Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) Manager | Grade VIII

Patient Advice and Liaison Service Manager |Clerical Grade VIII

Permanent Contract, Full Time Hours

The post holder will report to the Director of Nursing, Mercy University Hospital, Cork.

Purpose of Post:

The position of Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) Manager in Mercy University Hospital (MUH) provides senior leadership, strategic direction, and operational excellence for Patient Advice and Liaison Service. The PALS Manager acts as the principal liaison between patients, families and multidisciplinary healthcare teams to advocate for the patient, resolve concerns, improve communication and oversee feedback/complaints systems. The post also involves working proactively to opportunities for further patient experience improvements.

The PALS team consists of the following disciplines:

Patient Liaison Officer (PLO)

Complaints Officer

Clerical Officer

Responsibilities Include:

Play a pivotal role within MUH and lead, manage and support a PALS team to deliver responsive patient centred advice and liaison service.

Lead on the MUH Hospital's objectives in developing the Volunteer Services.

Provide oversight, leadership and guidance to all staff (clinical and non-clinical) in relation to patient complaint procedures, advocacy service and best practice.

* Lead on the MUH Objective in developing a Patient and Family Experience/Engagement Council.

Managing the Department

Overall responsibility for management of the PALS Department.

Develop an Annual Service Plan for PALS and provide annual report on same to Director of Nursing and Clinical Quality and Safety Governance Committee.

As a Designated Person under Open Disclosure, support the PLO and the Complaints Officer, coordinate meetings with patients, their families and the multi-disciplinary team.

Engage with the internal review officer.

Complaints Management

Overall responsibility for managing the complaints process within the hospital ensuring legislative requirements are met.

Demonstrate broad depth of knowledge and understanding of how statutory agencies perform their function when dealing with serious complaints and understanding the significance of their interaction with the hospital.

* Work with the Directorate Teams, stakeholders and colleagues to develop best practice in managing complaints systems which ensure that all relevant HSE, HIQA and international standards are me.

Patient Engagement

Development of qualitative and quantitative approaches to patient engagement.

Develop and maintain professional partnerships with other hospitals and agencies such as HSE, HIQA, DOH and Office of the Ombudsman.

Patient Experience

* Lead for the National Inpatient Experience Programme in communicating results and assisting departments with implementing improvement plans.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Management and delivery of national KPIs as a routine and core business objective

Identification and development of KPIs which are congruent with the hospital's service plan targets.

* Development of Action Plans to address KPI targets.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible applicants will be those who on the closing date for the competition have the following*Essential Criteria:

At least five years' recent experience of working in an acute healthcare environment in a senior capacity.

A qualification (Level 8) in a health-related area, e.g. nursing, HSCP, medicine, quality, health service management.

Senior levels of experience of dealing with patient or service user feedback and engagement.

Experience of working with multiple internal and external stakeholders, as relevant to this role.

Experience of managing and working collaboratively with multi-disciplinary team members and other stakeholders.

Experience of managing a team, including recruitment and identification of training needs.

A track record in delivering on change management projects/programs.

Have completed, or must be willing to complete, training in Designated Person under Open Disclosure Training.

Possess the requisite leadership, managerial and administrative knowledge and ability for the proper discharge of the duties of the office.

Desirable Criteria include:

QQI Level 7 Patient Safety Complaints Advocacy.

Experience of quality assurance and standard setting/audit.

* HSELanD Training on Complaints Management and Review.

Full Job Spec is available on request.

Closing Date: 1pm on Friday, 30th October 2026.

MUH reserves the right to create a panel for this post from which permanent, fixed term and specified purpose vacancies of a full or part time duration may be filled.

Mercy University Hospital (MUH)

MUH is a growing voluntary hospital in the heart of Cork City. We have over 1,800 staff providing complex diagnostic, medical and surgical care through our inpatient, day patient, outpatient and emergency services.

We are a teaching hospital, a centre of national and international excellence, and are renowned for our research and tertiary services.

Providing 24/7 acute surgical, acute medical and critical care, MUH now has multiple sites across the city and continues to expand. We recently opened our Blarney Rehabilitation Unit, a post-acute care specialist rehabilitation unit with 50 beds in Blarney, County Cork.

We support staff development with approx. 100 promotions annually. We prioritise work life balance with 28% of our team working part time hours. We offer nationally agreed enhanced Salary Scales, Pension Scheme, excellent holidays, canteen, and Study Leave and Assistance. From Cardiac Care to Intensive Care, our varied specialist services offer real career choice to our team.

We live by our Core Values of Compassion, Excellence, Justice, Respect and Team Spirit.