TB Support Worker

Job overview

The Community TB Team LSL (CTT LSL) works across Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham to provide a multidisciplinary service for clients who are marginalized and have difficulty accessing primary care services and providing care to clients with known or potential Tuberculosis e.g. refugees and asylum seekers, homeless clients, and clients with addictions.

We provide centred individualised case management for our patients throughout their entire treatment following them up periodically in our Nurse led clinic, monitoring their specific blood test, CXR’s, medications, side effects to the treatment, social issues that may affect their treatment, mental and emotional status that can also affect their adherence to their Anti TB or latent TB treatment.

Main duties of the job

• You will act as support worker to specific individuals with TB, ensuring treatment completion.

Apply risk assessment tool ensuring individualised care to complex patients with TB

Assess the patient holistically in order to identify their needs including social and financial needs.

Develop a care plan for complex patients with TB, discuss it with the nurse and follow the good practice to maintain safety.

Establish effective partnerships with complex patients and their families by assessing and developing strategies to overcome barriers of adherence.

You will work alongside the TB nurse and to provide support to patient in order to adhere and complete TB medication. This will involve visiting the client at home and providing directly observed therapy (DOT) in a variety of settings including homeless hostels.

You will be responsible in planning and organising health promotion activities and diary for both patient and team.

You will link with the mobile x-ray screening unit to improve access to all primary healthcare services.

You will be flexible in approach to the clinical area and have ability for technical numeracy, literacy skills, IT as well as significant level of inter-personal skills.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Act as an advocate for patients within the department, to ensure a patient orientated approach to the delivery of care and to meet standards within the NHS Plan and other relevant guidelines.

Acts as a support worker on a one to one basis to specific client’s by co-ordinating care.

To undertake full risk assessment of patients and Plan management in terms of Housing, benefit, immigration issues, and drug/ alcohol dependency.

Following training and assessment provide community and clinic base directly observed therapy (DOT) and undertake random urine sample checks and pill counts in order to help assess patient’s compliance.

Ability to recognise any drug side effects and to report to the named nurse.

To visits non-attendees at home to encourage further appointments and clinic sessions.

To weigh patients on every home visit or as need arise.

To develop and organise effective systems in connection with patient’s chest x-ray, sputum collections and results.

Works alongside TB Nurse Specialist to provide support and follow-up care to TB patients & their families

Ability to think from a client’s perspective and ensure feedback is incorporated into new procedures and standards

Recognises, investigate and plans in consultation with the case manager the necessary action to resolve problems in relation to failing treatment

Interactions with patients should be non-judgemental and culturally sensitive regardless of the gender, age, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity.

Ensuring the maintenance of patient’s privacy and dignity at all times, promoting supporting patients’ rights and choice with regards to their care

Establishes effective partnerships with patients/families and hard to reach groups

Maintaining accurate health records.

Ensuring patient referrals and investigations are undertaken.

Ability to work and provide services in a flexible way to meet the needs of the client group

Ability to work with refugees/asylum seekers, individuals affected by HIV and the homeless

Please see attached job description for full details.