Care Home Support Nurse: Within General Practice

Job responsibilities

Job Description for Care Home Support Nurse within General Practice

JOB DESCRIPTION

TITLE OF POST:

Care Home Support Nurse

SALARY:

Band 7

HOURS OF

EMPLOYMENT:

Monday-Friday Hours negotiable

APPOINTMENT:

Permanent contract

RESPONSIBLE

TO:

Practice Manager in Amersham Health Centre

ACCOUNTABLE

TO:

Doctors & Management of Amersham Health Centre

JOB SUMMARY

1. SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

To deliver a high standard of patient care as support nurse within Care Homes, using advanced autonomous clinical skills, and a broad and in-depth theoretical knowledge base

To manage a clinical caseload, dealing with patients needs in a Nursing & Care

Home setting

Provide advanced nursing care and case management to patients with multiple

complex long-term conditions

Undertake nursing, medical and social care assessment to initiate interventions

to improve quality of life in the Care Home setting

Reduce fragmentation of care

To provide education, training and support to the care home teams

(where applicable) and ensure the highest standards of care are provided for the

residents

2. JOB DIMENSIONS

To manage own clinical workload in Care Homes responding

effectively to patient need and ensuring patient choice and ease of access to

services.

The development and use of referral pathways for the local PCN pharmacy team, ACHT to include the DN team, community physiotherapy team, specialist continence nurse and the SCERT team (specialist equipment service).

3. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

See person specification

4. PRIMARY DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

A. CLINICAL ROLE:

The post-holder will:

Make professionally autonomous decisions for which he/she is accountable.

Provide a first point of contact for Care Homes for advice regarding

medical/nursing conditions of patients, making use of skills in history taking,

physical examination, problem-solving and clinical decision-making, to establish a diagnosis and management plan working in partnership with the GP team.

Provide information to assist with polypharmacy/drug reviews of medications.

Provide safe, evidence-based, cost-effective, individualised patient care.

Offer a holistic service to residents and their families, by developing an

appropriate on-going plan of care/support, with an emphasis on prevention

and self-care.

Promote health and well-being through the use of health promotion, health

education, screening and therapeutic communication skills.

Refer patients directly to other services/agencies as appropriate.

B. TEACHING AND MENTORING ROLE:

The post-holder will:

Promote a learning environment for residents, care home staff and

other health professionals.

Contribute to the planning and implementation of the teaching for existing staff,

such as medical students, NP students, GP registrars, Health Care Assistants,

within the Locality.

C. PROFESSIONAL ROLE:

The post-holder will:

Promote evidence-based practice through the use of the latest research-based

guidelines and the development of practice-based research.

Monitor the effectiveness of their own clinical practice through the quality

assurance strategies such as the use of audit and peer review.

Maintain their professional registration.

Participate in continuing professional development opportunities to ensure that

up-to-date evidence-based knowledge and competence in all aspects of the role

is maintained.

Work within the latest NMC Code of Professional Conduct.

Record accurate consultation data in patients records in accordance with the

latest NMC guidance and other pertinent standards.

Keep up to date with pertinent health-related policy and work with the surgery

team to consider the impact and strategies for implementation

Work collaboratively with colleagues within and external to the surgery.

5. HEALTH AND SAFETY/RISK MANAGEMENT

The post-holder must comply at all times with the Practices Health and Safety

policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures and reporting

incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting System.

The post-holder will comply with the Data Protection Act (1984) and the Access

to Health Records Act (1990).

6. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

The post-holder must co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to

ensure equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be

treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual

orientation, religion etc.

7. RESPECT FOR PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY

The post-holder should respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge

patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

8. COMMUNICATION & WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

The post-holder will establish and maintain effective communication pathways

using IT systems where appropriate with the following:

GPs within the surgery and other GPs in the locality if required.

Practice Nurses

All Practice Staff

PCN pharmacist team

District Nurses

Adult Community Healthcare Team (ACHT)

Social Services

9. SPECIAL WORKING CONDITIONS

The post-holder is required to travel independently between practice sites (where

applicable), and to attend meetings etc hosted by other agencies.

The post-holder will have contact with body fluids i.e., wound exudates; urine etc

while in clinical practice.

10. REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS ACT 1994 (optional)

Because of the nature of the work, this post is exempt from the provisions of

Section 4(2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1994 (Exceptions) Order

1995. Applicants for posts are not entitled to withhold information about

convictions which for other purposes are spent under the provisions of the Act

and in the event of employment any failure to disclose such convictions could

result in disciplinary action or dismissal by the Practice. Any information given

will be completely confidential and will be considered only in relation to an

applicant of a position to which the order applies.

11. JOB DESCRIPTION AGREEMENT

This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and

responsibilities only. There may be other duties required of the post-holder

commensurate with the position. This description will be open to regular review and may be amended to take into account development within the Practice.

Personal Specification:

Advanced Nurse Practitioner for Care Homes: General Practice

Essential

Desirable

Assessment

Method

Qualifications:

Registered General Nurse

(Currently registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council)

Teaching / Mentoring

experience and /or qualification

Independent Nurse Prescriber

Recognised NP qualification at

Masters level or equivalent

Original certificates,

NMC card &

CV

Experience:

Minimum of 5 years post registration

Experience including 2 years in

Primary and Community Care

Experience in management long-term conditions e.g., asthma, COPD, Diabetes, CHD

Evidence of appropriate continuing professional development activity to

maintain up-to-date knowledge and on-going competence in all aspects of the NP role

Proven ability to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of their own clinical practice

Interpreting and implementing

local and National policy

agendas for health

Evidence of working

autonomously and as part of a

team

Knowledge:

Understanding and knowledge of policy developments related to the delivery of primary care services including General Practice, the GMS/PMS contract, Clinical

Governance, Quality & Outcomes Framework

Understanding of systems to gain knowledge of the health needs of the Practice population as they

relate to primary care

Understanding of evidence- based practice

Knowledge of national standards that inform practice (e.g., National Service Frameworks, NICE

guidelines etc)

Understanding of their accountability

arising from the NMC Code of

Professional Conduct (2004) and medico-legal aspects of the Nurse

Practitioner role including

Safeguarding

Understanding of equal opportunity and diversity issues

Skills:

Ability to assess and manage patient

risk effectively and safely

Well-developed word

processing/data collection/IT skills

Excellent interpersonal, verbal and

written communication skills

Reflective practitioner

Time management and ability to prioritise workload

Able to analyse data and

information, drawing out implications for the individual patient/impact on the

care plan

Able to establish and maintain

effective communication pathways within the organisation, the local

PCT and with key external

stakeholders

Self-motivated

Organisational skills

Enthusiastic

Car driver/access to car

Experience of use of a medical

software package

Proven record of effective use of networking and influencing skills

Ability to think strategically

Experience of presenting

information to wider audience

Ability to work flexible hours

when required

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualifications:
• Registered General Nurse
• (Currently registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council)
• Experience:
• Minimum of 5 years post registration
• Experience including 2 years in
• Primary and Community Care
• Experience in management long-term conditions e.g., asthma, COPD, Diabetes, CHD
• Evidence of appropriate continuing professional development activity tomaintain up-to-date knowledge and on-going competence in all aspects of the role
• Proven ability to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of their own clinical practice
• Knowledge:
• Understanding and knowledge of policy developments related to the delivery of primary care services including General Practice, the GMS/PMS contract, Clinical
• Governance, Quality & Outcomes Framework
• Understanding of systems to gain knowledge of the health needs of the Practice population as they
• relate to primary care
• Understanding of evidence- based practice
• Knowledge of national standards that inform practice (e.g., National Service Frameworks, NICE
• guidelines etc)
• Understanding of their accountability
• arising from the NMC Code of
• Professional Conduct (2004) and medico-legal aspects of the Nurse
• Practitioner role including
• Safeguarding
• Understanding of equal opportunity and diversity issues
• Skills:
• Ability to assess and manage patient
• risk effectively and safely
• Well-developed word
• processing/data collection/IT skills
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and
• written communication skills
• Reflective practitioner
• Time management and ability to prioritise workload
• Able to analyse data and
• information, drawing out implications for the individual patient/impact on the
• care plan
• Able to establish and maintain
• effective communication pathways within the organisation, the local
• PCT and with key external
• stakeholders
• Self-motivated
• Organisational skills
• Enthusiastic
• Car driver/access to car

Desirable

• Teaching / Mentoring
• experience and /or qualification
• Independent Nurse Prescriber
• Recognised NP qualification at
• Masters level or equivalent
• Experience of use of a medical
• software package
• *Proven record of effective use of networking and influencing skills
• *Ability to think strategically
• Experience of presenting
• information to wider audience
• Ability to work flexible hours
• when required
• Interpreting and implementing
• local and National policy
• agendas for health
• Evidence of working
• autonomously and as part of a
• team

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).