Job responsibilities
Role Summary:
Working in accordance with the NMC Code of Conduct, the Lead Practice Nurse will provide clinical leadership and development for the practice nursing team and healthcare assistants (HCAs). This role involves delivering high-quality patient care through assessment, treatment, screening, health education, and advice, while supporting and overseeing the nursing team within the practice clinical team.
The post-holder will ensure that nursing staff and HCAs work in line with agreed practice protocols and guidelines, providing nursing treatments both independently and collaboratively with nurse colleagues and general practitioners. The Lead Practice Nurse will hold the necessary training and competence, working within patient group directions (PGDs) where applicable.
This position offers a valuable opportunity for a dedicated and experienced nurse to step into a leadership role that combines clinical responsibilities with mentorship and support for junior staff, without carrying full management duties. The successful candidate will play a key role in maintaining up-to-date nursing protocols, promoting best practice, and fostering a skilled, efficient nursing team.
Key Responsibilities:
Clinical Duties:
Perform cervical smears in line with national screening guidelines.
Immunisations: Administer adult and childhood immunisations (including NHS travel vaccinations), ensuring adherence to best practices and patient safety.
Provide wound care: Assessing to support good wound management, including simple and more complex wounds, including leg ulcer management. To support the practice manager in quarterly leg ulcer claims.
Manage patients with long-term conditions: Diagnosis, monitoring and development of individual management plans; agreeing these as appropriate with the patient and other health professionals to deliver holistic evidence-based care.
Leadership & Support:
Support and mentor junior nursing staff and the Healthcare Assistant (HCA), fostering a collaborative and skilled nursing team.
Assist with clinical supervision and development, encouraging continuous learning and professional growth.
Review and update clinical protocols as necessary to ensure delivery of safe, effective, and current nursing care.
Lead the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based practice to improve the services offered by the practice nursing team
Lead the team in quality assurance, development and clinical governance.
Taking a lead role in infection prevention and control.
Maintain stock levels of vaccines and other essential nursing supplies, ensuring timely ordering and availability.
Contribute to practice meetings and quality improvement initiatives.
Confidentiality:
In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.
Health & safety:
The post-holder will implement and lead on a full range of promotion and management of their own and others health and safety and infection control as defined in the practice health & safety policy, the practice health & safety manual, and the practice infection control policy and published procedures. This will include (but will not be limited to):
Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness and regulatory / contractual / professional requirements, and good practice guidelines
Responsible for the correct and safe management of the specimens process, including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct and clean containers, storage and transport arrangements
Management and maintenance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the practice, including provision, ordering, availability and ongoing correct usage by staff
Responsible for hand hygiene across the practice
Ownership of infection control and clinically based patient care protocols, and implementation of those protocols across the practice
Active observation of current working practices across the practice in relation to infection control, cleanliness and related activities, ensuring that procedures are followed and weaknesses / training needs are identified, escalating issues as appropriate
Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks across clinical and patient process
Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills, and initiate and manage the training of others across the full range of infection control and patient processes
Monitoring practice facilities and equipment in relation to infection control, ensuring that provision of hand-cleansing facilities, wipes etc. are sufficient to ensure a good clinical working environment. Lack of facilities to be escalated as appropriate.
Safe management of sharps procedures, including training, use, storage and disposal
Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile way, safe and free from hazards. Initiation of remedial / corrective action where needed or escalation to responsible management
Actively identifying, reporting, and correction of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, sterile, identifying issues and hazards / risks in relation to other work areas within the business, and assuming responsibility in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness across the business in consultation (where appropriate) with other sector managers
Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum twice annually)
Routine management of own team / team areas, and maintenance of work space standards
Waste management, including collection, handling, segregation, container management, storage and collection
Spillage control procedures, management and training
Decontamination control procedures, management and training, and equipment maintenance
Maintenance of sterile environments
Demonstrate due regard for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
Equality and diversity:
The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:
Acting in a way that recognises the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation
Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
Behaving in a manner that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.
Personal/professional development:
In addition to maintaining continued education through attendance at any courses and/or study days necessary to ensure that NMC professional development requirements for PREP are met, the post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, with such training to include:
Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development
Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.
Quality:
The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:
Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance
Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.
Communication:
The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:
Communicate effectively with other team members
Communicate effectively with patients and carers
Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.
