Care Navigator (Urgent Community Response Hub)

Care Navigator (Urgent Community Response Hub)

Local Care Direct (LCD) is a non-profit Social Enterprise operating across 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, to provide various primary and urgent health care services across West Yorkshire.

We have an exciting opportunity at our Bradley Contact Centre for Care Navigators to join the Urgent Community Response (UCR) Hub team.

The Care Navigator will work as part of a virtual multidisciplinary team, matching and signposting patients to appropriate services, using templates and protocols. They will be responsible for booking patients into appropriate services, either through direct booking where capacity exists or by following agreed referral pathways.

They will be a key member of the Urgent Community Response Hub team and will contribute to the delivery of a quality service and the maintenance of quality standards.

Hourly Rate from 1st April 2025: £12.71 for working in hours & £13.71 for working Out of Hours (OOH)

(In Hours = Monday to Friday 08.00 to 18.00 & Out of Hours = Monday to Friday 18.00 to 08.00 and all day Saturday Sunday)

Location: Local Care Direct, Unit 2, Longbow Close, Bradley, Huddersfield, HD2 1GQ

Currently Available Shifts:

• Monday weekly 08.00-14.00
• Wednesday weekly 14.00-20.00
• Thursday weekly 14.00-20.00
• Friday weekly 08.00-14.00
• Friday weekly 09.00-14.00
• Saturday weekly 08.00-14.00
• Saturday weekly 14.00-20.00
• Sunday weekly 08.00-14.00
• Sunday weekly 14.00-20.00

Main duties of the job

The Care Navigator will:

• Develop a thorough knowledge of LCD and to work in accordance with written protocols.
• Provide excellent customer care, demonstrating empathy, patience and a holistic approach to patient care.
• Take telephone calls from a variety of sources, using templates and protocols, the correct course of action for a patient, including identifying other services that may be appropriate for the patients needs.
• Carry out any administrative functions as requested including referrals to other services.
• Have excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate in writing and verbally with a wide range of providers and users of services.
• Understand the common needs and safeguarding issues of vulnerable patient groups.
• Understand the legal, ethical and regulatory principles of the NHS, and know personal boundaries and when to seek help.
• Be aware of own impact in the process of care, the need for reflection and resilience when faced with challenging situations.
• Understand the importance of confidentiality.
• Report any incidents that might compromise health and safety for self, other staff or patients.
• Assist in the training of other colleagues where appropriate.
• Work in accordance with Equal Opportunities Policy, Data Protection, Health and Safety and organizational dress code.
• Be an active member of the Contact Centre Team, assisting in the provision and maintenance of the quality, standards and professional image of the service.

About us

We care about people at Local Care Direct. Together, we act with kindness & respect, fairness & consistency, and honesty & integrity. Every one of our values is essential, but our impact is greater when we use all of them together.

Our purpose is to care for people. Established as a social enterprise in 2004 to deliver health services across West Yorkshire, our aim is to meet the needs and expectations of our patients, and our NHS and social care partners. Over the years, we have developed a broad range of services for patients across Yorkshire and the Humber including: a centralised contact centre, GP out of hours services, Urgent Treatment Centres, walk-in facilities, a dental assessment and booking service, as well as a number of bespoke services for our NHS clients.

Benefits of working for Local Care Direct:

• Employee Assistance Programme
• Modern working environment with a positive atmosphere
• NHS Pensions
• NHS Discounts (Blue light card)
• Various hours available in a 24/7 environment
• Health & Wellbeing group to support staff
• Supportive and Friendly teams
• Annual Awards focused on raising money to support a local charity

Job responsibilities

Job Title: Care Navigator Urgent Community Response Hub

Team: Urgent Community Response Hub

Base Location: Bradley, Unit 2

Staff Group: Corporate

DBS Check Level Required: Basic Check

• Covid19 double vaccination not required but recommended.
• This job has been rated as Low Risk for requiring Hepatitis B immunisation.
• Flu jab recommended and will be offered.

Job Purpose:

The post holder will work as part of a virtual multidisciplinary team, matching and signposting patients to appropriate services, using templates and protocols.

The post holder will be responsible for booking patients into appropriate services, either through direct booking where capacity exists or by following agreed referral pathways.

They will be a key member of the Urgent Community Response Hub team and will contribute to the delivery of a quality service and the maintenance of quality standards.

KEY PRINCIPLES

• To develop a thorough knowledge of Local Care Direct and to work in accordance with written protocols.
• To provide excellent customer care, demonstrating empathy, patience and a holistic approach to patient care.
• To take telephone calls from a variety of sources, using templates and protocols, the correct course of action for a patient, including identifying other services that may be appropriate for the patients needs.
• To carry out any administrative functions as requested including referrals to other services.
• To have excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate in writing and verbally with a wide range of providers and users of services, including patients, carers, voluntary sector, social, primary and secondary care providers.
• To understand the common needs and safeguarding issues of vulnerable patient groups, including the elderly, housebound and those with long term medical conditions, including physical and mental disabilities.
• To understand the legal, ethical and regulatory principles of the NHS, and know personal boundaries and when to seek help.
• To be aware of own impact in the process of care, the need for reflection and resilience when faced with challenging situations.
• To understand the importance of confidentiality.
• To report any incidents that might compromise health and safety for self, other staff or patients.
• To assist in the training of other colleagues where appropriate.
• To work in accordance with Equal Opportunities Policy, Data Protection, Health and Safety and organizational dress code.
• To be an active member of the Contact Centre Team, assisting in the provision and maintenance of the quality, standards and professional image of the service.
• To be flexible in working arrangements and location in order to meet the needs of the service.
• To be flexible to changes in service needs and undertake additional training as and when necessary.

COMMUNICATIONS & RELATIONSHIPS

To ensure agreed lines of communication and reporting are implemented within the team to support all employees understanding LCD business plans, objectives, priorities and changes.

To promote effective cross-functional working and that the operational team supports the achievement of objectives, standards and protocols of other LCD areas.

To attend internal and external meetings representing LCD and engaging in discussions appropriate to the role and level of the post.

PATIENT CARE

To ensure that the quality of patient care is firmly at the centre of the organisations objectives and vision.

To ensure the management and monitoring of the highest standards or safety and quality in the delivery of healthcare and related services, and manage risk within Local Care Direct.

FINANCIAL RESOURCES

To ensure financial policies and procedures are maintained and the budget is adhered to and that best value for money is achieved.

CONFIDENTIALITY

To operate and ensure the team operates within information governance protocols and that business confidentiality is maintained at all times.

TRAINING

To complete the defined company induction programme and core training for this role and mandatory refresher training thereafter and ensure that accurate records of training are maintained.

INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL

Healthcare workers have a duty of care to patients and are expected to comply fully with the companies Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C) policies and attend/complete IP&C training, for personal and patient safety and for prevention of healthcare-associated infection (HCAI). Knowledge, skills and behaviour in the workplace should reflect this.

SAFEGUARDING

Individuals have a duty of care to children and vulnerable adults that they come into contact with whilst at work to safeguard and promote their welfare and to work to prevent, recognise, respond, appropriately refer and record potential neglect or abuse, adhering to the companys Safeguarding Children and Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults policies and procedures.

MANAGING SELF

Ensure that relevant professional practice is evidence based and current.

Ensure that continual professional development is maintained and facilitates the ability to provide care to a high standard in a way that is both safe and cost effective.

Ensure that mandatory training is up to date and participate in training as appropriate.

Effectively utilise time management, organisational, co-ordination and if required - management skills.

Identify own professional development needs through the Personal Development Review process (PDR).

The main duties and responsibilities shown here are not exhaustive and the postholder will be expected to carry out any reasonable activities according to the needs of the business as directed by the line manager.

Person Specification

Personal attributes

• Able to work in a challenging and changing environment, responding quickly and flexibly to new developments.
• Able to relate to, and work with, all clinical and non-clinical staff within the organization.
• Able to demonstrate an understanding of own impact on the process of care, and resilience when faced with challenging situations.

Experience

• Experience of working in a busy, public-facing environment.
• Experience of dealing with confidential information and record keeping.
• Experience of working in partnership to carry out a role.
• Working in a health related environment.
• Previous experience of working as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Working in a 24/7 environment.
• Working in an environment where safeguarding is important.
• Working in an inbound telephone based environment.
• Previous experience in Care Navigator Role.
• Previous experience of working on SystmOne.

Qualifications

• GCSE Maths and English at grade C / 5 or above.
• NVQ Level 2 in Office Administration or Customer Service.

Skills

• Excellent I.T skills and proficient with Microsoft Office.
• Confident in communication methods and able to communicate effectively with a range of people including patients and clinicians.
• Effective organisational skills.
• Ability to understand the need for, and ability to follow systems and process in place.
• Ability to build strong relationships across multidisciplinary team.
• Recognise areas for service improvement.
• Health and safety principles.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of Local Care Direct services.
• Knowledge of confidentiality and Caldicott principles.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• Knowledge of other services and referral pathways.
• Safeguarding.
• Knowledge of SystmOne.

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.