Job summary
Are you an excellent communicator with good listening and people skills? Can you work on your own initiative and be tenacious yet tactful in solving problems? Are you comfortable talking to people who are emotionally distressed or angry?
We are seeking to recruit and PALS and Complaints officer to join our PALS and Complaints team at our Chelsea site. The successful applicant will be the first point of contact for patients, their families and carers raising concerns about their health care.
You will possess excellent listening and interpersonal skills including the ability to effectively manage relationships, demonstrate empathy and understanding, impartiality and tact. The successful applicant must also be able to recognise the sensitive needs of patients and their carers and be able to communicate complex and sensitive or contentious information with tact, diplomacy and understanding.
The role also requires the person to work closely with colleagues within the Trust and external agencies, have good organisational and time management skills and the ability to manage competing priorities against tight deadlines.
You will also be the first point of contact for patients, carers and staff to advise on the Trust's complaints process. The team is often the first point of contact for patients who want to make a complaint or raise a concern and work closely with the complaints team aiming to provide a highly visible service for patients.
Main duties of the job
To support the administration and response to concerns and complaints for a defined division across all Trust sites.
To support patients and the public in resolving their concerns and formal complaints and achieve resolution as early as possible and to promote the learning of lessons from complaints.
To administer and utilise a system of feedback on the concern and complaints process for patients and the public, and to work on continuous improvement for the PALS and Complaints team.
To ensure high standards of record keeping in association with concerns and formal complaints
To provide administrative support to the division on the management of concerns and complaints, to include drafting and proof reading acknowledgement letters and the administration of the complaints process on the electronic system
To support the PALS and Complaints Manager in the collection of data relating to concerns and complaints
About us
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provide services from two main hospitals, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital, and a number of clinics across London and the South-East.
We have nearly 7,000 members of staff that arePROUD to Carefor nearly one million people. Both hospitals provide full clinical services, including full maternity, emergency and children's, in addition to a range of community-based services across London, such as award-winning sexual health and HIV clinics.
We're one of the safest and best performing Trusts in the country. We're also one of the top trusts to work for - our staff say they're engaged, motivated, and would recommend us as a place to work and receive treatment.
Our Trust has been rated by the Care Quality Commission as 'Good' in all five of the main domains of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led, giving an us overall rating of 'Good'. We've also been awarded an 'Outstanding' rating for 'use of resources' by an NHS Improvement inspection..
Our facilities are some of the best in the country. We have been investing around £10 million a year in our estate. We have recently completed a £30m expansion of our adult and neonatal critical care facilities at Chelsea and Westminster and are planning an ambitious £60m development of an Ambulatory Diagnostics Centre at West Middlesex.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To be the first point of contact for patients and their representatives seeking information about the concern and complaint resolution process.
- To contact every complainant on receipt of a concern or complaint, preferably by telephone, to discuss the outcomes they are seeking from making a complaint and to ensure all issues are captured.
- To support patients and their representatives to negotiate immediate solutions or resolution of issues as speedily as possible. To assess the risk of the concern and ensure the immediate safety of the patient.
- Face to face discussion with patients/carers about their experience of care and service and if concerns are raised work with the team to resolve these where possible at source.
- Support the divisional team in responding to concerns and formal complaints for an identified division within the Trusts agreed time frame and to a high standard.
- To be responsible for the pathway of individual concerns and complaints from receipt to response letter sign off, completing data entry on Datix as required.
- To signpost enquirers to appropriate alternative sources of information and advice, such as leaflets, support groups, websites, clinicians or specialist nurses.
- To work closely with the Divisional Director of Nursing, Head of PALS & Complaints and the PALS & Complaints Managers to ensure that concerns and complaints are monitored and progressed within agreed time scales.
- Work collaboratively with colleagues across the Trust, especially the other PALS & Complaints Officers to support the process for the trust.
- To keep accurate records in line with the concerns and complaints policy and as required by the Trust.
- To ensure that the Datix database is kept up to date with the progress of each concern or complaint.
- To work within the Trusts complaint management policy/process.
- Be responsible for sending acknowledgement letters to complainants and ensuring they are kept up to date with the progress of their concern or complaint.
- Communicate complex and sensitive information to patients and their relatives.
- To escalate any issues in a timely way to the PALS & Complaints Managers.
- Assist in the development and circulation of trackers for the local concerns and complaints meetings.
- To support operational and clinical managers of the Trust when investigating concerns or complaints, eg obtaining medical records.
- To ensure compliance with information governance requirements including obtaining consent, maintaining confidentiality and appropriate information storage in line with Trust and national policy and legislation.
- Where appropriate draft closing letters for resolved concerns and complaints.
- Work to ensure all responses are proof read and signed off by the CEO in line with Trust policy.
- To monitor and evaluate learning from concerns and complaints both at an individual level and through the monitoring of themes and trends for the division.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To be the first point of contact for patients and their representatives seeking information about the concern and complaint resolution process.
- To contact every complainant on receipt of a concern or complaint, preferably by telephone, to discuss the outcomes they are seeking from making a complaint and to ensure all issues are captured.
- To support patients and their representatives to negotiate immediate solutions or resolution of issues as speedily as possible. To assess the risk of the concern and ensure the immediate safety of the patient.
- Face to face discussion with patients/carers about their experience of care and service and if concerns are raised work with the team to resolve these where possible at source.
- Support the divisional team in responding to concerns and formal complaints for an identified division within the Trusts agreed time frame and to a high standard.
- To be responsible for the pathway of individual concerns and complaints from receipt to response letter sign off, completing data entry on Datix as required.
- To signpost enquirers to appropriate alternative sources of information and advice, such as leaflets, support groups, websites, clinicians or specialist nurses.
- To work closely with the Divisional Director of Nursing, Head of PALS & Complaints and the PALS & Complaints Managers to ensure that concerns and complaints are monitored and progressed within agreed time scales.
- Work collaboratively with colleagues across the Trust, especially the other PALS & Complaints Officers to support the process for the trust.
- To keep accurate records in line with the concerns and complaints policy and as required by the Trust.
- To ensure that the Datix database is kept up to date with the progress of each concern or complaint.
- To work within the Trusts complaint management policy/process.
- Be responsible for sending acknowledgement letters to complainants and ensuring they are kept up to date with the progress of their concern or complaint.
- Communicate complex and sensitive information to patients and their relatives.
- To escalate any issues in a timely way to the PALS & Complaints Managers.
- Assist in the development and circulation of trackers for the local concerns and complaints meetings.
- To support operational and clinical managers of the Trust when investigating concerns or complaints, eg obtaining medical records.
- To ensure compliance with information governance requirements including obtaining consent, maintaining confidentiality and appropriate information storage in line with Trust and national policy and legislation.
- Where appropriate draft closing letters for resolved concerns and complaints.
- Work to ensure all responses are proof read and signed off by the CEO in line with Trust policy.
- To monitor and evaluate learning from concerns and complaints both at an individual level and through the monitoring of themes and trends for the division.
Person Specification
Experience of working in NHS
Essential
- Experience of working in the NHS
Customer services experience
Essential
- Worked in public facing customer services role in the past
IT skills/literacy
Essential
- Experience of using databases and MS packages
Soft skills
Essential
- Experience of listening/dealing with angry/distressed people and calming them down
Team working
Essential
Understanding confidentiality
Essential
- Demonstrable experience of working with confidential/sensitive information
Person Specification
Experience of working in NHS
Essential
- Experience of working in the NHS
Customer services experience
Essential
- Worked in public facing customer services role in the past
IT skills/literacy
Essential
- Experience of using databases and MS packages
Soft skills
Essential
- Experience of listening/dealing with angry/distressed people and calming them down
Team working
Essential
Understanding confidentiality
Essential
- Demonstrable experience of working with confidential/sensitive information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.