Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

PALS Co-ordinator

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust  •  £26k - £27k/yr  •  Newport, GB (Onsite)  •  54 minutes ago
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Job Description

Company Description

Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this.

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisations. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.

Job Description

NHS Band 3 Salary: £25,760 - £27,476 per annum

Hours Per Week: Full time 37.5

Contract Type: Permanent

Location Base: St Mary's Hospital, Parkhurst Road, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5TG

Do you enjoy helping people, solving problems and making a difference?

We are looking for a compassionate and organised PALS Co-ordinator to be the first point of contact for patients, families and visitors who need advice, support or guidance.

As part of our Experience of Care Team, you will play a vital role in ensuring concerns are listened to, enquiries are resolved promptly and patients and families receive the support they need. Working closely with clinical and non-clinical colleagues, you will help improve patient experience across our services.

We are looking for someone who has excellent customer service and communication skills, the ability to handle sensitive conversations with empathy and professionalism and strong organisational and IT skills. The successful candidate will have experience working in a busy, customer-focused environment with a positive, solution-focused approach and commitment to outstanding patient care.

As a PALS Co-Ordinator, you will

  • Provide advice, information and signposting to patients and carers.
  • Help navigate and facilitate the resolution of patient enquiries and concerns, working collaboratively with services across the trust.
  • Maintain accurate records and support patient feedback systems.
  • Work collaboratively with teams across the Trust to improve patient experience.

Specific Core Functions

  • To provide an empathetic and responsive advice service to patients and service users.
  • Respond to enquiries independently where able to
  • To frequently communicate with patients and service users in person, on the telephone and via written communication.
  • To work as part of a team, communicating with the Complaints Team and ensuring a joined-up approach to improve the experience of patients and their families at the Trust.
  • To escalate enquiries to the Patient Experience Lead where appropriate. The post holder should be able to recognize when to refer enquiries to clinical staff (this is a non-clinical post and the post holder is therefore not permitted to give clinical information, e.g. test results)
  • To be aware of the difference between PALS complaints and escalate cases to colleagues when appropriate.
  • To assist with collecting organisation-wide patient feedback.
  • Have excellent keyboard skills.
  • Maintain timely, factual and accurate electronic and contemporaneous records of contacts with visitors to the office in order to provide a seamless service for all users.

If you are passionate about supporting people and delivering excellent service, we would love to hear from you.

For full details of this role, please refer to the enclosed Job Description

For more information, please contact Experience of Care Lead, Samantha Johnson on 01983 534420 or sam.johnson16@nhs.net

Qualifications

  • NVQ 3 or equivalent
  • Educated to GCSE level or equivalent experience.
  • Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office programmes

Experience

  • Experience of working in a busy customer service environment
  • Experience of working within an NHS or Social Care environment
  • Excellent verbal, telephone. and written communication skills

Skills & Knowledge

  • Excellent interpersonal skills
  • Listening skills
  • Demonstrate tact and diplomacy when dealing with highly sensitive issues and maintain confidentiality.
  • Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands.
  • Ability to deal with distressing circumstances and challenging situations

Additional Information

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.

For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

About Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is the first NHS trust on the English mainland to provide community, mental health and acute hospital services. We work with health and social care partners in Somerset to ensure that we deliver outstanding services that meet the needs of our population, and this was highlighted at the Health Service Journal Awards 2021, where we were awarded Mental Health Trust of the Year.

Our trust was formed on 1 April 2020 when Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust merged, bringing together innovative and successful teams who have a track record of providing community and mental health services across the whole of Somerset and acute hospital services in the north, west and centre of the county and beyond.

We are privileged to work with over 9,000 colleagues who deliver or support our patient services. From therapists to nurses, doctors, researchers, scientists, porters, cleaners, kitchen staff, accountants, those who teach the next generation of clinicians and the receptionists who welcome our patients, the contribution of all our colleagues is invaluable.

Working together we provide services from the cradle to the grave, including:

• Services delivered in your own home such as Somerset’s Rapid Response service that cares for patients to support them during a period of crisis and avoided over 1,000 patients going to hospital in its first year

• Primary care from three GP practices

• A range of services from 13 community hospital including outpatient and diagnostic services, 190 inpatient beds and seven Minor Injuries Units.

• A range of specialist mental health services

• Specialist healthcare for adults with learning disabilities

• Community dental health services

• Regional, specialist and hospital services from Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton including medical and surgical care, maternity services and cancer treatment services

Industry
Healthcare & Social Services
Company Size
1,001-5,000 employees
Headquarters
Taunton, GB
Year Founded
Unknown
Website
nhs.uk
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