HIV SHAC Pathway Co-ordinator

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a pathway co-ordinator to join our dynamic, forward thinking multidisciplinary team in the SHAC/HIV Outpatient department.

The Sexual Health and HIV service is based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and provides specialist outpatient care to approximately 2400 people living with HIV and a large cohort of people accessing services for sexual health and contraception care. We are a nationally recognised leading centre for Sexual Health and HIV care and the tertiary referral centre for HIV care for the HIV south coast network. We pride ourselves on a multidisciplinary led approach to care.

We offer a variety of services including joint clinics with other disciplines within the Trust and virtual clinics to support people who do not require frequent face to face follow up and support retention in care.

We are looking for someone with excellent administrative skills to provide comprehensive and efficient administrative support to the growing virtual and joint services within the service. The post holder will also be expected to provide some additional support to the admin team within the SHAC/Lawson Unit when required.

Main duties of the job

After appropriate training, the post holder will be expected to:

• Receive and respond promptly to correspondence from patients and clinicians relating to virtual and joint clinics.
• Coordinate HIV & SHAC virtual clinics, including Connect, EmERGE, PrEP EmERGE and future virtual clinic services.
• Ensure patients receive results, repeat prescriptions and follow-up appointments within appropriate timescales.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date clinical records, undertake data entry and provide administrative support to the team.
• Monitor missed appointments and escalate patients who repeatedly fail to attend in line with clinic procedures, helping to prevent patients being lost to follow-up.
• Following appropriate training, undertake simple results recalls where no clinical decision-making is required.
• Communicate calmly, empathetically and professionally with patients and partners, including those who may be distressed, angry or highly stressed, and manage occasional verbal abuse appropriately.
• Work reliably and effectively as part of a responsive, supportive team, contributing to shared workloads and agreed service requirements.
• Identify and suggest improvements to systems and processes to enhance service efficiency and patient care.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties appropriate to the role.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Good communication and interpersonal skills to interact with tact and diplomacy with patients and staff at all levels. After appropriate training, the post holder will be expected to:

Receive/respond to all incoming correspondence from both patients and clinicians relating to virtual and joint clinics daily.

Be responsible for the coordination of the HIV & SHAC virtual clinics including Connect/ EmERGE & PrEP EmERGE and any future virtual clinics.

Ensure patients receive their results, repeat prescriptions, and follow up appointments in a timely manner.

Assist the nursing team in providing clinical care to participants involved in the virtual clinics.

Have the ability to work with minimal supervision, deal with telephone enquiries answering queries where applicable and ensuring appropriate personnel informed of further action to be taken.

Maintain accurate records for all aspects of clinical care. Data entry and administrative support as required within the team.

Maintain and assist in all relevant EPR projects associated with virtual clinics.

Escalate to appropriate individuals/forums any patients who miss multiple appointments as per clinic guidelines. Ensuring virtual clinic patients do not become lost to follow-up.

After appropriate training manage simple results recalls but with no clinical decision making.

To respond calmly, empathetically, and professionally to emotionally charged calls from angry and sometimes highly stressed patients or partners. Occasionally dealing with verbal abuse.

To understand and follow the Trust’s and department’s policy on confidentially and information governance.

To work as an effective and responsive team member, arriving promptly and working effectively during agreed hours.

To support other team members taking a shared approach to teamwork.

Make suggestions to the team regarding improvements to the current systems where they are identified.

Undertake any other reasonable duties as required.

Good written and oral communication skills to clearly and concisely provide information.

Ability to engage in collaborative problem solving with co-workers and staff

Must have the ability to function as a ‘team player’, being considerate and flexible, taking in the needs of peers into consideration.

Answer complex enquiries both in person and on the telephone, from people who may have varying levels of ability to understand or whose first language is not English.

Provide and receive complicated and sensitive information and give explanations and instructions clearly and concisely where barriers to communication may exist, including challenging behaviour, learning disability and recent bereavement.

Use empathy, tact and diplomacy in dealing with staff or patients who may be hostile or antagonistic.

Patient Care Delivery

Be responsible for the coordination and management of the PrEP EmERGE patient app and support future changes and innovations. Responding to routine enquiries from patients within the agreed scope of practice.

Support the PrEPInject pathway by joint monitoring the PrEPInject shared email inbox and responding to routine enquiries from patients and clinicians within the agreed scope of practice.

With support from the wider team, assist in following up individuals who have disengaged from the PrEP EmERGE and PrEPInject pathways, providing appropriate support to encourage re-engagement and retention in care, and escalating concerns or complex issues as required.

Providing support to phlebotomy or asymptomatic clinic.

This job description is an outline of the role and responsibilities. From time to time due to the needs of the service, we may ask you to flexibly undertake other duties that are consistent with your role and banding, including project work, internal job rotation and absence cover.

Applicant requirements

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.