PALS Co-ordinator

Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this.

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisations. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.

NHS Band 3 Salary: £25,760 - £27,476 per annum

Hours Per Week: Full time 37.5

Contract Type: Permanent

Location Base: St Mary's Hospital, Parkhurst Road, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5TG

Do you enjoy helping people, solving problems and making a difference?

We are looking for a compassionate and organised PALS Co-ordinator to be the first point of contact for patients, families and visitors who need advice, support or guidance.

As part of our Experience of Care Team, you will play a vital role in ensuring concerns are listened to, enquiries are resolved promptly and patients and families receive the support they need. Working closely with clinical and non-clinical colleagues, you will help improve patient experience across our services.

We are looking for someone who has excellent customer service and communication skills, the ability to handle sensitive conversations with empathy and professionalism and strong organisational and IT skills. The successful candidate will have experience working in a busy, customer-focused environment with a positive, solution-focused approach and commitment to outstanding patient care.

Specific Core Functions

If you are passionate about supporting people and delivering excellent service, we would love to hear from you.

For full details of this role, please refer to the enclosed Job Description

For more information, please contact Experience of Care Lead, Samantha Johnson on 01983 534420 or sam.johnson16@nhs.net

Responsibilities

Provide advice, information and signposting to patients and carers.; Help navigate and facilitate the resolution of patient enquiries and concerns, working collaboratively with services across the trust.; Maintain accurate records and support patient feedback systems.; Work collaboratively with teams across the Trust to improve patient experience.; To provide an empathetic and responsive advice service to patients and service users.; Respond to enquiries independently where able to; To frequently communicate with patients and service users in person, on the telephone and via written communication.; To work as part of a team, communicating with the Complaints Team and ensuring a joined-up approach to improve the experience of patients and their families at the Trust.; To escalate enquiries to the Patient Experience Lead where appropriate. The post holder should be able to recognize when to refer enquiries to clinical staff (this is a non-clinical post and the post holder is therefore not permitted to give clinical information, e.g. test results); To be aware of the difference between PALS complaints and escalate cases to colleagues when appropriate.; To assist with collecting organisation-wide patient feedback.; Have excellent keyboard skills.; Maintain timely, factual and accurate electronic and contemporaneous records of contacts with visitors to the office in order to provide a seamless service for all users.

Requirements

NVQ 3 or equivalent; Educated to GCSE level or equivalent experience.; Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office programmes; Experience of working in a busy customer service environment; Experience of working within an NHS or Social Care environment; Excellent verbal, telephone. and written communication skills; Excellent interpersonal skills; Listening skills; Demonstrate tact and diplomacy when dealing with highly sensitive issues and maintain confidentiality.; Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands.; Ability to deal with distressing circumstances and challenging situations