Patient and Family Liaison Clinician
| Posting date: | 12 May 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | Negotiable |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 24 May 2026 |
| Location: | Henstridge, BA8 0TN |
| Company: | NHS Jobs |
| Job type: | Contract |
| Job reference: | C9202-26-0129 |
Summary
The DSAA Patient and Family Liaison Clinicians are required to regularly visit patients in hospital in addition to ongoing contact in person with patients and families in a residential setting following their injuries or illness. This are required to drive to visit patients throughout the region. The DSAA Patient and Family Liaison team comply with the SWAST Lone Working policy and carry out Risk Assessments prior to performing a lone visit to private residential settings. The role requires knowledge of Critical Care pathways within hospitals and throughout the region. The Patient and Family Liaison Clinician will need to work autonomously and create networks within hospital clinical teams and throughout the regional clinical networks. While working autonomously, the Clinician will practice within the governance structure of SWAST, the wider NHS and DSAA. The Patient and Family Liaison Clinicians meet with families of patients who have suffered life changing injuries or sometimes died on scene despite the best efforts of the critical care from DSAA, in order to support their understanding of the critical care provided to their loved ones. The Patient and Family Liaison Clinicians provide specialist bereavement support to these families incorporating multidisciplinary working to include aspects of care from police and coroners services. The Patient and Family Liaison Clinician role requires empathy and highly developed communication skills and the ability to manage and relay sensitive information to families including those receiving life changing news. The Patient and Family Liaison Clinicians are required to utilise skills in psychological assessment and clinical judgement to assess and refer patients or families to further specialist services eg: Pain clinics or Psychology services. The Patient and Family Liaison team provide a visible, tangible, human face to DSAA Critical Care Team within hospital clinical environments and therefore bridge the gap between prehospital and in-hospital Critical Care. Clinical feedback provided by the Patient and Family Liaison Clinicians to the DSAA Critical Care Team provides valuable information to support service improvement and develop clinical practice. The resilience and sustainability of the DSAA team (clinical, aviation and charity) benefits from the holistic perspective that the Patient and Family Liaison Team bring to DSAA operations. The Patient and Family Liaison clinicians are expected to develop DSAAs Standard Operating Procedures from a patient and family liaison perspective. The Patient and Family Liaison team take an active role in monthly DSAA clinical governance days and present clinical follow up information on cases being reviewed and audited. They attend and present to regional trauma and critical care network meetings. The Patient and Family Liaison Clinicians direct patients to relevant DSAA charity staff if patients indicate any desire to support the DSAA charity in fundraising or other awareness campaign initiatives. The Patient and Family Liaison Clinicians advise the DSAA charity staff on how best to manage the needs of patients. Establish and maintain clear guidance for ethical management of the relationship between charity and clinical teams with regards to Patient and Family Liaison. The Patient and Family Liaison Clinicians are required to share their experience of the role with colleagues in other services such as Police Family Liaison or other Air Ambulances nationally. This may include presenting to large groups of professionals in order to provide persuasive and reassuring evidence of the benefits of the role to patients and families, in order to encourage collaborative working.