Care Navigator

Job responsibilities

Key Duties/Responsibilities

Communication

1. Communicate extremely sensitive information clearly, sensitively, and effectively with patients, family members and other professionals. Be able to overcome hostility or barriers to understanding around sensitive subjects such as end of life, DNAR, etc.
2. Communicate in a warm and empathic manner.
3. Maintain a calm and sensitive approach when dealing with people in distress.
4. Perform a basic holistic assessment of patients needs over the telephone and face-to-face.
5. Writes and maintain clear, accurate records of patient information in a variety of formats (i.e., electronic and paper).
6. Present information clearly and effectively when speaking with others
7. Adapt communication style and method to best support patient preference and need.
8. Demonstrate the importance of cultural factors in communicating with people.
9. Understand and use common social and health care terminology.
10. Communicate effectively to support self-management and behaviour change (e.g., health coaching or motivational interviewing skills).

Enabling Access to Services

1. Access up-to-date, accurate information for a range of services to provide support for an individual and carer.
2. Understand local referral arrangements/pathways for holistic support from a wide range of sectors.
3. Signpost and facilitate contact for the patient/carer to appropriate services.
4. Demonstrate initiative in seeking contacts with relevant local services.
5. Take a proactive, problem-solving approach in helping support to connect and access services.
6. Demonstrate detailed understanding of local services across a wide range of sectors.
7. Demonstrate persistence and resilience when faced with barriers to accessing services.
8. Seek appropriate help when faced with barriers to access services.
9. Provide timely feedback to colleagues around issues relating to access to services.

Personalisation

1. Determine the patients basic support needs accurately over the telephone and face-to-face.
2. Act in a way that acknowledges peoples expressed beliefs, preferences, and choices.
3. Help people to identify and use their strengths and resources to achieve their own well-being goals.
4. Demonstrate a positive, solution-focused approach to promote independence and well-being.
5. Demonstrate basic understanding of appropriate financial matters relevant to personalised support.
6. Identify people at risk and potentially vulnerable, using appropriate methods (as determined by local arrangements).
7. Contribute to developing care plans to meet peoples health and well-being needs, in partnership with the patient and family/carer.
8. Signpost patients to relevant support for important financial matters (i.e., personal budgets and benefits).
9. Refer patients with complex health, mental and social care needs to the appropriate professionals, teams, and services.

Coordination and integration

1. Share relevant information, decisions and discussions made by health and social care teams, with the patient (and carer if appropriate

2. Understand the principles of integrated care and support.

3. Provide information on when and how the patient (and carer) can contact the relevant person/professional.
4. Update and share appropriate information with a supervisor and professionals/agencies in a timely manner (e.g., with the multidisciplinary team)
5. Implement key action points from care plans/meetings, with supervision.
6. Show initiative to re-refer a person if known to services when appropriate contact has not occurred.
7. Effectively communicate a patients needs within a multidisciplinary team meeting environment.

Building and sustaining professional relationships

1. Build and work to sustain trusting, professional relationships with patients and their wider support network.
2. Recognise when and how to close professional relationships with patients and their careers.
3. Maintain a clear sense of role and responsibility within a team.
4. Be supportive and helpful towards other team members.
5. Relate to and work with clinical and non-clinical staff in other organisations, building constructive relationships across sectors.
6. Value the roles of key others working within and beyond the organisations.
7. Promote the sharing of resources and information from a wider range of sources to benefit patients and their carer.

Knowledge for practice

1. Demonstrate awareness and basic understanding of safeguarding vulnerable adults, end of life care, the needs of older adults and mental health conditions and symptoms (including dementia).
2. Be aware of the concept of mental health crisis, potential impact on a persons behaviour and seek timely appropriate help.
3. Demonstrate awareness of common long term physical and mental health conditions which impact on a persons well-being.
4. Understand the basic principle of self-care for people with long term conditions.
5. Appreciate where the organisation fits within the broader of the NHS context and social care systems.
6. Understand the importance and purpose of health promotion.
7. Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of national and local policy of long-term conditions and integrated care.
8. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of relevant mental health legislations (e.g., Mental Capacity Act).

Personal Development and Learning

1. Demonstrate willingness to learn and develop within the role.
2. Show responsibility for self-reflection and personal development.
3. Understand and engage with the process of appraisal.
4. Promote own role and navigation services to others working within and outside the organisation.
5. Provide supportive and constructive feedback to other staff.
6. Contribute to delivery of education, training, and supervision of others.

Handling Data and Information

1. Access, input to and use data from ...