Job summary
Two full time posts are available to work within the Palliative Care Support Team, Community Team based at Morpeth NHS Centre. We are looking to recruit motivated and enthusiastic Support Workers on a permanent basis to join this well-established team in providing excellent supportive personalised care.

The team is based in Morpeth NHS Centre, Morpeth delivering care to all patients who are registered with a GP in Northumberland, therefore the successful applicant must be able to fulfil the transport requirements of the post including at times of inclement or bad weather.

The successful candidate will work as part of the Palliative Care Support Team to deliver compassionate care and demonstrating kindness to patients at end of life and their families in their own homes.

We are looking for someone with excellent communication skills who can liaise with the wider MDT, patients, and relatives about emotive and difficult conversations. Both verbal and written communication must be of the highest standard.

The successful candidate should have a problem-solving approach to complex situations, remaining calm and reassuring during difficult times.

Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received.

Main duties of the job
The Team's primary function is to support patients with a palliative condition in the last few weeks/months of life. The Team provides a home visiting service delivering care and support for both patients and relatives.

• Provide care as planned by the District Nurse for patients with palliative care needs and or at the end of life.
• Monitor patient's condition during a visit or shift and report accurately any change or deterioration to either the Team Leader, District Nurse or Out of Hours nurses.
• Deal with highly distressing situations when a patient dies during a visit or shift following Trust policies for the confirmation of expected death out of hours and reporting appropriately during office hours.
• Provide family and carers with emotional, physical and spiritual support during planned interventions.
• Provide nutrition to patients presenting food and fluid in an acceptable way depending on patient's needs and capabilities.
• Provide patient's mouth care regimes to maintain a healthy mouth and patient comfort.
• Provide the hands on support and care to patients. You should have a willingness and passion to provide high quality, essential nursing care to ensure comfort and support to our patients and family's.

About us
We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres.

We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate.

High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.

Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 3
Salary: £25,760 to £27,476 a year pro rata per annum
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
Closing date: 29 October 2026

Job responsibilities
We are looking for applicants who have excellent communication skills, who work well as part of a team and have a flexible adaptable approach to meet the care needs of a broad range of patients.

The post will require you to work unsocial hours, weekends and Bank Holidays providing a service 365 days of the year working a shift pattern of days and evenings. Working alongside the Clinical Lead and Locality Supervisor for the service, the District Nursing service and Specialist Palliative Service you will be able to undertake support worker duties to an exceptionally high standard.

• Contribute to and works with team to provide high quality service to patients and carers requiring care and support in the end stages of life.
• Support patients and carers to manage disability, loss and change.
• Use equipment appropriately, once trained in the use and care of simple equipment.
• Record care in patients care plans in the electronic patient record (System One) and demonstrate high standards of record keeping.

Driving requirement: It is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving licence and is either a car owner and able to use the car for work purposes, or has a Trust personal lease vehicle which may be used for the role. However, the Trust would consider making reasonable adjustments to the role, if necessary, to enable a disabled person to undertake the role.

The successful post holder must be able to role model compassionate and inclusive leadership in order to shape the creation of a collective leadership culture within the Trust.

Essential qualifications and experience

• Appreciation of community care philosophy and procedures gained either through formal qualification or experience
• NVQ Level 2 or 3 in care or the equivalent level of skill and knowledge gained through experience and competence assessment
• Valid driving licence and car owner or Trust personal lease vehicle as per the role requirements
• Experience of caring for patients in a community setting

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

Contact: Junior OSM, Lynsey Garnett, lynsey.garnett@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk, 07542322617

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