ST JOSEPH’S HOSPICE
JOB DESCRIPTION - End of Life Care Education Programme Manager
BAND:
Band 8A
REPORTS TO:
Head of Education and Research, St Joseph's Hospice
ACCOUNTABLE TO:
Barts Health EOLC Group (as steering group)
JOB PURPOSE
This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced and motivated individual to undertake a 12-month
post in an educational project management role in the country’s largest NHS Trust. The aims of the
role are:
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To lead on the education and training strategy for care of patients at the end of life for frontline
clinical staff at Barts Health.
To make sustainable quality improvements in the provision of end of life care within Barts
Health, evidenced through high quality end of life care experience of patients and families,
through coordination and provision of a robust education programme.
To lead on local audit of care of the dying, ensuring processes are in place for this to be
undertaken annually.
Working in conjunction with key stakeholders, the post holder will explore the learning needs of
frontline staff in caring for the dying within the acute trust and draw together a suite of learning
resources to best meet their end of life care learning needs
To work closely with St Joseph’s Hospice Education and Research Team and other dedicated
palliative education roles in North East London to ensure a sustainable and linked up approach
to end of life care education
To contribute to the development and lead on delivery and co-ordination of the St Joseph's
Hospice Foundations in Palliative Care Programme to Barts Health Acute Trust Staff
It is anticipated that this post will focus on improving care for patients in the acute trust who are in the
last days of life, though will link closely with other local projects focussed on care towards the end of
life.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
St Joseph’s Hospice
St. Joseph’s Hospice is a charity established in 1905 by the Religious Sisters of Charity to offer
patients diagnosed with a life limiting illness a range of care and professional advisory services. It
currently provides high quality palliative and end of life care to a significant and growing number of
people living in East London and beyond. It employs a large team of clinical staff, including medical
practitioners who work across community, in-patient and out-patient services delivering individualised,
responsive and holistic support to patients and their families/carers. St Joseph’s Hospice has five key
strategic objectives one of which focuses on its role as a provider of advice, support, education and
training to professionals and others engaged in care delivery in the local area.
Barts Health NHS Trust
Barts Health NHS Trust is one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers and the largest trust in the
NHS. It was created on 1 April 2012 by bringing together three trusts: Barts and The London NHS
Trust, Newham University Hospital NHS Trust and Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust. The new
trust has a turnover of approximately £1.1 billion and approximately 15,000 employees.
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Together our hospitals - Newham University Hospital in Plaistow, St Bartholomew’s (Barts) in the City,
The Royal London in Whitechapel, The London Chest in Bethnal Green and Whipps Cross in
Leytonstone - deliver high quality clinical care to the people of east London and further afield.
The hospitals offer a full portfolio of services that serve the needs of the local community, and are
home to some of Britain’s leading specialist centres including cancer, cardiac, trauma and emergency
care. Barts Health also has one of the UK’s busiest children’s hospitals and internationally renowned
surgical facilities.
Our vision is to create a world-class health organisation that builds on strong relations with our
partners and the communities we serve – one dedicated to ending the historic health inequalities in
east London. We will build an international reputation for excellence in patient care, research and
education. And as members of UCLPartners, the largest academic health sciences system in the world,
we will ensure that our patients are some of the first in the country to benefit from the latest drugs and
treatments.
Background to Role
“People are tending to live longer, often with a number of potentially life-shortening or debilitating
conditions, and despite a move for people to die in the place of their choice a large proportion will
continue to die in hospital for the foreseeable future.” National care of the dying audit for hospitals,
England. Royal College of Physicians, May 2014. Two key recommendations from this report are:
 Education and training in care of the dying should be mandatory for all staff caring for dying
patients. This should include communication skills training, and skills for supporting families
and those close to dying patients.
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All hospitals should undertake local audit of care of the dying, including the assessment of the
views of bereaved relatives, at least annually.
Our vision at Barts Health is to ensure that all, regardless of diagnosis or care setting are offered the
quality of care and support necessary from the time that a person is identified as being at the "end of
life”. The Trust has a clear End of Life Care Strategy with defined one and five year goals. Following
the phasing out of the Liverpool Care Pathway, a new individualised care plan for the dying patient is in
development along with updated guidance for care of the dying patient. New Trust-wide Statutory and
Mandatory training on end of life care is also being produced.
This project seeks to ensure that frontline clinical staff at Barts Health have the necessary learning
and development opportunities to enable them to deliver compassionate quality care to people and
their families at the end of their life. This will be achieved by reviewing all current learning resources
available to the multi-disciplinary health care team and designing, implementing and evaluating a
variety of learning resources.
Key Resources
National care of the dying audit for hospitals, England. Royal College of Physicians, May 2014.
Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People: Five Priorities for Care
NHS Improving Quality: Care in the Last Days of Life http://www.nhsiq.nhs.uk/improvementprogrammes/long-term-conditions-and-integrated-care/end-of-life-care/care-in-the-last-days-oflife.aspx
Association for Palliative Medicine www.apmonline.org
NHS London Strategic Clinical Networks – End of Life Care Clinical Network currently drafting
“Overarching principles for end of life care training”.
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KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
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Barts Health End of Life Care Group
Barts Health Education Academy
St Joseph’s Hospice Education, Research and Development Team
Medical CAG education directors
CAG directors of nursing and AHPs
Specialist palliative care teams
UCL Partners
St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Royal London Hospital
Newham University Hospital
Whipps Cross Hospital
Mile End Hospital
PallE8 stakeholder group
eLearning for Health
Tower Hamlets Integrated Care Provider Partnership (THIPP) education stream
DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES
Operational leadership
 Provide a leadership role model and demonstrate expert knowledge and understanding around
end of life care, supporting stakeholder staff to manage end of life care for patients, families
and their carers
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Work both autonomously and collaboratively with a high level of personal and professional
integrity to drive the end of life care agenda with all stakeholders and colleagues.
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Lead and support the use of the Trust’s new individualised care plans for the dying and their
family, across all acute settings to improve standards, choice, quality and outcomes of end of
life care for patients and their carers.
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To support the implementation and evaluation of the impact of the care plans and new Trust
Statutory and Mandatory Training on End of Life Care.
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Facilitate for the multitude of stakeholders, acting as trouble shooter, encouraging the sharing
of good practice, encouraging problem solving, accountability and disseminating ideas.
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Promote closer partnership working between clinicians across hospital palliative care and St
Joseph’s Hospice teams; engaging, co-ordinating and supporting specialist palliative care
clinicians to contribute to end of life care education initiatives
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Contribute to and facilitate end of life care medical, nursing and multi-professional practice
and development projects that will enhance patient care, working closely in partnership with
Hospital Palliative Care teams, Education Academy and St Joseph’s Hospice Education and
Research Team.
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Build collaborative working relationships with clinical leads to negotiate and ensure active
participation of frontline healthcare professionals in End of Life Care Training and
accountability for the transformation of end of life care of patients clinical practice
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Foster positive working relations with frontline healthcare professionals across the Trust in
order to up-skill all staff working with patients at the end of life to provide improved end of life
care outcomes for patient and their families.
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Ensure that all relevant information is documented and recorded on the appropriate systems.
Leadership, Education and Training.
 Identify areas of learning need and development in relation to end of life care within the
multitude of stakeholders and find education and training solutions to meet that need.
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Actively contribute to the development of the St Joseph's Hospice Foundations in Palliative
Care Programme to ensure this is tailored to support the learning needs of Barts Health Acute
Trust staff, leading on the co-ordination and delivery of this programme across Barts Health
Acute Trust
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Promote and support the implementation of individualised care plans for dying patients across
Barts Health Trust by ensuring delivery of appropriate training to nursing, medical and multiprofessional staff, seeking opportunities to increase knowledge, skills, competence and
confidence for all staff who interface with patients and families at the end of life
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Lead the coordination and facilitation of end of life care training as required, work closely
across the whole health economy with a multitude of stakeholders in Barts Health including
managers and their teams in order to develop a culture of reflective practice and quality end of
life care for all
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Engage in regular review of current literature (through the involvement of a journal club or
similar) to ensure the education programme and training is evidence based.
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Lead the co-ordination and facilitation of reflective End of Life Care action learning
programmes, in partnership with the specialist palliative care team, to: help ensure that end of
life care education is transformative of clinical practice - to build a resilient end of life care
workforce by providing support for staff working with death and dying
Service Development
 To develop and deliver end of life care education programmes and interventions within the
acute setting for generalist colleagues, working in close partnership with St Joseph's Hospice
Education and Research Team and other relevant stakeholders to ensure co-ordinated,
sustainable approach.
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To evaluate the impact of education and service development initiatives, against aims and
objectives in Education and Training Strategy, to ensure programme is transforming end of life
care experience for patients, families and staff
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Ensure systems are in place to ensure continuous improvement, quality assurance and clinical
governance
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Keep abreast of current advances in palliative and end of life care practice and research
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Work across professional boundaries using creative reasoning and problem solving.
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Influence the standards of end of life care practice and promote the delivery of evidence based
care, working closely with other professionals to identify opportunities for quality improvement.
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Contribute to and receive reports on clinical activity and the profile of patients as a basis for
exploring trends, anticipating new areas of need and evaluating impact of Education
programme and training initiatives.
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In collaboration with appropriate stakeholders contribute towards the development of relevant
policies, information, standards, protocols and procedures that influence palliative and end of
life care for patients and support for families and carers.
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Be cognisant of clinical and corporate governance including management of risk. Ensure that
all stakeholders are aware and able to identify and manage risk in relation to end of life care
and safe practice.
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Abide by national, local and Hospice and Barts Health policies and procedures.
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Ensure that information is obtained, stored, accessed and disposed of in accordance with data
protection riles and hospice policy, especially the sharing of password and the sharing of
information with other agencies.
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Contribute positively to embracing future processes which promote the utilisation of available
and emerging IT in the delivery of the aims and objectives of the service.
Personal Development
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Identify own learning and development needs in order to meet the key requirements of the
post
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Take responsibility for linking own development needs with the Hospice appraisal and
objective setting process
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To take responsibility for attending and ensure others attendance at mandatory and hospice
compulsory training and in-house courses in line with organisational policy and current
legislation
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To proactively maintain appropriate level of clinical competence as identified within the ‘St
Joseph’s Competencies’ and Barts Health employee guidance.
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To take personal responsibility for life-long learning, self -development and reflection.
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Participate in supervision sessions with line manager
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Comply with and promote St Joseph’s Hospice Equal Opportunity Policy and avoid any behaviour which
discriminates against colleagues, potential employees, patients/clients or their families on the
grounds of sex, marital status, race, age, belief, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion,
disability, creed, class, gender or sexual orientation.
MISSION & CORE VALUES
All Hospice staff are expected to work in line with St Joseph’s Mission & Core Values as these precepts
act as a value base which directly influences how all work activities are undertaken. The ethos of the
Hospice should be apparent in the behaviours and attitudes of all employees as the work they
undertake, whether it is direct or indirect care is ultimately for the benefit of patients. The Mission and
Core Values are an integral part of all job descriptions, the probationary period and performance and
development reviews. (full details are attached)
HEALTH & SAFETY
Ensure a safe working environment and be aware of responsibilities under the Health & Safety at Work
Act, taking appropriate action in the event of an accident to patients, staff, self or any other person in
the work area.
St Joseph’s Hospice operates a no smoking policy.
THIS JOB DESCRIPTION WILL BE REVIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES AND MAY
INCLUDE OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, FOLLOWING DISCUSSION WITH JOB HOLDER AND
THEIR MANAGER
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MISSION STATEMENT OF ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPICE
Our Mission is:
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To treat each individual as unique
 Valuing them without distinction or judgement
 Respecting their culture
 Respecting their beliefs – be they religious or otherwise
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To enable all to reach their full potential until death
 Valuing what they have to offer
 Respecting the autonomy of the individual
 Encouraging them to participate in their own care, together with
their family and friends
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To confront the patient’s pain and distress whether physical, mental, social or spiritual
 Through close co-operation between all of the disciplines involved
in the care of the patient and family members
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To encourage openness and honesty when communicating with the patient and family
members
 By respecting the patient’s wish to question or remain silent
 By respecting the patient’s confidentiality at all times
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To create an atmosphere where healing can occur
 Through meeting the patient’s needs as a person
 Through accepting the terminal dimensions of the illness
 Through a holistic approach of care
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To show particular concern for staff at all levels
 Through consultation and participation in decision making
 Through staff support
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To be committed to education, research and an ethical approach to care
 Through the work of the Study Centre and Ethics Committee
 Ensuring that research projects are carried out when deemed appropriate
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To be committed to the development of palliative care
 Throughout the United Kingdom
 And further afield
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To participate actively in National Associations
 Of the various palliative care disciplines – medical, nursing, social work and chaplaincy
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CORE VALUES OF THE RELIGIOUS SISTERS OF CHARITY
RESPECT FOR HUMAN DIGNITY
We respect human dignity when we:
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Respect the sacredness of life
Care for the whole person
Demonstrate unity of purpose, while recognising individual differences
Value each person’s contribution
Act in a culturally appropriate manner
SERVICE / QUALITY
We provide service when we:
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Create an environment of welcome and hospitality
Promote quality care and excellence
Encourage and demonstrate team spirit
Recognise the value of individual initiatives and ideas
Show an openness to constructive criticism and feedback
CARE OF THE POOR AND VULNERABLE / ADVOCACY
We care for the poor and vulnerable when we:
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Listen attentively to identify unmet needs
Respond in a practical way to those in need
Collaborate with others to share resources
Create access to needed services
Provide basic resources for daily living to those in need
COMPASSION
We show compassion when we:
JUSTICE
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Act with understanding and sensitivity
Work cooperatively with others
Are available to those we serve and to each other
Respect and nurture the environment
We promote justice when we:
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Act with integrity
Respect the rights of others
Take responsibility for our actions
Preserve resources
Provide quality without extravagance
Demonstrate fairness in decision making
Affirm, celebrate and develop the gifts and talents of each person
Model justice in all aspects of business practice
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