Enhanced Care Practitioner - Paediatric Palliative Care

Job responsibilities

Summary of the Roles Main Purpose: The primary purpose of this role is to provide palliative care for children and families, aligning with the vision and mission of Helen and Douglas House. As a senior nurse within the team, you will be responsible for maintaining high standards of evidence-based clinical interventions, serving as a role model, and fostering a positive team culture. In your role as a team leader, you will use your specialized skills and knowledge to independently provide care to children and young people with medical complexity in hospice, hospital and community settings to reduce fragmentation of care across organisational boundaries. As a Non-Medical Prescriber, you will prescribe medications in accordance with your personal scope of practice, national guidelines, Hospice policy, and service protocols. You will also function as a teacher and mentor for all staff levels, particularly for newly qualified registrants and new clinical team members, supporting with It is essential to ensure that safeguarding children and vulnerable adults is at the core of service delivery. You will collaborate with other clinical leaders to identify opportunities for improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of services. Additionally, you will support the translation of the organisation's vision into meaningful actions for the Care Team.

About the role: An exciting opportunity has arisen for a nurse (adult or paediatric) or Allied healthcare professional (AHCP) to join our Care Team at Helen and Douglas House as an Enhanced Clinical Practitioner (ECP), delivering high-quality care to children and families in the hospice, community, and hospital environments. The successful ECP will receive support and appropriate training to provide specialist healthcare autonomously and independently to patients in both the hospice and community settings. The ECP is expected to have completed master 's-level modules in Non-Medical Prescribing and Clinical Assessment and/or Advanced History Taking and will be accountable for total episodes of care for less complex cases, including assessment, diagnosis, management, medical referral, and discharge.

The ECP will use expert knowledge to organise and chair meetings (when necessary) between the hospital / hospice / community professionals to arrange for appropriate services to be put in place to facilitate the discharge process. The ECP will use expert knowledge to oversee planning and organisation of the discharge from the hospital to hospice, hospice to home process.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Clinical:

• Maintain personal professional expertise to serve as a resource and role model within a multi-disciplinary environment.
• Develop both personal and professional knowledge through critical self-appraisal, clinical supervision, and attendance at training or modules aimed at enhancing learning. Continue to uphold high standards of care, skills, and knowledge.
• Function as an independent prescriber and support the prescribing and transcribing process within the hospice.
• Provide professional support to staff in the hospice, hospital, and community, ensuring that childrens needs are assessed, care is planned, implemented, and evaluated, with consultation and involvement from the child, parents, and carers.
• Promote continuity of care, advice, and support for all children and families referred to the hospice.
• Serve as a clinical expert and role model, offering clinical advice to nursing professionals involved in the care of children and families with palliative or complex care needs within your scope of practice. Manage a caseload, sometimes providing interventions as part of a dedicated clinical pathway.
• Engage in complex decision-making while collaborating with others for overall case management.
• Work alongside and support the care team in providing care for children with complex and end-of-life care needs within both the hospice and community settings.
• Maintain current registration with your professional body, ensuring that all statutory professional updates and educational requirements are met.
• Provide proof of renewed registration when due and adhere to your professions published Code of Conduct; any breach will be regarded as a disciplinary offense.
• Provide clinical management and support for staff within the Care Team.
• Collaborate with others to develop and implement innovations and practice improvements.
• Support the multidisciplinary team (MDT) daily within the hospice.Ensure that all policies, procedures, and guidelines are followed and demonstrate their effectiveness.
• Maintain meticulous and contemporaneous record-keeping of the highest standard.
• Prioritise safeguarding in the delivery of care for young people.
• Ensure that safeguarding practices across the workforce are excellent and comply with both internal and external safeguarding training, policies, and procedures.
• Comply with the requirements of the Organisational Safeguarding Policy and always act in a manner that promotes the well-being of children and other vulnerable individuals during employment.

Leadership and Management:

• Provide clinical management and support to members of the Care Team.
• Ensure compliance with mandatory and compulsory training for all staff.
• Collaborate with others to develop and implement innovations and improvements in practice.
• Support the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) daily in the hospice.
• Foster an inclusive workplace that emphasises patient safety and advocacy.

Education:

• Participate in the education, training, and development of the MDT. Maintain own professional development and complete mandatory training required for enhanced practice roles.
• Promote a positive image of the house and the charity, and participate, as needed, in teaching or promotional sessions.
• Engage in personal professional training and development, attend appraisals, and complete all relevant mandatory training courses as needed.
• Contribute to research-based care for children and ensure that clinical practice procedures and standards of care are, where available, based on current research findings.
• Contribute to audits and research in palliative care and other areas related to Helen and Douglas House, encouraging and supporting all clinical staff in developing their skills and knowledge in these areas.

Other:

• Take the lead in broader clinical projects as identified by the Director of Nursing and Advanced Clinical Practitioner.
• Adhere to and comply with organisational policies, procedures, and guidelines always.
• Follow the organisational policy on confidentiality, information governance, and the Data Protection Act 1998 as amended regarding information held manually or on computerized systems. Respect the confidentiality of children, young adults, staff, and volunteers always.
• Promote and protect the privacy and dignity of children and young adults consistently.
• Be accountable and responsible for following the Health and Safety Guidelines, including the House Fire Policy and all other House Policies and Procedures; proactively identify, report, and manage hazards.
• Ensure compliance with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as well as organisational and local House policies and guidelines, including The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 by all parties involved.
• Helen & Douglas House is fully committed to the principles and practices of equal opportunity and diversity. It recognises that the success of a business depends on people. Capitalising on what is unique about individuals and drawing on their different perspectives and experiences will add value to the way we do business and provide care. This principle is implemented in line with the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 which provides freedom from discrimination based on protected characteristics, namely age, disability (which includes mental health and people diagnosed as clinically obese), race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment (people who are having or who have had a sex change, transvestites and transgender people), marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.
• Implement Health and Safety regulations through risk assessment. Maintaining a constant awareness of health, welfare, and safety issues affecting colleagues, service users, volunteers, visitors, and themselves, reporting any accidents or faults in line with organisational policy, and fully participating in health and safety training.
• Maintain high standards of infection prevention and control practice throughout the performance of duties and in accordance with Helen and Douglas House Infection Prevention and Control policies and procedures.
• Comply with the requirements of the Disclosure and Barring Service Policy concerning the undertaking or regular DBS checks, presentation of associated certificates, and immediate notification of any situation that may affect competence or professional registration.
• Embrace the volunteer culture that exists in the organisation.

Personal attributes / abilities

Essential

• Enthusiastic and highly initiativetaking person
• A team player with the ability to use their initiative
• Fully committed to the aims and objectives of Helen and Douglas House, and the pursuit of excellence for the organisation
• A commitment to promoting equality of opportunity
• A commitment to ongoing personal and professional development
• Flexible approach to working hours, which at times may include evenings / nights / weekends and on call cover
• Not on ISA Barred list from working with children / adults

Desirable

• It would be advantageous if the post holder were able to drive, for reasons of efficiency or to enhance service provision.

Qualifications

Essential

• Modules at Post graduate level (7)
• Registered RNC/RGN/RM or Allied
• Healthcare professional
• Non-medical prescribing module
• History taking, or Clinical assessment module
• Significant post registration experience in caring for people with palliative or complex medical needs
• Symptom relief / management within palliative care

Desirable

• Palliative care module

Experience

Essential

• Proven clinical, organisational and managerial skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing
• Advanced clinical assessment skills
• Advanced communication skills
• Clinical leadership and management skills
• Good organisational and administration skills, including IT skills
• Teaching and presentation skills
• Up to date with recent developments in Childrens palliative care
• Professional accountability issues and scope of professional practice
• Clinical governance and the ability to ensure that practice is clinically effective
• Up to date knowledge of safeguarding issues
• Health needs in a racially and culturally diverse population

Desirable

• Experience of working within a speciality
• Experience of care planning and caseload management
• Driving licence

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).