Medicines Safety & Optimisation Nurse

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Medicines Safety and Optimisation Nurse will work closely with the pharmacy and patient safety nursing teams to actively participate in and, where appropriate, lead on projects and developments in clinical practice to support the safe and effective management of medicines across the organisation. The role will primarily focus on medicines safety and optimisation-related initiatives to support the Moving to Outstanding agenda.

The post-holder will be responsible for raising the profile and understanding of the medicines safety and optimisation agenda across the organisation, and for supporting initiatives to improve medicines safety at the interface between primary and secondary care.

Effective multidisciplinary working with clinical teams from across the organisation will be essential as the role will involve undertaking quality improvement initiatives, tests of change and pilot projects to assess the impact of changes made to address incidents, risks and safety concerns relating to medicines management.

The postholder will:

Provide nursing leadership, support, and co-ordination of safe medicines practice.

Provide clinical knowledge and expertise in medicines management.

Assist with (and when appropriate, lead) the investigation of medicines management-related incidents, particularly when they relate to nursing practice.

Provide leadership and support to wards and departments that have action plans in place following medicines management audits (e.g., medicines storage, controlled drug audits).

Develop and implement education plans, in conjunction with the Education Team, to improve knowledge and practice around medicines management at an individual, local and trust-wide level.

Support the development and ongoing review of trust-wide clinical guidelines, policies, and procedures to ensure medicines management best practice.

Initiate, undertake, and support others to complete practice research projects linked to the medicines management agenda.

Attend trust meetings relevant to the role and provide update reports on progress with key projects and medicines safety and optimisation issues.

FULL JOB DESCRIPTION ATTACHED.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• 1st Level NMC Registered Nurse educated to degree level.
• Teaching and assessing/ mentorship qualification

Desirable

• Post-registration qualification in relevant field.
• Evidence or willingness to study at MSc level.

Experience

Essential

• Broad range of clinical nursing experience within an acute setting.
• Experience of teaching and assessing in the clinical area.
• Participation in service development and implementation of change.
• Interpretation of national patient safety guidance.
• Experience of relevant audit work.

Desirable

• Policy development.
• Involvement in patient safety initiative.

Skills, Knowledge & Competencies

Essential

• Patient-centred approach to safety improvement.
• Knowledge of governance within healthcare settings.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to manage difficult situations, requiring diplomacy and sensitivity.
• Excellent leadership skills
• Skills for nurturing key relationships and maintaining networks.
• Knowledge of current quality and patient safety agenda.
• Ability to be constructive through diplomacy and negotiation.
• Analytical and reasoning.
• Experience in facilitating change.
• Able to promote team working and best practice.
• Ability to work independently without direct supervision.
• Able to present factual information.
• Able to manage and prioritise own workload to meet deadlines.
• Attention to detail combined with the skill to extract key messages from analysis.
• Can lead on specific projects with limited supervision.

Desirable

• Experience in working in a patient safety role.
• Experience in report writing.
• Evidence of ability to work across clinical and professional boundaries.
• Experience of risk management processes.

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHSFT

Address

Warrington Hospital

Lovely Lane

Warrington

Cheshire

WA5 1QG

Employer's website

https://whh.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)