Family Care Lead - Hospice

The Family Care Team Lead will provide compassionate,

inclusive leadership to an integrated team spanning rehabilitation, reablement,

discharge planning, family support, and bereavement services. This role drives

the strategic development of a coordinated, person-centred service that

supports patients and their loved ones holistically across their hospice

journey. Key responsibilities include optimizing patient flow and discharge

practice, fostering multidisciplinary autonomy for routine discharges, and managing

complex care transitions through collaboration with internal and external

healthcare partners. Additionally, the postholder will champion staff

development, promote evidence-based continuous improvement, and contribute to

wider hospice clinical leadership, including participation in the clinical

on-call rota and the Specialist Palliative Care multidisciplinary team.

Provide visible, compassionate and inclusive

leadership to the multidisciplinary Family Care Team.

Create a positive, collaborative and

high-performing team culture founded on accountability, psychological safety

and continuous improvement.

Lead supervision, appraisal, recruitment,

induction, workforce planning, succession planning and professional

development.

Support staff wellbeing, reflective practice,

learning and professional growth.

Educate, coach and mentor team members,

students, volunteers and colleagues to promote evidence-based practice and

integrated working.

Provide strategic leadership for the continued

development of Family Care Services in response to patient need, organisational

priorities and developments in specialist palliative and end-of-life care.

Lead service improvement and innovation, using

evidence, activity, quality and patient-experience data to evaluate impact and

inform service redesign.

Contribute to strategic planning, pathway

development and business cases relevant to Family Care Services, patient flow

and hospice capacity.

Lead the coordinated delivery and ongoing

development of rehabilitation, reablement, discharge planning, family support

and bereavement services.

Ensure the professional and volunteer elements

of the Family Care Team operate as an integrated pathway rather than as

separate services.

Promote seamless transitions and continuity of

care throughout the patient and family journey.

Ensure services remain responsive,

person-centred, evidence-based and aligned with organisational priorities.

Ensure the Family Care Team is fully integrated

within the operational life of inpatient and wider hospice services.

Act as a specialist resource for colleagues

managing complex patient and family situations.

Promote effective collaboration between Family

Care, Inpatient Services, Wellbeing, Outreach, Spiritual Care and developing

Out of Hospice services.

Lead the development and implementation of an

organisation-wide approach to patient flow and discharge planning.

Champion proactive discharge planning from the

earliest appropriate stage of admission, ensuring patient choice, clinical

need, rehabilitation potential and available community resources are

considered.

Promote shared ownership of patient flow and

discharge planning across the multidisciplinary team.

Develop the knowledge, confidence and capability

of clinical staff to initiate and autonomously progress routine discharge

planning within their professional roles.

Provide expert advice, leadership and

coordination where discharge arrangements involve significant clinical,

psychosocial, legal, safeguarding, funding or system complexity.

Coordinate and, where appropriate, chair complex

discharge-planning meetings involving internal and external partners.

Support patients and those important to them to

understand discharge options, care pathways and the implications of available

choices.

Develop effective systems for identifying,

monitoring and escalating barriers to discharge, using this intelligence to

inform improvement activity and strategic planning.

Lead initiatives to reduce avoidable delays,

improve patient flow and maximise the effective use of hospice beds and respite

capacity.

Develop and monitor meaningful measures of

patient flow, including delayed discharges, length of stay, discharge outcomes,

patient experience and effective utilisation of hospice capacity.

Work with Continuing Healthcare, social care,

community services, primary care, care providers, acute trusts and

voluntary-sector partners to improve pathways and facilitate timely

transitions.

Provide expert guidance on Continuing

Healthcare, Fast Track funding and other relevant care and funding pathways.

Ensure the specialist contribution of the post

is focused on complex practice, workforce capability and strategic improvement,

rather than replacing the routine discharge responsibilities of the wider

clinical team.

Promote safe, high-quality and evidence-based

care.

Maintain professional standards, accurate

records and compliance with legislation, regulation and hospice policy.

Together with the Deputy Director of Care

Services and the Quality and Audit Nurse, undertake audit, service evaluation

and quality-improvement activity.

Provide leadership and support in safeguarding

alongside the nominated Safeguard Lead, mental capacity and complex

decision-making processes.

Work collaboratively with hospice staff and

external agencies to identify, manage and respond to safeguarding concerns in

line with local policies and procedures.

Analyse and report on service performance,

patient flow and discharge outcomes, using findings to inform improvement.

Contribute to organisational learning arising

from incidents, complaints, feedback and service evaluation.

Participate in the Specialist Palliative Care

multidisciplinary team and clinical on-call rota.

Act as a role model, promoting accountability,

learning and excellence in care.

Lead the development of a culture in which

discharge planning, rehabilitation and family-centred care are recognised as

responsibilities shared across the multidisciplinary team.

Design and deliver education, coaching, guidance

and practical resources that improve staff confidence in discharge planning,

Continuing Healthcare, Fast Track funding, community pathways and associated

documentation.

Provide advice and professional support to

staff, students and volunteers, particularly when managing complex patient and

family situations.

Identify learning needs through audit,

incidents, complaints, feedback, service evaluation and review of delayed

discharges.

Promote reflective practice, professional

curiosity, shared learning and continuous development.

Develop strong and credible relationships with

health, social care and voluntary-sector partners.

Influence pathway development and system working

to improve transitions, patient flow and outcomes for patients and families.

Work closely with Spiritual Care volunteers and

other hospice services to ensure holistic support for patients and those

important to them.

Contribute to organisational induction,

education and leadership-development programmes.

Wakefield Hospice, is committed to providing the highest level of symptom management and care for people who have advanced active, progressive and life threatening illness.

Wakefield Hospice is a purpose-built specialist palliative care unit that opened in April 1990 we are currently undergoing a refurb which will provide 16 individual beds, we have a day therapy unit, bereavement support and education. Over the years the day care unit developed initially into a day therapy unit and ultimately into a drop-In centre providing therapies, information and care for patients, carers and bereaved families.

Qualifications

Essential: - Registered Nurse/AHP/Social Worker; - Experience within palliative care; - Experience in a management and leadership role

Experience

Personal Attributes