Experienced General Practice Nurse

Job responsibilities

JOB DESCRIPTION

Post: General Practice Nurse

Responsible to: GP Partner and Practice Manager

Professionally accountable to: Senior Partner

Job Summary

The post holder is responsible for ensuring the delivery of safe and effective nursing care to the whole practice population. As the team leader for the nursing team, the post holder is accountable for nursing service delivery. They will lead and manage all the nursing resource, working closely with the practice management and GPs to deliver the practice priorities. Clinically, the focus of the role is the delivery of evidence-based practice for patients with long-term conditions and management and preventative nursing interventions to all patients. As an autonomous practitioner the nurse is responsible for the care delivered, demonstrating critical thinking and skills in clinical decision-making. They will work collaboratively with the whole general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing leadership and direction for the nursing team.

Key responsibilities

Clinical practice

Assess, plan, develop, implement, provide and evaluate treatment programmes including, but not limited to:

To provide expert clinical care, including triaging, diagnosis, treatment and management of patients with acute presentation / minor illnesses

Manage and treat long-term conditions, in line with national and local policies and practice needs

Review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, in accordance with evidence based practice and national/practice protocols, and work with patients to support adherence to prescribed treatments

Prioritise health problems, intervening appropriately, to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care

Support and manage health needs of women presenting for family planning and cervical cytology consultations

Lead, implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children including patients travelling abroad

Meet the needs of patients presenting for opportunistic wound care

Refer patients to other clinicians including secondary care on the direction of a GP.

Wound care providing assessments, and management

Providing routine ear-care

Provide assessment of patients presenting with common mental-health problems; stress/anxiety/depression.

Provide the NHS Health-check to the practice population

Communication

Demonstrate sensitive communication styles to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment

Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating, including those receiving bad news

Act as an advocate when representing patients and colleagues

Participate in practice team meetings, delivering the nursing agenda and run nurse department meetings

Produce written documents that evidence the contribution of the nursing team to the practice priorities

Delivering a quality service

Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the NMC

Produce accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures

Prioritise, organise and manage own and others workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality

Deliver care as an individual and team according to NSF, NICE guidelines and evidence-based care, assessing effectiveness of care delivery through peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation and leading on the maintenance of quality governance systems for the nursing team

Implement and review the application of evidence-based practice in nursing

Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required

Evaluate patients response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care

Lead and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation and assess the impact of policy implementation on care delivery

Monitor the performance of the GPN team in accordance with local policies

Work within policies regarding family violence, vulnerable children and adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour, and refer as appropriate

Interpret national strategies and policies into local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice

Leadership personal and people development

Take responsibility for own development, learning and performance including participating in clinical supervision and acting as a positive role model

Support the development of others in order to maximise staff potential

Lead others to make realistic self-assessment of their knowledge and skills, challenging any complacency and actions that are not in the in the interest of the public and/or users of service

Act as a clinical leader in the delivery of practice nursing services to patients, ensuring that the needs of the patient are the priority

Lead the nursing team in the planning and implementation of local guidelines, protocols and standards, and of local projects or initiatives

Promote the role of the nursing team in the provision of care

Team working

Work as an effective and responsible team leader, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working

Delegate appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence of nurses

Ensure clear nurse referral mechanisms are in place to meet patient needs

Prioritise own and others workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team

Lead nursing team activities that create opportunities to improve patient care

Participate in research programmes

Contribute nursing view to practice management

Set specification and quality required from nursing admin support

Management of risk

Practice lead for infection control. Manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients

Monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines

Practice lead for immunisation and controlled drugs. Ensure safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs

Act as a role model to support members of the nursing team to undertake mandatory and statutory training requirements

Apply infection-control measures with in the practice according to local and national guidelines

Participate in the local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice

• Recognising issues and gathering sufficient information to refer (e.g. drugs; domestic violence; child protection; vulnerable adults; senior patients; social problems)

Utilising information

Use technology and appropriate software packages as an aid to day to day operations

Review and process data using accurate read codes in order to ensure easy accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes

Adhere to statutory and practice requirements such as confidentiality and Freedom of Information Act

Collate, analyse and present clinical data and information to the team using appropriate charts and/or graphs to enhance care

Learning and Development

Act as mentor for more junior staff and students, assessing competence against set standards

Disseminate learning and information to other team members in order to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments (eg courses and conferences)

Assess own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate

Provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning

Equality and diversity

Identify patterns of discrimination and take action to overcome this and promote diversity and equality of opportunity

Support people who need assistance in exercising rights

Monitor and evaluate adherence to local chaperoning policies

Accept the rights if individuals to choose their care providers, participate in care and refuse care

Assist patients from marginalised groups to access quality care

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.

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
• Member of the senior management team

Qualifications

Essential

• 1st Level Registered Nurse
• Post-graduate diploma or degree

Desirable

• Nurse Prescriber qualification
• Post-graduate teaching qualification
• Mentoring Qualification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in a primary care environment.
• Experience of working as a GPN or community nurse
• Evidence of using clinical database systems. System 1 or similar
• Experience of chronic disease management including diabetes, COPD, asthma
• Experience of working autonomously
• Experience of infection prevention and control measures
• Experience of quality initiatives
• Experience of people management
• Experience of delivering first contact care.
• Experience of managing change.
• Evidence of patient empowerment.
• Evidence of continued professional development.
• Teaching and mentoring experience

Desirable

• Experience of leading a nursing team in a primary care setting.
• Experience of people management.
• Experience of delivering first contact care.
• Experience of chronic disease management at advanced practice level.
• Experience of integrated working with other agencies.
• Experience of clinical supervision.

Clinical Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Good team member.
• Awareness of local and national health policy.
• Ability to build and maintain lasting personal relationships.
• Capable of communicating at all levels.
• Able to prioritise and complete work.
• Knowledge of patient group directives and associated policies.
• Ability to work across boundaries
• Willingness to be flexible and cover for colleagues
• Confident and enthusiastic
• Diplomacy
• Ability to communicate between branch surgeries

Desirable

• Advanced leadership skills to network and instigate change.
• Creative, strategic thinker able to identify the opportunities to improve patient services.
• Use knowledge to develop, synthesise and evaluate practice.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with ability to facilitate, negotiate and resolve challenges.

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).