Professional Nurse Advocate

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Title: Professional Nurse Advocate

Remuneration: £140 per session (including oncosts)

Hours of work: 2 sessions (8h) per week

Contract Length: One-year, fixed term (46 weeks)

Responsible to: Borough Nurse Lead

Accountable to: Director of Primary Care Nursing – NCL Training Hub

Travel: Whilst some of the work can be done remotely there is an expectation for some of this work to be face to face with some travel across North Central London (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey & Islington)

Base: This role will be a combination home and office based.

Background 

 Increasing patient needs and an ageing population are major factors impacting the role of nurses in primary care. More people are living with long-term health conditions (LTCs), with the NHS White Paper (NHSE 2021) highlighting that one in three patients admitted to hospital as an emergency has five or more. Dementia and mental health issues are also increasing, and services must be responsive to the needs of patients, their carers, and families.

The increased workload and complexity of care highlights the importance of collaborative working within the community, helping patients manage their conditions, promote healthy behaviours, and improve outcomes and quality of life. Integrated and collaborative working ensures that clinicians focus not only on single long-term conditions but also lifestyle, prevention of ill health and education to empower patients to self-manage.

Nurses are having to develop their skills to meet these increasingly complex presentations, promote generic healthy lifestyles and ensure patients have the knowledge to understand and manage their conditions, including managing their mental health and overall well-being.

A compassionate working culture, ensuring the well-being of all team members is essential to meeting these challenges.

General practice nursing is an exciting and rewarding job, yet the increased workload and challenges related to COVID-19, have contributed to nurses becoming more at risk of burnout and stress. The courage of compassion document by the King’s Fund (West et al., 2020) recognises this and observes it is critical that the underlying causes of stress, ill health and poor wellbeing in staff are tackled. Pressures in our working environment can have a negative impact on our personal resilience. The King’s Fund (2020) suggest interventions such as resilience training and mindfulness should be implemented to enable nurses to better manage the stressors that can influence their own emotional health and wellbeing.

One of the strategies to tackle these issues is the role of the Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA).

Job Summary

We are looking to build a team of three Professional Nursing Advocates, who will work together and alongside an established team of clinicians, educational providers, programme managers, and administrative staff at the North Central London Training Hub, to facilitate restorative clinical supervision (RCS) amongst general practice nursing colleagues in North Central London.

The Professional Nurse Advocates (PNAs) will be qualified, practising nurses who will commit to undertake a dedicated Level 7 Professional Nursing Advocate accredited Programme that has been developed around the A-EQUIP model (Advocating for Education and Quality Improvement), initially introduced into Midwifery in 2017.

The PNA training programme will help you develop an understanding of the PNA role and an understanding of the A-EQUIP model, which has been shown to reduce staff burnout and has four components:

• Monitoring, evaluation, and quality control
• Clinical supervision (restorative)
• Personal action for quality improvement
• Education and development (formative).

As a PNA, you will lead and support nurses in practice. You will also advocate and encourage nursing teams to lead on quality improvement, which in turn improves patient care.

Further information about the role can be found on these webpages: https://www.england.nhs.uk/nursingmidwifery/delivering-the-nhs-ltp/professional-nurse-advocate/ https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/courage-compassion-supporting-nurses-midwives

Job Summary

Following the initial training, the PNA will be a trusted member of the team who will use the A-EQUIP model to support colleagues in their roles and with their wellbeing and personal development.

• As part of your role, you will undertake the Professional Nurse Advocate programme which is a virtual, accredited Level 7 master’s clinical professional development training programme that will run for 10 days but can vary over weeks or months. The programme will be fully funded so delivered at no cost to you or your employer. The delivery and mode of academic assessment will vary dependent on the Higher Education Institute (HEI), and this cannot be personally selected. Some academic assessments may include short essays, poster presentations and competency portfolios.

• Facilitating restorative clinical supervision (RCS) amongst nursing colleagues
• Monitoring, evaluating and quality control
• Developing personal action for quality improvement
• Education and development

• You will support the delivery of local wellbeing programmes and initiatives focused on nurses working in general practice.
• You will liaise with other colleagues and leaders to facilitate feedback on themes and learning, influencing education and quality improvement initiatives
• You will maintain excellent working relationships and effective liaison with internal and external colleagues at all levels
• You will also work to ensure a professional image of the North Central London Training Hub is maintained and a helpful and effective support is provided to all internal and external stakeholders
• You might be asked to support the future planning work and relevant bid writing for funding

The job description and person specification may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the programme of work.

The role(s) will include (but may not be limited to):

• Be an excellent role model in their area of practice, providing positive psychological support to improve practice and communication with fellow colleagues, patients, and carers.
• Provide support to general practice nurses using the A-EQUIP model.
• Provide Restorative Clinical Supervision for their own practice area, and, outside their main place of work.
• Support personal development of general practice nurses.
• Inform and support workforce planning discussions including realising the full potential of the nursing role in line with Future Nurse curriculum changes.
• Liaise regularly with senior colleagues to help influence change, reporting on progress as requested.
• Support patients in challenging situations to make safe choices based on the best available evidence, using the restorative function of the A-equip model
• Support colleagues creating care plans collaboratively with patient and/or families. This may be in challenging situations and, as such, a nurse may require support to discuss this with someone.
• Promote psychological safety and situational awareness through one’s own practice.
• Support with staff wellbeing, using the time to discuss any professional or personal issue including but not exclusively to clinical incidents, team dynamics, stress, burnout, instances of bullying, career progression, interview, and quality initiatives.
• Promote wellbeing orientated culture not only for serious incidents but also for daily day to day pressures. Portraying an understanding of personal and professional resilience, developing this attitude to others.
• Demonstrate inspirational, motivational, and visible leadership in the workplace.
• Support nurses involved in any internal or external investigations, by providing a coaching framework to support with interviews and learning.
• Support nurses returning to practice, e.g., from long term sickness.
• Facilitate reflective discussions about revalidation and career development preparation for appraisal.
• Support other nurses to develop their ideas and actions for quality improvements and service development.
• Provide feedback on themes that arise from Restorative clinical supervision to inform senior leaders so that issues can be addressed without any reference to individuals.
• Report on progress and deliverables to the Director of Primary Care Nursing.
• Provide necessary, accurate and timely information to NCL Training Hub to assist its decision-making process whilst maintaining all levels of confidentiality.
• Help promote and progress initiatives and actions to ensure team and individual wellbeing in the workplace.

Person Specification

Skills & Aptitudes

Essential

• Ability to support, supervise, assess, and act as a role model to other nurses
• Willing to engage with and learn from peers, other professionals and colleagues in the desire to provide or support the most appropriate interventions
• Ability to influence and inspire others
• Ability to build positive and appropriate working relationships with colleagues and maintain a high level of confidentiality and trust
• Willing to learn new skills to meet the needs of the role
• Ability to organise and prioritise own delegated workload
• Ability to deal with unpredictable nature of workload
• Strong sense of commitment to openness and integrity in undertaking the role

Desirable

• Ability to take part in reflective practice and clinical supervision activities

Communication

Essential

• Excellent communications skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent listening skills

Other

Essential

• Act in ways that support equality and value diversity
• Be caring and compassionate

Knowledge

Essential

• An interest and knowledge of health and wellbeing strategies, approaches and interventions
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage, build and sustain relationships across a wide range of stakeholders
• Ability to pull together comprehensive draft reports and presentations

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered nurse employed in a primary care setting in North Central London
• Holds an accredited Level 6 qualification (degree or degree equivalent/ top-up accredited Level 6 CPD course)

Desirable

• Completed relevant training programme such as Resilience Based Clinical Supervision

Experience

Essential

• Experienced in working in a patient facing role in general practice
• Insight into how to evaluate own strengths and development needs, seeking advice where appropriate
• Experience of providing and receiving complex, sensitive information
• Ability to promote, educate and be passionate about the wellbeing of colleagues
• Salary band 5 or above

Desirable

• Previous experience of line management
• Experience of leading, motivating and developing other nurses

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

Haringey GP Federation

Address

151 Park Road

London

N8 8JD

Employer's website

https://www.haringeygpfederation.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)