Job Purpose

The Triage Facilitator will support specialist clinical telephone triage service for unplanned and virtual ward community palliative care referrals across the Staffordshire St Giles Hospice catchment area. The service currently operates seven days a week between 08:00 and 20:00, with phase two extending provision to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The role will provide clinical triage leadership, supporting the management of complex care pathways, contributing to audit and service development, and providing staff supervision in line with organisational and professional standards.

The post holder will undertake timely specialist palliative care assessments by telephone in response to urgent presentations, prioritise incoming patients and referrals using agreed clinical guidelines and pathways, identify urgent or unmet needs, and coordinate protected and responsive care and support plans, including action within two hours of urgent referral acceptance where required.

This is a development post, appointed at St Giles Pay Scale E with chance to progress to St Giles Pay Scale F once the non-medical prescribing qualification has been achieved and relevant competencies have been demonstrated.

Referrals may be received from 111/999, GPs, allied health professionals, community, hospice, acute and virtual ward teams, as well as directly from patients, families and carers. Calls may relate to patients already known to St Giles Hospice or to individuals who have palliative / end of life care needs but are not known to the organisation or specialist services.

Working autonomously and in collaboration with internal colleagues , along with other community, primary care, acute and virtual ward colleagues, the post holder will support rapid assessment, clinical decision-making, or referrals where appropriate.



Demonstration of clear communication with the multiprofessional team, accurate clinical record keeping, safe escalation of clinical risk, support to junior staff members and coordination of service flow is required.

Requirements

Essential

. HCP qualification

· Health Assessment qualification or working towards.

· Evidence of level 7 studies (or working towards)

· Experience in palliative care

Knowledge of

· Specialist palliative care and end-of-life care

- Community working and services
- Clinical assessment

· IT literacy

· Clinical audit

· Health and safety

Communication skills

- Excellent telephone skills
- Good written and verbal communication skills
- Able to communicate sensitively with patients and families who are experiencing acutely distressing periods in their lives, in order to build effective relationships
- Able to communicate effectively with all staff

· Able to communicate assessments of patients’ specialist care needs effectively and assertively with other professionals, including GPs and District Nurses, to influence the delivery of best palliative care for patients.

· Ability to make safe, evidence-informed triage decisions, prioritise referrals, recognise clinical risk and escalate concerns appropriately.

· Knowledge of safeguarding responsibilities and ability to follow safeguarding procedures.

Understanding of information governance, confidentiality, consent and accurate clinical record keeping.

Desirable





· Palliative care/end-of-life care qualifications

· Clinical supervision

· Data collection

. Clinical Governance

. Teaching skills

Benefits

- 27 days’ holiday entitlement rising with service to 35 days, plus Bank Holidays (pro-rata for part-time staff)

- Death in service benefit
- Pension

. Free onsite parking

Key Responsibilities

· Prioritise and triage patients presenting with a range of conditions including palliative, EOL and acute conditions, making any necessary referrals in an appropriate manner.

· Support the team in implementing and evaluating personalised care planning, providing individual specialised treatment plans, ReSPECT and advanced care planning for patients.

· Support the team in providing specialist palliative care and support to patients and their families in the place they call home, as required and in accordance with evidence-based clinical practice.

· Process and interpret pathology and other diagnostic results as required.

· Support the team in dealing with clinical emergencies.

· Liaise with external services and agencies and the patient’s usual community teams to ensure the patient continues to be supported appropriately.

· Liaise with virtual ward teams to support timely assessment, shared care planning, escalation and safe community-based management where appropriate.

· Delegate clinical responsibility appropriately, ensuring safe practice and that the task is within the individual’s scope of practice.

· Work closely with the St Giles at Home community teams in supporting the needs of all patients under the community services.

· At times where service requirements / patient demands, may require seeing patients in the community for face-to-face assessments.

📌 Triage Facilitator – Rapid Response Service – Development Post (Australia)
🏢 St Giles Hospice | ??
📍 Australia