Job responsibilities
The post holder is responsible for the delivery of general practice nursing to the whole practice population. The focus of the role is both the delivery of evidence-based practice for patients presenting with a long term condition, and the provision of preventative health care to the practice population. As an autonomous practitioner the nurse is responsible for the care delivered, demonstrating critical thinking and skills in clinical decision-making in the management of patients. They will work collaboratively within the general practice team to meet the needs of patients, support the delivery of policy and procedures, and provide nurse leadership as required.
Key responsibilities
Clinical practice
- Assess, plan, develop, implement and evaluate treatment programmes that promote health and well-being
- Assess, plan, implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for patients with a known long-term condition
- Proactively identify, diagnose and manage treatment plans for patients at risk of developing a long-term condition as appropriate
- Work with other health care professionals to diagnose, monitor, manage and treat long-term conditions, including non-drug-based treatment methods using a management plan, and in line with national and local policies and practice needs
- Work with patients in order to support adherence to prescribed treatments
- Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that promote patients to live healthily, and apply principles of self-care
- Support and manage health needs of women presenting for contraception/HRT and cervical cytology consultations
- Implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children
- Advise, support and administer vaccinations where appropriate for patients travelling abroad
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
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 workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality
- Deliver care according to NSF, NICE guidelines and evidence-based care
- Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation
- Participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the practice
- Evaluate the patients response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care
- Support and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation
- Participate in the management and review of patient complaints, and identify learning from clinical incidents and near-miss events using a structured framework (eg root-cause analysis)
- Assess the impact of policy implementation on care delivery
- Understand and apply legal policy that supports the identification of vulnerable and abused children and adults, being aware of statutory child/vulnerable adult health procedure and local guidance
- Work within policies regarding family violence, vulnerable adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour, and refer as appropriate
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 potential
- Actively promote the workplace as a learning environment, encouraging everyone to learn from each other and from external good practice
- Contribute and participate in the development of local guidelines, protocols and standards
- Ensure awareness of sources of support and guidance (eg PALS), and provide information in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any difficulties and referring where appropriate
Team working
- Understand own role and scope, and identify how this may develop over time
- Work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working
- Delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessing competence
- Ensure clear referral mechanisms are in place to meet patient need
- Prioritise own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team
- Work effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery
Management of risk
- 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
- Ensure safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs
- Oversee the monitoring, stock control and documentation of drug usage according to legal requirements
- Support members of the nursing team to undertake mandatory and statutory training requirements
- Apply infection-control measures within the practice according to local and national guidelines
- Apply policies that reduce environmental health risks, are culturally sensitive and increase access to health care for all
- Participate in the local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice
Utilising information
- Use technology as an aid to management in planning, implementation and monitoring, presenting and communicating information
- Review and process data using accurate snowmed codes to ensure easy and accurate retrieval for monitoring and audit processes
- Manage information searches using the internet and local library databases, for example, the retrieval of relevant information for patients on their condition
- Understand the responsibility of self and others regarding the Freedom of Information Act
Learning and development
- Act as mentor to students, assessing competence against set standards as requested , working closely with the local training hub.
- Disseminate learning and information gained to other team members in order to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments
- Assess own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate
- Make effective use of learning opportunities within and outside the workplace, evaluating their effectiveness and feeding back relevant information
- Provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning
Equality and diversity
- Identify patterns of discrimination, take action to overcome this, and promote diversity and quality of opportunity
- Enable others to promote equality and diversity in a non-discriminatory culture
- Support people who need assistance in exercising their rights
- Monitor and evaluate adherence to local chaperoning policies
- Act as a role model in the observance of equality and diversity good practice
- Accept the rights of individuals to choose their care providers, participate in care and refuse care