The purpose of this post involves having an Armed Forces Community Support Officer to provide additional support and co-ordination with services within the NHS both Acute and Community settings and Armed Forces charities; and make other improvements that would benefit the Armed Forces community to support veterans within East Lancashire to overcome barriers and maintain Safe Personal and Effective care.
The Armed Forces Community Support Officer will support Veterans of all the services through "out of hospital" pathways, from admission avoidance to expediting discharge, ensuring all patients receive safe, personal and effective care throughout their NHS Journey. Although the Armed Forces Community Support officer is primarily based at Royal Blackburn Hospital, they will also support patients across the whole ELHT community area.
Access to a Vehicle will be needed to allow the successful candidate to reach these areas., They will liaise closely with many other multi-disciplinary teams including complex case managers, social services, pharmacy, theatre staff, ward staff, ward managers, matrons and senior management. They will liaise and meet external agencies and charities within the Armed forces community.
Excellent communication is vital to the smooth running of the service. To provide a supporting role around Veterans and Reservists specific issues
The post holder will be an integral part of the Armed Forces Veteran Team, ensuring their experience and skills in administration, support the team of both registered nursing staff and admin and clerical staff. The veterans Community Support Officer will be directly line manager by East Lancashire Hospitals Veteran Team Manager.

Working for our organisation
This is a small team comprising of the Team Leader and Senior Lead. we have a proud commitment to our Armed Forces and wider community. we aim to provide a quality service in line with the Armed Force Covenant Duty and NHS Long Term Plan., · To make contact with suitable and appropriate local organisations which represent and support the armed forces and veterans and to establish effective and regular consultation arrangements with those organisations.
· To raise the profile of the Armed Forces Covenant & VPPP along side ELHT.
· Work with veterans that are accessing treatment within the Community setting to form positive working relationships with local and national charities and welfare organisations, especially RBL, SSAFA, DWMS, Veterans UK and other veteran forums and agencies in their geographical areas
· To complement the role of the VCHA & Armed Forces Covenant to ensure that veterans, particularly with Service-related conditions, can access Health Services that they are entitled to.
· To visit autonomously patients not only in community hospital sites but in their homes to advocate on behalf of the Patients within the ELHT trust and wider community on behalf of ex-services personnel
· Engage in a supportive, meaningful, and empathic manner with all Veterans, building trust, developing relationships and to provide effective support to both patients and staff.
· To ensure that the Armed Forces Covenant priorities and campaigns are taken into account when local policies and plans are being developed.
· To ensure correct and up to date feedback using the Armed Forces Portal MPTL and updating patients record with actions taken.
· To advocate on behalf of ex-services personnel.
+ In conjunction with the IHSS, CCM, DN, palliative care, safeguarding, Alcohol & homeless team to name a few assist the administrative processes to ensure that the patient's journey is managed smoothly and in accordance with agreed timescales and escalate to team leader any concerns or complex issues.
+ Maintain an accurate and up to date filing system, ensuring safe recording of documentation and maintaining confidentiality.
+ Assist the wider services in ensuring that information on electronic bed boards is accurate and up to date with Armed Forces information & assist in training and increased awareness across all staff groups within the Trust
+ Assist with liaising with surrounding hospital sites to ensure use of icon and recording of statistics for audits are input.
+ Deal with requests, concerns and queries promptly from patients and members of the Trust staff and escalate issues to the Veteran Team Manager
+ Record and monitor telephone queries on the appropriate documentation and escalate issues as required to the Veteran Team Manager.
+ Undertake general administrative duties which facilitate the smooth running of the service such as photocopying, ordering materials and equipment and managing stock.
+ Type and process correspondence, reports and other documents as requested on a daily with packages to include Microsoft Office i.e. Word, Excel Outlook, Access and PowerPoint
+ Attend and minute Veteran meetings as required.
+ Attend and minute staff meetings as required.
+ Assisting with collecting and inputting accurate data into electronic reports Organise electronic and paper diaries as requested.
+ Meet deadlines and manage time effectively.
Dear Potential Applicant,
It is important you are made aware of the following as regards your application to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
+ Please note that the salary advertised is for full time hours. If this post is less than 37.5 hours per week, the salary will be pro-rata. For posts on Agenda for Change pay-scales, new entrants to the NHS will normally commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.
+ This vacancy may close before the closing date if the recruiting manager deems sufficient applications have been received. Therefore it is advised to complete your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
+ Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.
+ Please note that shortlisting is completed anonymously with candidates being assessed against the essential criteria for the post. Therefore only applicants, who can clearly demonstrate how they meet our person specification criteria in their application, will be short-listed.
Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS)
If the role you are applying for is identified as either controlled or regulated activity as defined in in the Safeguarding vulnerable Groups Act (2006) any offer of employment is provisional upon a satisfactory DBS check being obtained.
The healthcare sector is exempted from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
In line with other NHS organisations in the North West Region, the Trust is now passing the charge for undertaking a DBS check on to candidates in the event they are successfully appointed into the post for which they have applied. Candidates can choose whether to pay this over 1-3 months as a deduction from the monthly salary. However, if you are applying for a post as a BANK worker, the payment must be made in full at the time of employment checks. By applying for this vacancy you are agreeing to this undertaking in the event you are successfully appointed.
The cost of an Enhanced Disclosure will be £55.38 and for a Standard Disclosure will be £27.38.
This cost is not applicable for a Volunteer post

At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 600,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 9,500 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work., The Trust is an equal opportunities employer, committed to improving the working lives of our staff and operates a 'Zero Tolerance' policy to aggression, violence, bullying and harassment. In addition, our aim is to help protect children and vulnerable adults by providing a first-class service to the recruitment of people into positions of trust.
We aim to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve.
We welcome applications from everyone irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, disability or social background.
We especially welcome applications from members of our black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, as we have identified that ELHT has an under-representation of BAME employees. Appointments will be made on merit.