience, including in palliative/end of life care.
* Experience of team leader or equivalent experience.
* Experience of report writing.
* Experience of participating or leading a project.
* Significant experience of working in partnership with other agencies.
Personal Qualities
* Flexibility to the needs of the role.
* Trustworthy.
* Strong commitment to team working.
* Demonstrates ability to plan and prioritise workload.
Other Job Requirements
* Full UK driving license and access to transport.
Disability Confident Employer and Guaranteed Interview Scheme
BCHC offers a guaranteed interview to any candidate who is Disabled, Neurodiverse, has a hidden or long term health condition as recognised under the Equality Act 2010, providing they meet the essential criteria of the job role, as set out in the person specification. We encourage applicants to submit their applications and to request any reasonable adjustments where required.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Birmingham is a fantastic place to live and we serve a wide range of people and communities. BCHC are an advocate of diversity and strive to mirror the community we serve as much possible.
We are committed to and actively promote equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals from all areas of the community who meet the specific criteria are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage/civil partnerships.
Promoting Workforce Equality
In response to data held by BCHC which demonstrates that individuals from particular protected characteristics are under-represented, BCHC are striving to redress these imbalances. In order to do this, the Trust is committed to the employment and career development of individuals with these protected characteristics. As part of this commitment and given this under-representation, the Trust guarantees an interview to any applicants from under-represented groups for positions at Band 8a and above whose application meets the essential criteria for the post as detailed on the Person Specification.
The Trust is currently under-represented in terms of people who identify as Black, Minority Ethnic (BME) and welcomes applicants from these communities. Selection will be on the basis of merit. In order to ensure the diversity of our workforce and understand the differing needs of our communities, the Trust is committed to the principles of Positive Action.
Flexible Working
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC) supports a variety of flexible working practices and, where possible (given our range of services and community settings) dependent upon the requirements associated with the role, will actively consider requests made and support these where practically possible. This may include hybrid patterns of working to enable colleagues to request the flexibility of a mixture of home/base working.
In accordance with the NHS People Promise, the Trust is committed to facilitating a healthy work/life balance that is essential to health and wellbeing and to making BCHC a ‘Great Place to Work’. We will be happy to discuss and consider all requests relating to working patterns and hours at your interview so please do ask!
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust acknowledges Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Generative AI (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini etc; are powerful tools that can help you in various stages of your job application and how they can be used in certain circumstances during your application process with BCHC. You can read more about acceptable use on our internet pages here.
Benefits of working for us:
* Full NHS terms and conditions including extensive holidays, Agenda for Change pay with enhancements.
* Attractive relocation payment if you relocate to the local area.
* Discounts for local and national retailers.
* Dedicated well-being services for all employees.
* Flexible working where possible.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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.
Name Carol Wilson Job title Associate Director, Patient Experience Email address carol.wilson31@nhs.net Additional information
Informal contact, via email in the first instance, is strongly encouraged.
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