Turkey: Patient Support Officer * 6 (Local Hire)

General Description of the Programme

GOAL has been working in Syria since 2012, responding to the acute needs of conflict affected communities. GOAL is working in northern Syria delivering food, non-food, WASH, livelihoods and emergency programming with a strong focus on market based approaches. GOAL met the needs of more than 700,000 conflict affected Syrians in 2014 and has an estimated 2015 budget of more than $100 million.

In 2014 GOAL first began working in Turkey, responding to the needs of refugees displaced from Kobane. Subsequently, GOAL has worked to create a developing multi-donor programme with a particular focus on health care programming, but also incorporating livelihoods and emergency support components.

General Description of the Role

Reporting to the Health Officers, the Patient Support Officers (PSOs) will work directly in 6 hospitals in Hatay province. Following training, the PSOs directly identify eligible vulnerable Syrians to receive GOAL support, consisting of non-food item kits and financial assistance during their time of hospitalisation. The PSOs will also (following GOAL SOPs) support patients to connect with their families in Syria, and will provide discharge planning supports using a case management approach.

The PSO is a new role within GOAL; coming from a background in social care, health or psychology, the ideal candidates will be energetic and able individual, capable of self-motivating and working under their own initiative in an empathetic and solutions-focused manner. Arabic and Turkish language skills are required, with English an advantage. Six positions are available and women are encouraged to apply.

please note that this position is subject to funding.

Key Duties

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES/SCOPE OF WORK:

· Identify Syrian patients in their assigned hospital(s) who have been admitted either through the emergency medical corridor directly from Syria, and those settled in Turkey who are accessing services

· Undertake assessments of the patient’s eligibility for GOAL support using pre-established vulnerability criteria, and select beneficiaries accordingly

· Provide gender and age appropriate non-food-item kits to the patients and caregivers

· Work with GOAL’s finance system to distribute financial assistance to beneficiaries during hospitalisation and on discharge

· In line with confidentiality protocols, provide translation services for patients, family members and medical staff

· Provide psychosocial first aid as appropriate, in line with training and with a critical eye to when further support and referral is needed

· Provide practical supports for unaccompanied patients using provided financial supports (i.e. purchasing needed goods)

· Using an individualised, patient centred case management approach, identify discharge needs (i.e. convalescence in a rest home, transport home to Syria) and develop a discharge plan that coordinates with available social services

· Identify patients who are exceptionally vulnerable and require further services either during hospitalisation or at discharge (i.e. unaccompanied minors), and refer these cases to their supervisor for high-level follow up.

· Maintain current and comprehensive client files and clinical audit sheets to aid with documentation and reporting responsibilities using GOAL tools.

· When asked, support with beneficiary satisfaction surveys and other monitoring and evaluation processes

· Provide regular updates and reports to Health Officers and senior GOAL staff as required.

· Carry out other duties as requested by the line management.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Requirements (essential)

· Educational background in social work, health or psychology

· Minimum 6 months experience working in the social services field with vulnerable adults and/or children

· Fluent in spoken and written Arabic.

· High proficiency in spoken Turkish

· Computer literate with Microsoft Office software

· Ability to work independently and responsibly in line with GOAL SOPs

· Good team player, flexible and capable of working with a multi-national country team.

· Willingness to be based in Hatay and travel to project locations occasionally requiring overnight stays.

· Enthusiastic and willing to work unsociable and/or long hours to meet the needs of the programme.

Requirements (desirable)

· Spoken/written English an advantage.

Interested?

please apply in English by sending your up-to-date CV with a cover letter to syriajobs@sy.goal.ieensuring that the job title and location of the role are clearly stated in the subject line of your email/letter. Thank you for your interest.

The closing date of this advert will be on 31st of October 2015 at 05:00 PM Turkey Local time, however, all applications will be reviewed on a weekly bases, and if a qualified candidate has been Identified, this position will be closed.

Only shortlisted candidates will be Contacted.

Note:

GOAL has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Child Protection Policy, which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants and children from exploitation. GOAL also has a confidentiality policy ensuring the non-disclosure of any information whatsoever relating to the practices and business of GOAL, acquired in the course of duty, to any other person or organisation without authority, except in the normal execution of duty. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to these policies any job offer made is also subject to a reference check. GOAL is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications equally from both men and women.

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document.