Equipment Advice and Outreach Officer in London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Winsford

Reports to: Chief Executive / Practice Lead

Contract: Fixed term, 18 months

Hours: Part-time, approximately 22.5 hours per week (0.6 FTE)

Location: Home-based in England, with regular travel across a large region and occasional overnight stays

Salary: £20,556 (Full-time equivalent salary (FTE): £34,259)

About Pathfinders Neuromuscular Alliance

Pathfinders Neuromuscular Alliance is a user-led charity run by and for people with muscle-weakening conditions. We provide advocacy, peer support, information, training and campaigning to help disabled people live with greater confidence, connection and control. We are developing a new service model to help adults with neuromuscular conditions identify practical needs relating to equipment, adaptations and wider day-to-day transitions, and to connect them to people with relevant lived-experience expertise.

Purpose of the Role

The Outreach and Practitioner–Evaluator will help Pathfinders identify adults with neuromuscular conditions who may benefit from practical support around equipment, adaptations and wider day-to-day challenges. The role is not primarily to provide complex specialist advice directly. Instead, the postholder will:

• build relationships with services and organisations to identify potential clients
• hold structured conversations to understand people’s needs
• offer initial information, practical resources and signposting
• connect people to Pathfinders’ lived-experience specialists where more specific insight is needed
• support the development of reusable lived-experience resources, including short videos, blogs and written guidance
• collect routine feedback and help document and evaluate the service

Pathfinders’ lived-experience specialists are people with direct personal experience of neuromuscular conditions and of specific issues, transitions or practical solutions. A key part of this role is helping people access that expertise. The role is to help people make sense of what might help, what routes may be available, and who they may need to speak to next. It is not to guarantee that equipment will be obtained, but to improve people’s understanding, preparedness and access to relevant expertise and pathways.

Main Responsibilities

1. Outreach and relationship-building
   • Build and maintain relationships with clinics, hospices, charities, networks and other relevant services.
   • Travel regularly to external settings to identify potential clients and raise awareness of the service.
   • Confidently approach professionals, families and individuals to explain the offer and encourage engagement.
   • Help create practical referral and engagement routes into the service.
   • Prioritise outreach activity in line with project aims and agreed target regions.
2. Needs identification and support coordination
   • Hold 1-to-1 conversations with adults with neuromuscular conditions and, where appropriate, family members or supporters, to identify practical needs relating to equipment, adaptations and wider day-to-day challenges.
   • Provide initial information, signposting and relevant resources within agreed boundaries.
   • Recognise when an issue would benefit from connection to a Pathfinders lived-experience specialist and facilitate that connection.
   • Recognise when an issue requires statutory or clinical input and support onward referral or escalation where appropriate.
   • Work with Pathfinders staff to help ensure people are connected to the most appropriate source of practical or professional support.
3. Working with lived-experience specialists and resource development
   • Work with freelance lived-experience specialists to identify practical solutions, insights and examples relevant to the issues raised by service users.
   • Support and encourage lived-experience specialists to share their expertise in accessible ways.
   • Help coordinate and develop practical resources based on lived-experience knowledge, including short videos, blogs and written guidance.
   • Contribute to ensuring these resources are accessible, organised and responsive to recurring needs identified through the service.
4. Documentation and evaluation support
   • Maintain accurate records of outreach activity, contacts, needs identified, resources shared, onward connections and follow-up.
   • Support the collection of routine feedback, including post-support forms and short follow-up conversations.
   • Use agreed templates and systems to document contacts clearly and consistently.
   • Share reflections and emerging themes with the team to support ongoing learning, evaluation and service development.
5. Teamworking and service development
   • Participate in regular supervision, planning and reflective review meetings.
   • Work collaboratively with the Chief Executive, Advocacy Officer, freelance lived-experience specialists and external partners.
   • Contribute to the refinement of service processes, boundaries and referral pathways.
   • Support dissemination of learning through briefings, webinars or other outputs as required.

Additional Requirements

Regular travel across England is required, typically around once per week, with priority given to areas closest to the postholder’s base in the first instance. Some travel may involve overnight stays. The postholder must have access to and use of a car for work purposes, although train travel may be used for some visits. Travel expenses and mileage will be reimbursed in line with organisational policy.

Person Specification

Essential

• Confident, outgoing and comfortable starting conversations with new people in professional and community settings.
• Experience of outreach, community engagement, advice, advocacy, support work or case coordination.
• Strong organisational skills and confidence managing follow-up, coordination and documentation.
• Comfortable using forms, spreadsheets, databases or case-recording systems and completing paperwork accurately.
• Familiarity with equipment, adaptations or practical support issues affecting disabled people.
• Ability to identify needs and know when to seek support, connect someone to lived-experience expertise, or refer on.
• Strong communication skills and a sensitive, respectful approach with service users, families and professionals.
• Ability to work independently while remaining well connected to a small team.
• Able and willing to travel regularly across England, including occasional overnight stays.
• Access to and use of a car for work purposes.
• Commitment to inclusion, dignity and user-led practice.

Desirable

• Experience of working alongside people with lived experience to co-produce support or resources.
• Experience of gathering feedback or supporting service evaluation.
• Knowledge of health or social care systems.
• Personal or close lived experience of disability or long-term conditions.

We are aiming to recruit immediately for this role with the first round of interviews on 1st June, but will conduct further interviews if necessary until we identify a suitable candidate.