Community Nursing Sister/Charge Nurse/District Nurse

Job responsibilities

Clinical

To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work, including the management of patients in your care.

To undertake the comprehensive assessment of patients, including those with a complex presentation, using investigative and analytical skills.

To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of patients, and to organise this efficiently and effectively with regard to clinical priorities and use of time.

To ensure a high standard of clinical care for the patients under your management, and support more junior staff to do likewise.

To formulate an individualised management and/or treatment plan, using clinical reasoning skills and utilising a wide range of treatment skills in order to formulate a specialised programme of care. This will ensure patients meet their re-ablement goals and promote independence.

To assess capacity, gain valid informed consent and have the ability to work within a legal framework with patients who lack this capacity to consent to treatment.

To assess for environmental aids and arrange for provision or provide advice on where aids can be obtained.

To provide spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers and other professionals, to promote understanding of the aims of the service and to ensure a consistent approach to patient care.

To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with medical, nursing and therapy colleagues to ensure delivery of a coordinated multidisciplinary service. This will include discussion of patient care and case management.

To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise re-ablement potential and to ensure understanding of their condition.

Managerial

Be the named nurse or deputise for the Primary Care Home named nurse for an identified Primary Care practice and create relationship with the Lead GP, Practice Manager and Lead Nurse as a representative and of the wider Primary Care Home team.

Training, supervision and performance management of other members of the multidisciplinary team which may include Assistant Practitioner, Nursing Associates, Therapy Assistant Practitioners, Health Care Assistants and Rehab Support Workers and students, with assistance from more senior members of the team. This will include the use of formal appraisal documentation.

To provide teaching/training to other members of the Multi-Disciplinary Team.

To comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures and to be involved in the reviewing and updating as appropriate.

Be actively involved in the collection of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the service.

To deputise for Band 7 in terms of operational issues when appropriate.

Participate in any other duties which may be deemed appropriate by the management team.

Professional

To work autonomously at a level appropriate to clinical competence and within scope of professional practice.

Adhere to and apply the NMC professional code of practice.

To maintain own clinical professional development (CPD).

Identify objectives for personal development.

Participate in the staff appraisal scheme and Personal Development Programme (PDP).

Undertake the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of evidence based practice projects, audit and outcome measures, either individually or with the support of the audit team potentially resulting in recommendations for change.

Maintain accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date documentation in line with legal and departmental requirements and communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate disciplines in the form of reports and letters in line with professional standards.

Be aware of the Health and Safety aspects of your work and implement any policies which may be required to improve the safety of your work area, including the prompt recording and reporting of accidents to senior staff, and ensuring that equipment is safe.

Demonstrate a sound understanding of clinical governance and risk management and apply to work situation.

To be responsible for equipment used in carrying out your duties and to adhere to departmental policies, including competence to use equipment and to ensure the safe use of equipment by others through teaching, training and supervision of practice.

To comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures and to be involved in their review as appropriate.

All roles within East Coast Community Healthcare CIC (ECCH) require staff to demonstrate our Values and Signature Behaviours in the care and service they provide to patients, service users, stakeholders and colleagues. All members of staff should consider these as an essential part of their job role.

Our Values outline the core behaviours that we can all achieve and are summarised as an acronym within the word CARE. These stand for: Compassion, Action, Respect and Everyone.

Underpinning our Values are our Signature Behaviours which highlight by taking the right actions we continue to build a strong culture. Our four Signature Behaviours are: Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead| Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together.

Experience

Essential

• Experience working within a similar field of nursing/healthcare
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience of working with frail older adults and awareness of the complex issues relating to this client group

Desirable

• Previous experience at Band 6 level
• Clinical experience gained in a community/intermediate care setting
• Student supervision/clinical education
• Experience of clinical audit
• Experience of successful change management
• Experience of facilitating clinical supervision

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Ability to deal sensitively with patients who may have high levels of anxiety
• Capacity to concentrate for considerable periods of time during assessment and management of patients and be expected to respond immediately to interruptions
• Must have an understanding of the legal and ethical issues pertaining to nursing
• Leadership skills
• Assessment and patient management skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Negotiating and influencing skills
• Good IT skills
• Effective organisation and time management skills

Desirable

• Experience of I.V. medication administration

Qualifications

Essential

• Professional Registration with Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Registered Nurse Level 1 (Adult)
• BSc in Nursing Practice or equivalent
• Evidence of continued professional development and a professional portfolio.
• Leadership/management qualification or willing to undertake
• Health Coaching programme

Desirable

• Specialist Practitioner Qualification in District Nursing
• Community Nurse Prescriber v100 /v150
• Independent non- medical prescriber

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Able to work both collaboratively within a team and independently
• Able to contribute to team, service and organisational development
• Commitment to person centred, non-discriminatory practice
• Aware of requirements for confidentiality
• Forward thinking with excellent interpersonal skills
• Able to maintain judgment under pressure
• Able to maintain motivation, drive, enthusiasm
• Flexible approach to work and participate in various shift patterns
• Access to transport and ability to travel around the community
• Due to the variety of community working, the ability will be needed to access a diverse range of properties
• To carry out assessments
• Signature Behaviours:
• (Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead| Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together)
• Willingness and ability to work across different sites and travel to alternative sites and across the community as required

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).