Unscheduled Care Practitioner

Job responsibilities

The post holder will:

Work with and champion the unit in conjunction with Senior Managerial colleagues

Support the Management team and Clinical manager to ensure all service KPIs/Targets all are met, and looking for improvement over and above the set commissioned targets

Ensure mandatory training is kept up to date and receive suitable training/CPD for their ongoing development needs

Practice autonomously, as an independent practitioner, participating in the care of and undertaking assessment, diagnosis, treatment / referral and discharge of patients presenting with minor injury and illness within agreed parameters

Provide advanced clinical skills and advice demonstrating a sound understanding of the issues related to identification, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and management of a client group whilst working autonomously

Identify the need for and initiate and interpret relevant diagnostic investigations and results

To safely and competently undertake invasive and non-invasive procedures to establish a diagnosis

Be able to independently undertake telephone triage

To work within the parameters of current nurse prescribing legislation

Monitor and lead improvements to standards of care through supervision of practice, clinical audit, and evidence-based practice, teaching and supporting professional colleagues and the provision of skilled professional leadership

Contribute to the Clinical Governance agenda within the service by leading audit and research as part of the multi-disciplinary team within the area of expertise

Act in accordance with the NMC Code of Professional Conduct or other relevant professional body

Provide professional and clinical advice within the multi-disciplinary team

Come and be a part of our amazing team!

We offer NHS Pension

Cycle to Work Scheme

Career Development Opportunities

Attendance Bonus

Staff Benefit Scheme

Free Tea & Coffee

Eye Care Contributions

Clinical

The post holder will:

Assess, treat, and advise patients presenting with health care needs.

Provide supervision of the clinical team, assisting and developing their team and individuals

When required ensure patients are referred on to other members of the primary health care team or secondary care as necessary and support and guide others as required.

Ensure all practice is safe and effective and remains within boundaries and scope of competence of individuals and to acknowledge limitations.

Work at an advanced level of practice reflected under the 4 pillars of advanced practice of the HEE

Perform investigatory procedures, including assessing patients with minor injuries, request, and review x-rays, treat minor injuries /implement expanded roles in practice

In general, the post-holder will be expected to undertake all the duties and responsibilities associated with an expert practitioner working within Unscheduled Primary Care.

Develop and maintain clinical/nursing policies, procedures, and protocols.

Ensure any patient information is up-to-date and produced in appropriate formats

Professional

The post holder will:

Role model standards of care and behaviour through clinical practice.

Act as a role model for standards of behaviour and professionalism, through commitment to the integration of policies and procedures within the role and workplace

Analyse relevant local and national policy, within their area of expertise and advise on the impact for service, leading the implementation of changes and evaluation of processes

Maintain professional registration and practice through CPD

Maintain a professional portfolio to demonstrate competency in line with NMC competency framework or other professional body

Prescribe medication in accordance with competency, professional guidelines and NICE / CKS guidelines.

Maintain NMP competency and regularly review prescribing practice through CPD and reflective practice.

Maintain their personal standards of conduct and behaviour consistent within FCMS, NMC guidelines or other professional body

Allocate, coordinate, monitor and assess own workload within an accepted time frame

Ensure appropriate use of resources to meet service needs

Recognise and act as an advocate for patients, carers, service, and the organisation

Carry out annual review of best practice/national standards and implement recommended changes

Promote workforce integrity (empower professional accountability within the clinical team, ensure accreditation process followed, complaints management, competency assessment, ensuring mandatory training requirements fulfilled, robust clinical induction)

Maintain a sound knowledge of NHS policy and NICE guidance in relation to scheduled and unscheduled care

Education and training

The post holder will:

Identify own development needs in line with service requirements within a personal development plan

Develop and distribute educational leaflets in relevant formats, for patients relating to services and patient pathways

Ensure personal, peer support and clinical supervision needs are met

Contribute to clinical governance outcomes

Understand and apply professional and national guidelines on confidentiality

Be fully involved in the progress and development of clinicians and provide constructive and relevant feedback

Assist in the implementation of training and development in your locality

Research and development

The post holder will:

Evaluate clinical practise through audit of service and develop and manage strategies to address any shortfalls

Undertake audits as required by the service working with the clinical manager

Demonstrate knowledge of current research in all aspects of their work and advise others on the implementation of relevant research findings

Initiate and/or become involved in research projects in response to identified needs

Disseminate results/research/ audit findings via local teams and/or national/international publications

Implement research findings appropriate to practice

Promote the shared objectives of the multidisciplinary team by working closely to ensure that best practice is achieved utilising both Clinical Benchmarking and Essence of Care processes

Communication and working relationships

Communicates effectively with other team members

Communicates effectively with patients and carers

Communicates effectively with other healthcare professionals

Take all appropriate steps to minimise conflict

Health and safety

The post holder will:

Comply with safety policies, procedures and guidelines for self and others

Comply with the Organisations Business continuity Plan

Refrain from the wilful misuse or interference with equipment provided in the interest of Health and Safety

Report as soon as is practically possible any hazards or defects

Report as soon as practically possible accidents or untoward incidents and ensure appropriate incident reporting documentation is completed

Be actively involved as an appropriate departmental representative

Making effective use of training to maintain knowledge and skills

Physical effort and working conditions.

The post holder will:

Be responsible to ensure all aspects of the Manual Handling guidelines are followed, providing appropriate risk assessments

Be responsible to manage clinical care following required Policies and Procedures pertaining to bodily fluids, infection control and COSHH regulations resulting in frequent exposure to highly unpleasant working conditions

Be responsible to manage challenging situations and people with some exposure to hazards, e.g. violent and abusive patients, child abuse, critically ill patients

Manage own time effectively within variable shift patterns

Most challenging part of the role.

Ability to work under pressure in an ever changing, challenging specialist environment whilst maintaining excellent standards of patient care

Dealing with difficult situations and people by demonstrating and exercising critical thinking skills when faced with incomplete or lack of information or complexity.

Seeing, treating, referring, or discharging patients independently without direct supervision

Triaging, referring, or discharging patients independently without direct supervision

Manage patient and public expectations of the service within set national targets and time constraints

Manage effective change and development within clinical areas, maintaining highly specialised knowledge and competences

Disability Confident Employer - As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy

Any other duties considered relevant to the post and commensurate with the post holders grade and as agreed by their manager.

The main duties and responsibility shown above are not an exhaustive and should merely be regarded as a guide. The job holder will be expected to conduct any reasonable activities according to the service needs at that time. These are subject to periodic review and may be amended to meet the changing needs of the service. The job holder will be expected to participate in this process and the company would aim to reach agreement to changes.

DBS - The role is subject to a DBS check which will require three forms of valid ID to be produced and verified. The onboarding process is also subject to an Occupational Health check, suitable professional references and eligibility to work in the UK (with the requirement to provide relevant documentation as evidence).

The organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. You will be expected to fulfil your mandatory safeguarding training at the level applicable to this role.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Personal

Essential

• Must have a positive can-do attitude
• Leadership qualities
• Commitment to personal and professional development
• Willing to work unsociable hours
• Able to deal with difficult and sensitive situations with tact and diplomacy
• Committed to service development
• Adaptable to the changing needs of the service.

Teamwork

Essential

• Commitment to working with multiple organisations to manage patient flows
• Commitment to multi-disciplinary team approach to care

Desirable

• Evidence of leadership experience

Management

Essential

• The ability to demonstrate an understanding of the current issues affecting Primary Care services
• Time management of work productivity
• Ability to challenge the norm and get the best out of team members
• Commitment to support, develop and manage change
• Evidence of good organisational and leadership skills
• Information governance understanding and awareness

Desirable

• Evidence of project management

Communication

Essential

• Excellent oral, aural, and written communication skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to deal with difficult situations

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Practitioner (NMC / HCPC)
• Recognised healthcare degree or equivalent
• Clinical experience within an unscheduled care setting

Desirable

• Recognised training in minor injury / illness, consultation, and examination skills
• IRMER / red dot xray interpretation course
• Practice assessor certificate
• Telephone triage qualification
• Non-medical prescribing qualification (V300)

Teaching

Essential

• Willing / able to attend appropriate training
• Experience of training and development of staff
• Commitment to own personal development

Desirable

• Teaching Qualification

Experience

Essential

• Minimum 2 years post registration experience and a passion for working in primary care / urgent care
• Experience within an unscheduled care setting managing minor injuries and / or illness
• Health Promotion experience
• Understanding of current Urgent care issues and initiatives
• Ability to work effectively under pressure, intense conditions and within time constraints
• Understanding and awareness of CQC compliance and essential standards of quality and safety

Desirable

• Experience of working within a community Urgent Care setting or ED
• Innovative practice to deliver patient centred care
• Evidence of clinical competence in a wide range of relevant clinical skills, local anaesthesia infiltration, suturing, x-ray interpretation, fracture management
• Experience using clinical computer systems including Adastra
• Teaching experience/clinical supervision experience

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).