Engagement Officer

**Service Overview**

B&HF are developing a community hypertension support service working in collaboration with and complementing existing service provision across the city

The aim of this service is to improve access to hypertension treatment and behaviour change for cardiovascular disease prevention and healthy lifestyles for those most at risk and already on a GP register but not being actively managed. The focus is on people living in the most deprived parts of the city.

Specific objectives
- To find and support those with a diagnosis of hypertension on GP practice registers who are not currently receiving support for treatment, management, or healthy lifestyles.
- Support for healthy lifestyles including: 121 support and group consultations - explaining the impact of lifestyle factors in terms of blood pressure ‘numbers’, physical activity as part of everyday life, joining healthy weight programme for those eligible, improving eating and drinking well for your heart - salt and general CVD prevention dietary advice and smoking cessation support for smokers
- To provide data driven, integrated support that increases access to:

- healthy lifestyles services
- behaviour change support
- support for primary care to identify patients at risk of cardiovascular disease and specific groups who may be undiagnosed or not treated to guidance
- support for hypertension treatment and management and to link with existing services either via community pharmacies[1]and / or GP practices
- link with social prescribing services for access to other support such as debt advice, housing and befriending
- Ongoing follow up and support for sustained behaviour change and treatment management

The post holder will be an integral part of the hypertension team working with patients in the community across Brighton and Hove. The postholder will actively work with people to help them live well by paying attention to, and supporting them with, what matters to them.

There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks, this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels.

The engagement officer will
- Promote healthy lifestyles services and approach
- Support behavior changes and monitor impact
- Support an increased number of practices, particularly those with the lowest hypertension management figures and higher relative deprivation achieving above 70% of their hypertension patients treated to target.
- Improve hypertension treatment and condition management and uptake of existing services either via pharmacies and / or GP practices
- Strengthen links with social prescribing service for access to other support such as debt advice, housing and social isolation
- Help create ‘person shaped’ measures that enable the team to know that the support they are offering is making a difference in people’s lives.

**Administrative and professional responsibilities**
- Ensure accurate notes of all consultations and treatments are recorded in the patients’ notes on the clinical computer system as appropriate
- Ensure accurate completion of all necessary documentation associated with patient health care
- You will be required to access patient summary on B&HF clinical system (either SystmOne or EMIS)
- You may also need to produce other written communication, including data analysis as required

**Equality and Diversity**

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers, and colleagues, to include:

- Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of people’s rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with Practice procedures and policies, and current legislation
- Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers, and colleagues
- Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

**Communication**

The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will:

- Communicate effectively with other team members
- Communicate effectively with patients and carers
- Recognize people’s needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly

[1]

**Job Types**: Full-time, Part-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 12 months
Part-time hours: 37.5 per week

Pay: £27,055.00-£32,934.00 per year

**Benefits**:

- Company pension
- Flexitime

Schedule:

- Day shift
- Flexitime
- Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

- Brighton and Hove, East Sussex: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Work Location: In person

Flextime