Practice Nurse

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Summary:

Providing and maintaining a high standard of nursing care for patients as well as providing nursing assistance to the doctors and other members of the clinical team.

Job Responsibilities:

• Providing nursing treatments to patients in partnership with clinician colleagues or independently to agreed protocols.
• Provide general and specific chronic disease management to patients (within agreed protocols) with referral to clinician colleaguesas necessary.
• Advise patients on general health care and minor ailments with referral to GPs as necessary.

Other Duties:

• Assist in and perform routine tasks related to patient care as requested by clinician colleagues
• Cytology
• Wound care
• Removal of sutures/staples
• Travel advice and vaccines
• ECGs
• Long Term Condition management
• Routine immunisations/Childhood immunisations
• Chaperoning and assisting patients where appropriate who are being examined by another clinician
• Requesting pathology tests, for example urine culture, swabs
• Following agreed clinical protocols with referral to GPs as appropriate
• Maintaining and cleaning equipment
• Maintaining GP and Nurses rooms, stocking and rotating items as required
• Maintain general tidiness and cleanliness of nurses and treatment rooms
• Ordering of vaccinations to maintain stock levels
• Participation in administrative systems in the Practice
• At all times there will be a need to maintain accurate records
• A duty to advise clinicians of potential problems or errors within the range of assigned tasks
• Attend and participate in any practice meetings when required
• Undertake home visits when required
• Other delegated duties appropriate to the post

Pathological specimens and investigatory procedures:

• Following appropriate training, undertake the collection, storage and despatch of pathological specimens including intravenous blood samples, swabs, smears etc and ensure the cleanliness of any equipment so used. Perform any investigatory procedures requested by the GPs.

Administrative and professional responsibilities:

• Participate in the administrative and professional responsibilities of the Practice team.
• Ensure accurate notes of all consultations and treatments are recorded in the patients notes on the clinical computer systems as appropriate.
• Ensure accurate completion of all necessary documentation associated with patient health care and registration with the Practice.
• Ensure collection and maintenance of statistical information required for regular and ad hoc reports.
• Attend and participate in Practice meetings as required.
• Assist in the formulation of Practice philosophy, strategy and policy and develop appropriate protocols.

Liaison:

• Maintain effective liaison with other agencies and staff involved with patient care and with all other disciplines within the Practice, with appropriate regard to confidentiality.

Professional Development:

• Maintain continued professional education by attendance at courses and study days as deemed useful or necessary for professional development.

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 assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the Practice Health & Safety Policy, to include:

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to Practice guidelines
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards
• Reporting potential risks identified.

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 recognizes 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 which 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, 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.

Contribution to the Implementation of Services:

The post-holder will:

• Apply Practice policies, standards and guidance
• Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work
• Participate in audit where appropriate.

Please note the above list of job duties is not exclusive or exhaustive and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse with current NMC registration
• Fully trained Practice Nurse
• Previous experience working in a primary care or GP surgery setting
• Sound knowledge of general practice nursing procedures and best practices
• Competent in management of chronic health conditions
• Proficient in administering medications and treatments
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Familiarity with EMIS

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Red Lion Surgery

Address

Cannock Chase Hospital

Brunswick Road

Cannock

Staffordshire

WS11 5XY

Employer's website

https://www.redlionsurgery.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)