Haematology Clinical Navigator

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity for a Clinical Navigator to join the Haematology Team at Bedfordshire Hospital NHS Trust, working on the Bedford site only.

The Haematology team are a dynamic and diverse group who are friendly and welcoming to all and they would train, supervise and support the successful candidate throughout.

The role would primarily consist of providing support and information to Haematology patients including those with cancer, assisting with the NHS Cancer Programme FDS (faster diagnosis framework) and improving quality of life outcomes, living with and beyond cancer. A key aspect of the role involves daily and direct communication with patients, relatives, carers and other health and social care professionals.

The successful candidate would provide support to the Haematology Specialist Nurses with duties including triaging phone calls and assisting with administrative duties.

This is a great opportunity to gain experience in a navigator role to strengthen existing skills and knowledge.

Main duties of the job

• To provide support to all Haematology patients, to enable people to navigate the health and social care system and make choices that are best for their diagnosis and life.
• Providing personalised care and improving quality of life outcomes, tailored to a persons needs ( based on holistic needs assessments).
• Provide support planning, identifying people's physical, practical, emotional and social needs at the earliest opportunity.
• Triage incoming calls and initiate appropriate response according to protocols and individual pathways, using good communication skills, basic clinical awareness and appropriate tools and procedures, liaising as appropriate and refer complex decisions to the team for assessment and review.
• Assist with the faster diagnosis framework to speed up a cancer diagnosis and improve patient experience.
• Work alongside the delivery of the 62-day referral to treatment cancer waiting standard.
• Deliver patient-centred, self management support and education as necessary to non complex patients, including how to self- assess.
• Provide input into the Trusts PTL meeting and provide information about patient pathways to support the achievement of waiting time standards and ensure effective shared learning from any pathway breaches.
• Support Haematology Specialist Nurses with administrative duties, including organisation and preparation of clinics.
• Undertake any other ad hoc duties deemed relevant to the post.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Provide practical and emotional support to those living with cancer and their families, recognising their needs may change over time throughout their treatment journey.
• Provide basic telephone advice and refer on or sign-post to other sources of support.
• Co-ordinate the necessary assessments, appointments or investigations to fast track patients back into the system if required.
• Demonstrate the ability to recognise and respond appropriately when faced with a sudden deterioration or an emergency situation, alerting the team or enabling the rapid response as appropriate.
• Document and monitor all aspects of care coordination and service delivery, supporting data collection for audit.
• Organise and prioritise the designated workload in relation to identified needs.
• Contribute to the holistic needs assessment and the development of an individual care plan.
• Co-ordinate the handover with other teams to facilitate safe and effective transition of care between services in order to provide seamless support for people.
• Act as an advocate and facilitator to resolve issues that may be perceived as barriers to care.
• Encourage and support active and healthy lifestyle choices.
• Coach patients and carers to understand what signs, symptoms or situations to be aware of that would indicate concern and how to make contact if required.
• Organise patient information ensuring the literature is up to date and available for use on request.
• To attend trust statutory and mandatory training sessions as required and any other training courses relevant to the post.