TB Outreach Worker

at  Whittington Health NHS Trust

North Central London TB Network is a well established service providing world class care to patients and their carers across the five north central London boroughs. We are a nationally recognised, innovative team of nurse specialists, outreach staff and administrators who work closely with the respiratory and infectious diseases teams at the Whittington, North Middlesex, Royal Free and University College London, hospitals. We are based in the outpatient setting.
This post is an exciting opportunity to work as a TB Outreach Worker alongside the wider TB multi-disciplinary team. You will be employed by Whittington Health but will work predominantly in the community setting.
You will be a motivated, energetic individual who works efficiently and enjoys working with a diverse patient group including homeless people, drug or alcohol users, vulnerable migrants and people who have been in prison. The primary purpose of the role is to support patients to take a full course of treatment and get cured.
You will be comfortable working across hospital sites in order to meet service needs and as part of your training and development. You will be well supported by the clinical a team and the wider MDT. You will receive a comprehensive induction and your training and development needs will be discussed and supported where appropriate.
Contribute to the delivery of NCL TB service assisting in the prevention and control of spread of TB.
Work as part of the multi-disciplinary North Central London (NCL) TB Network to provide a flexible and responsive high quality TB service, to ensure effective patient management and protection of public health
Provide the supervision of TB medication (directly observed therapy - DOT) across NCL TB Network and undertake TB case manager support activities.
Assist the team with achieving the TB treatment completion rate target.
Undertake other assigned tasks to patients within the NCL TB service as designated by the clinical team.
This post is strenuous and involves travelling across the network daily using public transport and therefore requires that the post holder is flexible and energetic in their approach to work
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
Clinical Responsibilities
Provide support for those with TB disease to enable successful completion of treatment.
Observe patients who have been identified as requiring DOT, self-dispense and swallow their TB medication.
Ensure the patient is observed taking their medication in accordance with the agreed network protocol.
Safe transportation and storage of medication, in accordance with the agreed network protocol.
Provide support and encouragement to patients receiving DOT ensuring on-going adherence and completion of treatment and reporting any concerns in a timely manner to the case manager.
Ensure accurate and up to date recording of all outcomes of visits to patients and informing case manager of any missed medication in a timely manner and in line with agreed protocols.
Establish a therapeutic rapport with patients being aware of any side effects or changes in health status the patient may be experiencing in relation to their medication and reporting immediately to the TB case manager.
Report immediately any untoward incidents and any other relevant information to TB case manager.
Report any change in social/lifestyle circumstances i.e. increased alcohol intake, eviction notice, which may affect ability to adhere to TB case manager.
Undertake follow-up lone worker home visit risk assessments as per network protocol, informing relevant parties of the outcome.
Ensure a courteous and helpful approach to patients and their relatives/carers in the community, adopting a sensitive approach whilst in patient’s home environment.
Work with a difficult and sometimes challenging client group
Participate in or contribute to other activities such as observing clinic DOT, escorting patients to appointments, locating and encouraging patients to return to service, gathering information, community phlebotomy, basic administrative tasks, or any other activity requested by the clinical team and deemed within the expectations of the role.
Deputise in the absence of the community outreach coordinator.
Promoting health and preventing ill health
Assist in the delivery of public TB awareness campaigns.
Challenge prejudice and stigma associated with TB
Partnership working
Attend and contribute to meetings, forums and case conferences, as appropriate, i.e. case review and cohort review.
Be flexible in the delivery of the role across the network.
Undertake other developing TB service roles that fall within the skills and competence.
Professional practice
The post holder will identify their own training needs with their line manager through reflection and appraisal.
Maintain and update personal knowledge of TB and associated health issues.
Assist in induction of new outreach workers.
Identify and participate in clinical supervision.
Audit
Ensure timely and accurate data collection as required.
Maintain patient records, both written and electronic.
Participate in TB audit alongside the clinical team.
Participate in cohort review.
Management of resources
Be responsible for the safekeeping and use of equipment.
Assist with the distribution of patient information.
Research and Development
Participates in patient experience survey

Please refer the Job description for details