Welfare Benefit Officer

An exciting opportunity has arisen for part-time motivated and experienced Welfare Benefits Officers to join the Welfare Rights team at The Royal Marsden Hospital. Assessing and supporting cancer patients and their families providing comprehensive advice and help people access available benefits and other sources of financial help.

The aim of this post is to help support people affected by cancer to maximise their income and promote confidence in managing personal finances.

The post holder will be expected to work with a minimum of supervision and will act with autonomy for the day-to-day management of their workload.

To provide a welfare benefits advice service to Royal Marsden patients with the aim of maximising their income. The post holder will undertake casework, assisting clients to access their entitlements to welfare benefits and other sources of financial help. To advise Royal Marsden NHS staff on welfare benefit issues.

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 3,900 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals - one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey - as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits and learning and development opportunities. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

For further information please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification.

To receive referrals for Welfare benefit advice from Royal Marsden staff or directly from patients, families, and external stakeholders.

To work autonomously with a minimum of supervision to review cases, complete appropriate analysis and determine the appropriate level of support and advice to offer in each case to progress cases appropriately. This will involve a comprehensive case plan with milestones and relevant external (multi-disciplinary agencies) and internal links (Health professionals
- Doctors, nurses etc)

To be able to deal sensitively with vulnerable patients and their family or carers and provide appropriate advice and support.

As part of the review of cases assess the patient’s financial circumstances and agree and document a casework plan.

To assess the social and emotional needs of the patient and family and to refer as appropriate to the relevant other departments in the hospital, /Community services.

Liaise and negotiate with other statutory and voluntary organisations and ensure good working relationships with health professionals supporting the patient to progress the client’s case and ensure they receive all assistance available

Develop working relationships with health professionals supporting the client group

To signpost patients threatened with homelessness or in need of special housing assistance to the appropriate agency.

To assess the needs of patients with no recourse to public funds or legal status in the UK and refer to the appropriate agency.

Maintain detailed records for the purpose of continuity of case work and information retrieval.

Record data of referrals, open and closed cases on the departments computerised database system. To utilise these figures for audit and service provision requirements, analysis of themes and service improvements.

Represent the project at meetings with other agencies as appropriate