HPB Cancer Support Worker / Navigator

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated and experienced Band 4 HPB Support Worker / Navigator to be involved as a key member of the Hepatobiliary Cancer Team in a co-ordinating the care and multi-disciplinary management of HPB Cancer patients.

The post holder will be an integral part of the Team, who assists, supports and co-ordinates the pathway for patients. A large part of the role is providing administrative and coordination support to patients, families, consultants, nurse specialists, and other staff involved in the pathway. The successful applicant will ensure the efficient channelling and close co-ordination of the patient follow up pathway.

The post holder will demonstrate excellent organisational skills, must be flexible in approach, able to exercise initiative and demonstrate a consistently high standard of professionalism, being aware of the need for confidentiality and integrity. The post holder will have excellent communication skills and be willing to undertake on-going training and development. In addition, the post holder will be able to signpost patients and carers to the relevant sources of support and information appropriate to their needs.

Main duties of the job

The HPB Support Worker/Navigator plays a key role in ensuring patients experience a smooth and well coordinated journey through their care pathway. The role combines patient support with strong administrative and organisational responsibilities.

You act as a central point of contact for patients, families and clinical teams, managing enquiries, triaging calls, signposting to appropriate services and helping patients understand when and how to seek help.

A major part of the job involves maintaining accurate patient records, tracking investigations, booking outpatient appointments, managing correspondence and ensuring results are reviewed and acted upon promptly.

Working closely with Cancer Nurse Specialists and MDT colleagues, you help coordinate care, support safe transitions between services and respond quickly when patients’ needs change. The role also contributes to audits, governance, research activity and service development, while upholding high standards of confidentiality, information quality, health and safety and infection control.

Ongoing learning, flexibility across sites and active participation in team meetings are essential to delivering an efficient, patient‑centred service.

Applicants should possess excellent literacy, communication, IT and organisational skills and should be prepared to work within a flexible working environment.

The role will report directly to the Hepatobiliary Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

The duties and responsibilities listed below should be undertaken in accordance with the levels of competence as defined in the KSF outline for this post. In addition all staff are expected to act in accordance with the values and behaviours of the Trust

• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with clinicians, managers and others within department and Trust wide service users.
• Be the point of contact for all routine enquires facilitating communication and information flows, initiating and responding to correspondence and resolving enquiries.
• Organising incoming and outgoing mail both paper and electronic.
• Liaise with GPs/cancer services as appropriate.
• Liaise with patients and other consultants’ secretaries.
• Specifically assist the CNS’s in coordinating care by tracking patient pathways and providing a point of access, including rapid re-entry into the system for those people identified as having urgent or specialist needs.
• Triage incoming calls, using a risk assessment framework and initiate appropriate response according to protocols and individual pathways,
• Using good communication skills, and appropriate tools and procedures, liaising as appropriate with the CNS when non routine and refer complex decisions to the team for assessment and review.
• Provide basic telephone advice and refer on or sign-post to other sources of support
• Any other appropriate task as allocated by the Clinical Nurse Specialists

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.