South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust

Patient Progress Chaser

The closing date is 15 June 2025

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a new Progress Chaser role with the Community Recovery Service (CRS). We are looking for a dynamic and self-motivated individual to support our fast-paced service which delivers recovery and rehabilitation to those returning home following hospital admission.

As a national discharge frontrunner service in 2023, you will be part of a service that drives innovation and improvement. The service has developed over the 2 year pilot period, establishing itself as Warwickshire's primary discharge service for people returning home with additional care and recovery needs.

You will support flow throughout the service delivery from referral to discharge, linking with a range of professionals including referring hospital teams, CRS colleagues (including Therapists, Care Providers and Administrators) and Adult Social Care.

Are you ready for a new challenge? Are you committed to facilitating quality patient care and supporting patients in having an efficient, safe and positive experience? Are you enthusiastic, driven and dependable, with good communication and can keep calm under pressure? Then Progress Chasing could be for you.

Remote working is available, with office bases available in South Warwickshire, North Warwickshire and Rugby if preferred. Days in the office may be required upon demand.

We look forward to welcoming you into our team.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be instrumental in ensuring flow out of hospital and through the community service, maximising service capacity and utilisation. They will ensure that management plans for all patients on the service are enabled and enacted; facilitating timely and safe discharges from hospital to home, as well as appropriate flow through the CRS service and onward referrals where necessary.

The post holder will have direct contact with patients, their families and a range of internal and external members of staff involved in the patients pathway. The post holder will have excellent communication skills, to ensure that every contact counts, through a range of mediums and will demonstrate excellent customer care. They will have a sound knowledge of local services and providers.

The post holder will be responsible for maintaining accurate records and communicate progress or any problems with managerial or clinical staff as appropriate. They will be competent in the use of IT systems relevant to their department, such as EMIS, Lorenzo and DIGIT.

A key purpose of this role is to support the CRS service in the proactive management of safe and effective patient flow within the Trust. The post holder will work within defined procedures, linking with the staff to ensure robust and effective patient flow to support the delivery of effective patient care and prevent delays.

About us

Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further. In addition our staff survey results have placed us 4th in the country for recommended place to work.

We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity.Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are 'Trusted to provide safe, inclusive, effective and compassionate care'. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn't matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.

Date posted

30 May 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£27,485 to £30,162 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

203-CS902

Job locations

Leamington Spa Hospital

Heathcote Lane

Warwick

CV34 6SR

Job description

Job responsibilities

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

To work in accordance with the Trusts policies and procedures.

To develop a thorough knowledge of the Trust, pathway 1 discharge offer, CRS service and wider community services.

To provide excellent customer care, demonstrating empathy, patience and a holistic approach to patient care, with commitment to follow-through of care plans and building effective working relationships.

To have excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate both verbally and written with a wide range of providers, including patients, carers, voluntary, social, primary and other secondary care providers.

To be able to carry out audit of own activities, produce reports and give presentations within the organisation.

To produce reports as required.

To review, analyse and respond to enquiries relating to patient flow.

To understand the common needs and safeguarding issues of vulnerable patient groups, including the elderly and those with long term conditions.

To understand the legal; ethical and regulatory principles of the NHS and know personal boundaries and when to seek help.

To work under supervision to assist in the discharge pathway process ensuring that patients are managed in the most appropriate environment.

To work and liaise with ward and community staff in the identification of blockages in the patients journey, ensuring that all outstanding issues are identified and addressed, within scope of practice.

To rectify all issues which have been identified, escalating to the pathway leads or CRS clinical & operational lead the ones you cannot independently progress.

To assist wards with uncomplicated patient discharges to promote safe and timely discharges. This will include attending daily multiagency calls, as well as proactively contacting ward teams to ensure discharges are ready and appropriate as planned, with relevant equipment in place.

To assist with flow through the CRS pathway, linking with Therapy staff and Domiciliary Care Agencies to ensure care reduction plans and service exits are being enacted in the required timeframes.

To escalate blockages at any point in the patient journey, proactively linking with internal and external partner to support resolution plans

To demonstrate knowledge of discharge pathways and out of hospital services, as well as assisting in gaining patient consent to refer patients to 3rd sector organisations such Age UK and social prescribing.

Accurately record within the patients EMIS notes as appropriate, as well as updating MDT sheets and therapy handovers with progress, actions and outcomes for each patients journey you have had interaction with.

Ensure effective and regular communication with CRS staff, referring teams and other members of the Trust, relating to progress and updated information. Having the required information to update service managers and the Site Capacity Manager on service capacity, blocks and patient flow on CRS.

Review patients records so that all referrals for specialist opinions, therapy input or diagnostics have been completed or progressed.

To work closely with CRS domiciliary care agencies and therapy teams to ensure good channels of communication with patients and relatives are maintained at all times with regards to changes in their service delivery and discharge from the service.

To support the Clinical & Operational Lead and Professional Leads with incidents and investigations arising from delays and flow concerns.

To work with all internal stakeholders to promote effective processes to facilitate hospital discharge, support patient flow through the service and onward referrals through service exits; reducing delays in the patients management and maximising service capacity.

To co-ordinate MDT and patient flow meetings; transcribing formal minutes and enacting any required actions such as liaising with staff, following-up actions or making referrals to internal or external services in line with agreed protocols.

To effectively communicate (in person, via telephone and email) with other teams to effectuate progress in a patients journey.

Liaise with Warwickshire County Council teams to coordinate timely and appropriate discharged from the service for those requiring long-term care support.

Liaise with referring teams to ensure patients that do not meet service criteria have suitable alternate arrangements for discharge.

To notify ward staff of individuals on the service that have been readmitted to hospital, where there is pertinent information that would impact future discharge planning.

Evaluates own area of work and proposes improvements

Assists in basic training and education at ward level.

Communication

At all times communication with others must be polite, professional and courteous.

Respond to patients, their relatives and other professionals in a polite and professional manner.

Be involved in conversations with patients and carers that may sometimes be emotional, difficult and sensitive.

Direct patients and relatives to the relevant therapy team or care agency when necessary.

To maintain and promote confidentiality at all times

To respond in a friendly and helpful manner to all calls taken from wards and departments.

Communicate with senior staff disseminating complex information, reports and outcomes of meetings.

Communicate with the Clinical & Operational Lead, Professional Leads Clinical and CRS staff to maintain an up to dae CRS contact list with key contacts with internal and external teams who assist with the provision of services for patients.

To summarise and document communication that has taken place on EMIS, as well as the therapy handover and MDT log.