Job responsibilities
Purpose of the role:
The PCU (Primary Care Unit) is staffed by a multidisciplinary team
who are responsible for patients presenting to A&E who may require Primary
Care Treatment. The Nurse Navigator will be responsible for triaging and
navigator patients to the PCU if appropriate. The team will see and treat
patients according to agreed protocols and direct and refer patients to the
most appropriate clinical area based on their clinical needs.
The role of the Nurse Navigator was developed in response to the
increasing number of people self-presenting with health-related issues that
requires a clinician to direct patients promptly to the right place first time.
The Nurse Navigator will be responsible for ensuring the safe and
effective redirection of patients to the most appropriate clinician or health
care provider in accordance with approved guidance.
Hours of work:
Clinical Streaming is fully operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week including bank holidays.
Key relationships:
A&E Nurse Practitioner Colleagues
A&E Service Managers
PCU Primary Care Doctors
PCU Primary Care Nurses
PCU Administrative staff
Local Primary Care teams
Community Nursing services
Emergency Department MDT Personnel
Clinical Leads
Emergency Nurse Practitioners
NHS 111
Mental Health professionals
Other Local Walk-in Centre
Social Services
GPs and practice staff
London Ambulance Service
Key Responsibilities
Clinical
1.
To take clinical responsibility for yourself once
fully orientated to the role and escalate any clinical governance issues.
2. To take responsibility for ensuring the safe
and effective direction of patients to the most appropriate clinician or health
care provider, utilising their clinical experience and expertise.
3. To work as an autonomous Practitioner and be
professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of their professional
standards and guidelines.
4. To provide direct access to patients seeking
healthcare.
5. To demonstrate skilled, systematic
decision-making.
6. Monitor the streaming queue ensuring that any
patients who may deteriorate or become acutely unwell are managed accordingly.
7. Focused history taking with appropriate use of
observations as per local policies, SoPs and Audit criteria.
8. Have a full understanding of the acutely
unwell adult or child including red flags.
9. Competent use of streaming equipment.
10. Good
communication skills to ensure safe patient handover of patients to Emergency
Department.
11. Demonstrate the safe re-direction of patients
to named clinicians or other health care providers for advice, support best
placed to counsel patients on health and social matters relating to their
health and well being.
12. To ensure that patients and carers who are at
risk because of cultural and/or language barriers are helped to understand and
make use of the various services available.
13. Give a comprehensive handover to incoming
staff at the change of each shift.
14. To act as an advocate for the patient.
15. Be up to date with Safeguarding & Sepsis
guidelines
Developmental
1. To participate
in individual performance review.
2. To work with other members of the
multidisciplinary team in the assessment of future nursing needs and
developments within the UCC and UTC.
3. To assist in the future development of the role of Nurse
Navigator.
4. To participate in Local research and clinical audit.
5. To foster good relations and collaboration within the health
and social sector.
Professional
1. The post holder is required to work within the
policies and procedures and with due regard to the Code of Professional
Conduct.
2. The post holder will act as a representative
of / and an ambassador for SWHC and the PCU for nursing to ensure these are
held in high regard.
3. The post holder will ensure that documents and
records are maintained in accordance with professional guidelines.
4. The post holder will ensure they comply with
the NMC/HCPC requirements for professional registration and practice.
5. The post holder will ensure they have the
required compliance which is to be updated annually.
General:
The post holder will work in accordance with
Trust policies and guidelines at all times.
The post holder will always adhere to PCU and
Trust Information Security Policy, in particular ensuring that there are no
breaches of confidentiality as a result of his/her actions.
This job description reflects the current
position and the post-holder is expected to view it as a guide rather than an
exact description of all duties and responsibilities. It may be subject to
variation from time to time.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
A good attitude and positive action towards equality,
diversity and inclusion creates an environment where all individuals are able
to achieve their full potential.
Creating such an environment is important for three reasons: it improves
operational effectiveness, it is morally the right thing to, and it is required
by law.
Patients and their families have the right to be
treated fairly and be routinely involved in decisions about their treatment and
care. They can be expected to be treated
with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any grounds
including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership,
pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual
orientation. Patients have a
responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.
Staff have the rights to be treated fairly in
recruitment and career progression.
Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued and
quality of opportunity is promoted.
Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age,
disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and
maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that
you treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.
Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)
This practice is committed to supporting and promoting
opportunities for staff to maintain their health, well-being and safety. You have a duty to take reasonable care of
health and safety at work for you, your team and others, and to co-operate with
employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. All personnel are to comply with the Health
and Safety at Work Act 1974, Environmental Protection Act 1990, Environment Act
1995, Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999 and other statutory
legislation.
Confidentiality
This practice is committed to maintaining an
outstanding confidential service.
Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive
information relating to their health and other matters, pertaining to their
care. They do so in confidence and have
a right to expect all staff will respect their privacy and maintain
confidentiality at all times. It is
essential that if, the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our
patients is to be retained that all staff protect patient information and
provide a confidential service.
Quality & Continuous Improvement (CI)
To preserve and improve the quality of our output, all
personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but how they achieve
it. By continually re-examining our
processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of
the way we work. The responsibility for
this rests with everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities
to improve quality and share good practice.
This practice continually strives to improve work
processes which deliver health care with improved results across all areas of
our service provision. We promote a
culture of continuous improvement, where everyone counts and staff are
permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery
and enhance patient care.
This
job description may be reviewed in the light of changing organisational and
service needs. Any changes will be fully
discussed with the post holder. The post
holder may also be required to carry out other work appropriate to the grade of
the post.
