Palliative Care Support Worker – University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)
Closing date: 09 July 2026
The Palliative Care Support Worker is a member of the hospital Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT) working at Royal Sussex County (RSCH) and Princess Royal Hospitals (PRH). Their role is integral to maintaining an efficient and effective palliative care service and ensuring patients and those important to them are able to access the support they require, as well as other health care professionals.
The Palliative Care Support Worker works alongside and under the guidance of the Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) to provide support, advice and assessment for patients who have been diagnosed with an advanced life-limiting disease. They are often the first point of contact, providing an essential link between the CNS team and health care professionals in the hospital, triaging calls, offering advice and support, signposting and referring on as required / appropriate.
This role is eligible for visa sponsorship under the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker route. Sponsorship can only be provided where applicants meet the specific requirements set by UKVI, including the relevant skill and salary thresholds, and any role-specific criteria. For example, applicants for the Senior HCA role must be able to evidence a minimum of 2 years’ experience in the same role to qualify for sponsorship.
If you are applying using a Graduate visa as your right to work, you must have a minimum of 18 months remaining on your visa at time of application.
Main duties of the job
- To work alongside the palliative care clinical nurse specialist team to build and maintain good working relationships with health care professional teams both within the hospital and in the community.
- To provide accessible information to patients and those important to them, offering resources and signposting to external charitable organisations.
- To liaise with and refer to community palliative care services to ensure coordinated patient care from hospital into the community.
- To coordinate the collection of routine service activity data and support palliative care leadership team in presenting data for quarterly and annual reports.
- To manage the administrative work for the palliative care service including relevant information sharing and onward referrals.
- To provide patient and family psycho-social support and guidance, alongside the palliative care clinical nurse specialist team.
About us
At UHSussex, diversity is our strength, and we want you to feel included to help us always deliver Excellent Care Everywhere, as shown in our Outstanding for Caring CQC rating. Your uniqueness and experiences will be part of our creative and innovative community where everyone is encouraged to succeed. We have a range of staff networks to help break down barriers, and can offer a buddy to help new members settle in. We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 3) and a Veteran Aware Trust.
Person Specification
- GCSE English Language and Mathematics (Grades A-C) or equivalent
- Experience of working in health or social care environment
- Experience of multi-professional team-working
- Experience in the use of data management
- Ability to work independently as well as part of a team
- Ability to show empathy and understand the difficulties faced by people living with advanced life-limiting disease
- -NVQ4 or training in foundation degree in health and social care equivalent, or equivalent through short courses -Foundation degree in health and social care
- Knowledge of palliative and end of life care
- Experience working with patients in hospital
- Willingness to undertake learning and development courses relevant to Palliative Care speciality
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
- Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles
- Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues
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.
Employer name
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)
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