Senior Cancer Support Worker - Macmillan Service

By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

We are seeking an individual with a genuine interest and expertise in the provision of information and support to patients with cancer.

Excellent communication and people skills are essential for this role.

The post holder will be based at St. Helens Hospital but will be required to work with other areas (Primary Care, other hospitals etc) and with a transformation team to deliver a continually evolving, comprehensive service to patients with cancer and their relatives / carers.

As the most senior member of the Cancer Support Worker workforce the post holder will be expected to effectively chair the Cancer Support Worker Forum meetings and contribute towards the development of the wider Cancer Support Worker workforce, acting as the key link between the Cancer Support Workers and Macmillan to provide regular updates.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide day-today management of the Macmillan Information Centres work, providing non- clinical support to patients and families and other staff involved in the cancer pathway.

The role is to support patients through a diagnosis of cancer through to completion of treatment and living with and beyond cancer.

The successful applicant will identify patient concerns through Holistic Needs Assessment and refer non- clinical concerns to support agencies / groups etc.

They will provide information on the wards to patients and be involved in health promotion.

The postholder will organise and support the day-to-day work of our team of valuable volunteers; ensuring that there are constructive working relationships within the department and that the Volunteer Manager is kept informed about her team's work.

The post holder will need to demonstrate excellent organisational skills, must be flexible in approach, able to exercise initiative and demonstrate integrity, a consistently high standard of professionalism and an awareness of the importance of maintaining confidentiality.

The post holder must be willing to undertake on-going training and development which will be supported by the Cancer Services Management team.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

• Interpret and assess enquiries from the public and health and social care professionals. Exercise judgement in identification of their needs of the service and provide appropriate, accessible, timely and sensitive information and support.
• Utilise own clinical experience and knowledge of the NHS and external agencies to maximum potential in outreach activities, promotion, and continued development of the service.
• To support the cancer services management team with evaluating, recommending, and implementing new initiatives to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the service ensuring the maintenance of high-quality standards.
• To organise own workload and to work autonomously as required. This demands flexibility to manage the unpredictable pattern of the work by nature of being a “drop in” service as well as working with patients and families with multi-faceted concerns.
• Triage individuals contacting the service face to face or by telephone/ email to prioritise needs.
• Deal with whatever situations present in a sensitive manner and base decisions on own judgement.
• Provide information and signposting to other supportive services and liaise with clinical staff to support patients and carers in distress.
• Ensure equitable service delivery via communication strategies using skills and tools needed where physical, mental, language or emotional barriers to understanding are present e.g., for service users with learning disabilities or where English is not the first language.
• Create meaningful & productive roles for volunteers by identifying volunteer roles within the service. Provide induction in accordance with the local induction checklist & volunteers handbook. Develop & deliver a training programme and provide ongoing day to day supervision and support of volunteers.
• Able to be adaptable, multitask and prioritise under pressure.
• Can respond to situations without warning.
• Provide a confidential listening service and empathic support to staff affected by cancer.
• Ensure that situations or enquiries requiring specialist intervention are referred appropriately and in a timely manner.
• Understand that there will be challenging situations which may present and when to seek appropriate support/advice.
• Always maintain confidentiality in line with Trust and Data Protection policies.
• Ability to retrieve information from a wide range of sources and in different formats to meet the needs of the individual and engage with multi-media information formats to optimise the range of service available from the MCIC.
• Work collaboratively with clinical and non-clinical services both internal and external to the Trust to provide a seamless service which is responsive to individual service user need..

• Provide a wide range of administrative and clerical support to the mangers including data collection, stock taking, and report writing.
• Participate in the MCISS steering group deputising as required.
• Participate in collection and reporting of evidence data for Macmillan Quality Standards.
• Support the information needs of the individual cancer teams e.g., Quality Surveillance Programme.
• Contribute to the completion of audits and respond to the findings to improve service delivery.
• Create and maintain databases which record all support and information activity and information resources.
• Organise, participate, and take minutes of meetings as requested by the MCIC Manager.
• Plan, and co-ordinate events such as the Health and Wellbeing events for cancer patients.
• Present / attend cancer conferences locally and regionally as required.
• Organise the day to running or service, organising meetings, bookings rooms, responding to email enquiries.
• Work with MCISS Manager to develop the service to meet the needs of patients in other care and community settings.
• Work with other centres across the region to adopt best practice

• Act as a role model by demonstrating leadership and expertise, and by maintaining credibility across the Trust, the wider health care community, and external agencies, ensuring a positive image of the Trust is always maintained.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policies, procedures and guidelines related to own service.
• Ensure compliance with Trust policies, procedures, and guidelines. Supervise the day-to-day activities of the volunteers for the Macmillan Information and Support Service including organising tasks and team communications.
• Participate in and contribute to meetings internally or externally to the Trust, relevant to specialist area of practice.
• Act as Clinical Supervisor for a team of Cancer Support Workers and contribute to their development.
• Lead on the Cancer Support Worker Forum, ensuring regular meetings are held and the outputs from these meetings are shared with the Macmillan Centre Manager and the Cancer Operational Manager.
• Conduct appraisals at least annually for each cancer support worker or other relevant members of the team that report to this role.
• Support the Division in the effective use of resources, e.g., budget, supplies and materials.
• Maintain systems and processes to promote a healthy, safe, and secure working environment and maintain accurate documentation and report any concerns.
• Contribute to departmental risk assessments and support any investigation of untoward incidents via the Datix system.
• Lead on the development and maintenance of relationships with other departments, wards within the Trust and external agencies, charities, and regional cancer centres.
• Liaise with all members of the extended MDT to aid facilitation of a collaborative approach to the care of the patient and make referrals or signpost as appropriate.
• Be flexible in approach and demonstrate a consistently high standard of professionalism and integrity.
• Communicate sensitively and compassionately with patients and families who may be affected by cancer and life limiting conditions.
• Promote patient/user participation in the development of the service and facilitate regular forums for this participation.
• Comply with the Trust’s complaints procedure.
• Actively promote Equality and Diversity and ensure the continued achievement of standards across the service.
• Take care of own safety and that of others who may be affected by their actions or omissions.
• Adhere to Health and Safety Policies and those of any other organisation which outreach services are provided.
• Report any accident/incidents or ill health, failings in premises, equipment, or personal protective equipment.
• Make sure that people affected by cancer are aware that they are interacting with a Macmillan professional and know about the full range of resources and services available through Macmillan.
• Actively engage with Macmillan Cancer Support to contribute expertise and experience and support the Macmillan Corporate Strategy

• Take responsibility for own learning and development by recognising and taking advantage of all opportunities to learn, including full participation in appraisal, supervision, action learning and by maintaining a professional/personal portfolio of learning.
• Support the development of direct reports through the appraisal process and ensure all mandatory training has been completed.
• Undertake the necessary training to become a HOPE course facilitator and deliver the course regularly as part of a team of facilitators.
• Assist with systems and processes to ensure that learning needs are identified and met and that all learning is shared, to change and improve services as indicated.
• Participate in the education of health care professionals regarding the needs of cancer patents and the information and support available.
• Promote and educate cancer patients regarding ‘health and wellbeing’ and active lifestyles.
• Participate in patient and public involvement activities.

• Maintain efficiency and minimise any waste.

• Responsible for supporting audits of the service.
• Involvement in potential audit or research within the unit or Trust.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Degree and/or relevant knowledge, skills and experience
• Level 2 psychological assessment and/or relevant experience

• Counselling / Psychology certificates

Knowledge & Experience

• Experience working in a healthcare environment
• Experience working with cancer patients and carers
• Experience of report writing
• Knowledge of quality assurance and governance around patient information and confidentiality
• Knowledge of professional and NHS issues
• Ability to present information to professional groups
• Ability to present information to patient groups
• Ability to develop effective interpersonal relationships with colleagues across health and social care setting
• Understanding of cancer and of the individual needs of people affected by cancer
• Understanding of Macmillan including the support and information available
• Experience of multi-disciplinary working
• Experience of providing practical and emotional support

• Experience of triaging referrals
• Experience of performing Holistic Needs Assessments
• Experience of collating patient stories

Skills

• Willingness to work flexibly
• Sensitive and empathetic
• Ability to work well as part of a team
• Ability to multitask and prioritise under pressure

Other

• Ability to show understanding and appreciation of the need to maintain confidentiality in all matters
• Comply with Trust policies and procedures
• Ability and willingness to undergo further training in accordance with the needs of the post
• Ability to demonstrate trust core values
• Access to own car / transport to travel across various sites

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. You are part of an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact [email protected]

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here.

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.