Senior Palliative Care Support Worker (Hospice at Home)

Job summary

You will be part of a large multidisciplinary team providing high quality, individualised, hands on palliative care to our patients in our Community Services team. As a Senior Palliative Care Support Worker, you will be able to provide the best possible care for our patients and you will provide support to our nursing team. The position will be located in our Community Services team, which is open 7 days a week covering 24 hour care. Shifts will be rotational, to include days/nights/weekends/bank holidays.

Main duties of the job

The role of the Senior Palliative Care Support Worker is to ensure that St Michael's is able to continue to deliver high quality palliative care and support to our patients and their families. This role requires effective communication, and the ability to establish supportive and working relationships with our patients and families as well as our Multidisciplinary team. Shift times are 0800-1400, 1600-2100, 2200-0700 This post is conditional to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check.

About us

St Michael's Hospice is nestled in the stunning Herefordshire countryside, in a state-of-the-art facility. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, a transferrable NHS pension or you can enrol onto our own Hospice pension. We offer Life Assurance, a superb working environment and facility, generous study leave allowance, discounts with local suppliers, individualised training needs analysis, advanced communication skills training, employee counselling service, free tea & coffee, a friendly & welcoming work environment and 30 days annual leave (pro rata if applicable), plus bank holidays. We are one of the top 100 best not for profit organisations to work for and have been caring to make a difference, to patients living with a terminal illness and their families, across Herefordshire and beyond for over 40 years.

Details

• Date posted: 27 August 2026
• Pay scheme: Other
• Salary: £14.37 to £14.78 an hour Plus, unsocial hours payments
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Part-time
• Reference number: B0210-26-0011
• Job locations: St Michael's Hospice, Hereford, HR1 4HA, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

Job Title: Senior Palliative Care Support Worker

Spinal Point Range: 7,8

(Plus, unsocial hours payments see below)

Hours: up to 37.5 hours per week

Department: Hospice Care Services

Location: St Michaels Hospice, Bartestree

Reports to: Hub Manager / Community Services Manager / Sister

Job Purpose: In and across all areas of St Michaels provision of Care. To deliver individualised, holistic palliative nursing care to patients and their families in their own homes/inpatient care setting to enhance their quality of life.

Planning (dependant on care setting)

• Co-ordinate the Palliative Care Support Workers activities e.g. patient allocation, meal planning.
• Manage the daily work pattern for Palliative Care Support Workers to ensure staffing is maintained.
• Contribute to safe deployment of staffing resources by completing the duty rota for both Senior and Palliative Care Support Workers; escalating to ward sister when complete.
• Manage the clinical consumable stock ordering process.

Leadership

• Contribute to the appraisal process for Palliative Care Support Workers where appropriate
• Provide support and guidance to new members of the team, sharing knowledge and skills
• Become Champions for Link Nurse Roles

Care Provision

• Provide individualised care to the patient and family members under the delegated direction of registered nurses, following care plans and risk assessment.
• Following appropriate training to undertake a range of clinical care interventions e.g. stoma care.
• Develop and utilise skills in decision-making to enhance patient care, working in an autonomous environment, where appropriate
• Perform simple dressing changes following care plan
• Contribute to clinical and health and safety risk assessments.
• Using discretion and judgement in emergency situations.
• Escalate changes in condition of patients/relatives to the nurse on duty.
• Provide emotional/psychological support to the patient and their family, identifying referrals to the wider hospice services.
• Ensure patients privacy and dignity are maintained at all times. Maintain a safe environment for both patients and staff
• Provide final care for the deceased patient
• Understand the complications/harm e.g. falls, pressure sores etc. that can be caused by patient immobility and contribute to the prevention of such complications.
• Helping with food preparation, ensuring dietary needs are meet and helping to feed patients when indicated
• Provide medication management up to and including tier 3, working within your own personal competency
• Be aware of the indications for use of syringe drivers
• Responsible for the timely disposal and documentation of clinical waste and laundry, appropriate to care setting

Communication

• Create and promote a positive image for the organisation.
• Communicate in a professional and effective manner, with an open and honest approach with internal and external health care professionals, patients, relatives and carers.
• Encourage patients/relatives/carers to express what is important to them to identify their needs, ensure that this information is recorded and informs the care plan.
• Recognise own limitations when offering emotional support.
• Contribute to the bereavement care offered to families, reporting any vulnerabilities to the registered nurse.
• Maintain patient confidentiality at all times.
• Promote awareness of child and adult protection issues and hospice policy.
• Be a team player, following guidelines and policies.
• Keep accurate records of the care provided.
• Working inter-professionally within the organisation.
• Provide volunteers with information to enable them to give appropriate care to patients and their visitors.
• Encourage user feedback

Health and Safety

• Act at all times to promote the safety and wellbeing of patients, relatives/carers, visitors and volunteers
• Be aware of patients that are at risk e.g. of falling and ways to prevent falls.
• Contribute to health and safety risk assessments and actions as required.
• Follow the incident reporting process.
• Follow policies of dress code to enable safe practice and ensure infection control is adhered too.
• Ensure the environment is free from hazards and all nursing equipment is clean, in good working order, safety and appropriately used and stored
• Safe storage and use of hazardous substances according to COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) regulations.
• Report faulty equipment to the facilities team using the WAM system
• Adhere to all of SMH policies and procedures

Education

• Attend mandatory training and service training opportunities.
• Develop and maintain own knowledge and skills in palliative care.
• Undertake an appraisal and personal development review annually; considering aspirations for the future with a long-term goal; utilising education facilities offered at the hospice to enhance learning opportunities.
• Act as a mentor and role model to new staff members.

Person Specification

1) Specialist Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• Experience of delivering hands on care for people requiring palliative care
• NVQ Level 3 in care or equivalent
• Experience of dealing with challenging situations
• Basic IT skills
• Dependant on care setting, be in possession of a full UK driving licence, be over 21 and have held a full licence for 12 months.

Desirable

• Care Certificate
• Previous experience of providing care in the community

2) Skills and Behaviours

Leadership: Motivates and empowers others in order to reach organisational goals.

Team Working: Fits in with the team. Develops effective and supportive relationships with colleagues.Is considerate towards them and creates a sense of team spirit.

Patient Focus: Puts the patient first, works hard to meet their needs and look after their interests.

Relating to others: Quickly builds rapport and easily establishes relationships. Relates well to different types of people, listens and gets on with them.

Planning and organising: Organises own time effectively. Prioritises work load.

Communication: Speaks clearly, fluently and demonstrates active listening.

Reliability: Follows direction from supervisors and respect policies and procedures. Show commitment to the organisation and task completion.

Resilient: Remains calm and self-controlled under pressure. Reacts well to change and stays positive despite setbacks. Keeps difficulties in perspective.

3) Special Conditions

• This post is conditional to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service Check.
• Requirement to work evenings, weekends and nights.
• Dependant on care setting may be prepared to travel throughout county.
• Unsocial hours payments:
• Saturdays Payment at basic salary + 33.33%
• Sundays Payment at basic salary + 66.66%
• Bank Holidays Payment at basic salary + 66.66%
• Nights Payment at basic salary + 33.33%

Our values

What matters to you is whats important to us

To ensure we deliver upon this every day, we empower people to work collaboratively to reach thebest possible decisions, realise them in thebest possible wayand at thebest possible time.

We value:

• Knowledge, judgment, and kindness in reaching thebest possible decisions
• Courage, integrity, and passion in realising those decisions in thebest possible way
• Honesty, empathy, and determination in doing so at thebest possible time.

Living our values influencesthe way we behave. The way we behave informsthe way we do things. The way we do things isthe St Michaels way

Equal Opportunities Statement

At St Michaels Hospice we are committed to an equal opportunities approach in everything we do. This means that we seek to ensure anyone connected with St Michaels, from patients and families through to donors, supporters, volunteers and staff are treated fairly, appropriately and with dignity and respect.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).