Perioperative Care Coordinator | University Hospitals NHS Trust

Overview

The perioperative care coordinator is a relatively new, evolving role within centralised pre‑operative assessment that has undergone an 18 month pilot phase and proved highly successful. The role was created in response to new NHS England best practice guidelines for pre‑screening and optimisation of perioperative patients (NHS England » Earlier screening, risk assessment and health optimisation in perioperative pathways: guide for providers and integrated care boards).

This post will include working closely with clinicians to identify patients requiring optimisation ahead of planned surgical intervention; liaison and caseload management of patients to support referral pathways and access to both medical and holistic services across the whole of Nottinghamshire ICs and potentially beyond.

The successful applicant will have good communication skills and be able to build rapport and relationships with a diverse population to encourage and support behaviour change.

Training will be provided around personalised care, use of healthcare specific IT systems and on brief intervention conversations.

To advocate and provide a personalised and proactive approach to the identification and optimisation of patients on elective surgery waiting list as part of the centralised Pre‑Operative Assessment Service. This will include very brief intervention opportunities and behaviour change management strategies to encourage long term lifestyle changes such as increasing activity, support smoking and alcohol reduction and cessation and building social networks and support.

Key working relationships are with pre‑operative assessment nurses and senior clinicians including pre‑operative anaesthetic consultants. Other working relationships will also need to include specialty clinicians including nurse specialists and consultant surgeons, as well as outpatient nursing staff.

The post holder will have experience working with members of the public (our patient population) using a variety of communications tools including telephone, video calls, electronic and paper based questionnaires and face to face interaction. They will have experience dealing with high volumes of patients and adept with IT systems, with a willingness to learn.

The post holder will be innovative and be able to problem solve. They will be able to communicate verbally complex confidential information clearly and accurately within a multidisciplinary team, and with patients (and relatives/support network where appropriate), providing clear documentation via clinical and IT systems.

With more than 19,000 colleagues, we are the largest employer in Nottinghamshire and one of the biggest and busiest NHS Trusts in the country, serving more than 2.5m residents of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and a further four million people across the East Midlands and beyond. Our Trust spans over three sites including Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC), Nottingham City Hospital and Ropewalk House.

• Contacting all patients newly listed for surgical procedure to ask or ensure they have completed a pre‑screening questionnaire, and where required support them to complete the form.
• Collate information at the point of referral from primary care and in the pre‑screening questionnaire.
• Use the above information to initially triage patients and identify those likely to require optimisation, such as those with known co‑morbidities, poor physical fitness, nutrition and or high BMI. Information should then be compiled in a template suitable (or use available IT systems where available) for clinical review and sign off. Triaging will be supervised by a registered healthcare professional and no clinical decision making will be made by Care coordinator alone.
• Contact patients to inform them of outcome of pre‑screening triage, and where appropriate and under the direction of a qualified health professional, use approved materials to provide them with universal advice about pre‑operative preparation, including diet, exercise/activity and healthy living.
• Under the guidance of a registered health professional, arrange appropriate follow up appointments for higher risk patients.
• D…