Employer Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Knowsley Community College
Town: Liverpool
Salary: £26,530 - £29,114 Per Annum, Pro Rata
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 20/02/2025 23:59
Care Navigator
NHS AFC: Band 4
Job overview
Applications are invited for the post of Care Navigator within the Cancer Information Department at Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Trust. The Navigator posts are a very exciting development and an opportunity for us to be innovative in the way patients with a suspected cancer diagnosis are managed through their diagnostic journey.
The team will work in a hybrid model with some time working from home and some time spent at Knowsley Community College. They will be an integral part of the Cancer Information team and will collaborate closely with all clinical and support service teams, which may require time spent at Southport, Ormskirk, Whiston, or St Helens Hospital sites.
Interview Date: TBC
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be the main point of contact for patients referred to the Trust on a 2-week rule suspected cancer pathway. They will facilitate effective communication between patients and the healthcare professional multi-disciplinary team.
The role involves liaising with patients, their relatives, and clinical and administrative teams to coordinate appointments, investigations, and treatments. The post holder will also provide input into the Trust's cancer PTL meeting to provide information about patient pathways to support waiting times standards and ensure effective shared learning from any pathway breaches.
The post holder will provide support to cancer multi-disciplinary team meetings and ensure all data requirements are collected and input into the relevant database. The collected data will form the Trust’s mandatory submissions to all national and statutory requirements, such as the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset (COSD) and Cancer Wait Times database.
The role requires the post holder to be self-driven, highly organized, and possess excellent communication skills. Their knowledge of the clinical pathway requirements will help improve the patient experience by ensuring that the patient’s pathway is proactively planned and organized, ensuring cancer waiting times standards are achieved, and that patients receive their treatment in a timely and efficient manner.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
* Act as the key point of contact for patients, coordinating and providing first-line support as they move through the diagnostic pathway; signposting to other services as needed.
* Communicate with clinical and non-clinical staff concerning patient progress along the diagnostic pathway.
* Provide and receive complex information and facilitate communication between different clinical services as part of managing the patient’s pathway.
* Coordinate care to ensure seamless patient pathways.
* Ensure that test results, clinic letters, and notes are available and communicated to the clinical team promptly.
* Work closely with the MDT Coordinators to ensure good preparation of cases for MDT discussion and follow up on MDT outcomes in a timely manner.
* Foster good links and relationships among all team members involved in the patient’s pathway.
* Collect patient information from test results, clinic notes, and MDTs to complete data.
* Ensure accurate cancer waiting times data is collected and recorded for each cancer site and adhere to relevant deadlines.
* Ensure site-specific data is collected on relevant databases, using identified data collection processes, in agreement with clinical teams.
* Provide basic analysis of the data for Clinicians and the Cancer Data Coordinator and assist in audits when required.
* Develop and maintain contacts with appropriate departments within the Trust.
* Liaise with staff at all levels, including Consultants and other health professionals in the Trust and tertiary centres.
* Ensure accurate entry of data to the Somerset Cancer Register, adhering to agreed deadlines and National data submissions.
* Track patients with targets set to predict when the next data collection is required and check if all investigations are underway.
* Provide cover for other Care Navigators during absences.
* Undertake any other ad hoc duties relevant to the post and grade.
CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
* Coordinate the diagnostic pathway of patients referred under a 2-week rule process, ensuring all cancer data/information is stored and transmitted in accordance with Caldicott guidelines.
* Work within defined protocols and procedures for managing patient pathways, under the supervision of the clinical team.
* Ensure that the system, recording processes, and MDT processes fulfill Information Governance and Data Protection requirements.
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
* Regularly review procedures to ensure working processes are fit for purpose.
TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES
* Support the Cancer Data Coordinator in training new Care Navigators and MDT coordinators.
RESEARCH & AUDIT
* Provide basic analysis of data for Clinicians and assist in audits when required.
* Participate in ad hoc projects such as the Cancer Services Improvement Partnership.
Person specification
Qualifications
* Educated to Diploma level and/or equivalent level of experience and/or qualification.
* Educated to NVQ level 3/4 or equivalent qualification and/or experience.
* Evidence of continuing professional development.
Knowledge & Experience
* Understanding of national cancer waiting times standards.
* Experience of data entry.
* Knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Access, Excel).
* Experience of coordinating a patient workload.
* Excellent keyboard skills.
* Experience of data analysis.
* Experience of Hospital information systems.
* Awareness of current developments within the Cancer NHS plan.
* Knowledge of audit processes.
* Statistical & analytical skills.
* Familiarity with medical terminology.
* Experience of working within the NHS (primary or secondary care).
* Relevant health and social care experience.
Skills
* Ability to communicate effectively with staff at all levels.
* Ability to organize workload effectively to meet deadlines and work under pressure.
* Able to work effectively as a team member.
* Able to work with minimum supervision.
* Able to meet changing demands and priorities with a flexible approach.
* Demonstrate excellent communication skills with patients.
Other
* Ability to travel between Whiston and St Helens hospital locations by car or assisted driver.
Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Trust. We are committed to providing Five Star Patient Care and creating a supportive work environment.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
We foster a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value unique skills and perspectives. As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job.
Flexible Working
We support flexible working patterns and encourage discussions about flexible working options during the interview stage.
Working for Team MWL
Staff recognition is important to us; we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), and access to a range of NHS discounts.
Additional Information
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. A submission for Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service will be necessary.
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