Practice Nurse (Primary Care)

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main Responsibilities and Duties:

Treatment Room

• Assist in and perform routine tasks related to patient care as directed by senior nursing staff and GPs.
• Wound care/Dressings
• Ulcer care/ Dopplers
• Removal of Sutures
• New Patient Medicals/Urinalysis
• NHS Health Checks
• Cervical Cytology
• ECGs
• Venepuncture
• Fitting & Removal of 24-hour BP and ECG monitors
• Vaccinations and Immunisations (Child & Adult)
• Injections e.g., B12
• Requesting pathology tests, for example urine culture, swabs
• Diabetic reviews

Diabetes

• Become an essential member of the Diabetes and Nursing team at Lyndhurst Surgery. This role will encompass supporting the assessing and planning of care for patients with Type 1 or 2 Diabetes.
• To complete annual diabetic reviews for patients who are in the Green, Amber and Red categories of HBA1C
• To complete necessary physical checks as outlined by the annual diabetic review template including foot checks, BP monitoring and BMI monitoring
• To carry out interim checks on diabetic patients requiring advice/monitoring outside of their diabetic annual review
• To work as part of the diabetic team to ensure that we increase the achievement of treatment targets and care processes
• To support, empower and enable patients to make informed decisions regarding their Diabetes care, as far as possible, by engaging with the patient, their family and carers and establishing good relationships to ensure patient centred care
• Refer patients for diabetic education as appropriate
• Working in collaboration with our nursing team and diabetic lead GP to agree strategy, sharing good practice and knowledge
• Be aware of and utilise wider community support including referrals to Social Prescribing and Care Navigators
• When clinically indicated, be competent in initiation of injectable therapy including insulin following completion of accredited training. This will include transition from oral to injection therapy and dose adjustment to optimise blood glucose levels

General

• Following agreed clinical protocols with referral to senior nurses or GPs as appropriate
• Maintaining and cleaning equipment used by the nurses and GPs
• Maintaining Nurses rooms, stocking and rotating items as required
• Maintain general tidiness and cleanliness of nurses and treatment rooms
• Maintain vaccination stock levels by submitting order requests to the management team

• Participation in administrative systems in the Practice
• At all times there will be a need to maintain accurate records
• A duty to advise senior nurses of potential problems or errors within the range of assigned tasks.
• Attend and participate in any Practice meetings when required
• Any other delegated duties appropriate to the post

Confidentiality:

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately.
• In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.

Health & Safety:

The post-holder will participate in a full range of promotion and management of their own and others health and safety and infection control as defined in the practice Health & Safety policy, the practice Health & Safety manual, and the practice Infection Control policy and published procedures. This may include (but will not be limited to):

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
• Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness and regulatory / contractual / professional requirements, and good practice guidelines
• Responsible for the correct and safe management of the specimens process including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct and clean containers, storage and transport arrangements
• Management and maintenance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the practice including provision, ordering, availability and ongoing correct usage by staff
• Responsible for hand hygiene across the practice
• Active observation of current working practices across the practice in relation to infection control, cleanliness and related activities, ensuring that procedures are followed and weaknesses / training needs are identified, escalating issues as appropriate
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks across clinical and patient process
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills and initiate and manage the training of others across the full range of infection control and patient processes.
• Monitoring practice facilities and equipment in relation to infection control, ensuring that provision of hand cleansing facilities, wipes etc are sufficient to ensure a good clinical working environment. Lack of facilities to be escalated as appropriate
• Safe management of sharps procedures including training, use, storage and disposal
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile, and safe way, free from hazards. Initiation of remedial / corrective action where needed or escalation to responsible management
• Actively identifying, reporting, and correction of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
• Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, sterile, identifying issues and hazards / risks in relation to other work areas within the business, and assuming responsibility in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness across the business in consultation (where appropriate) with other sector managers
• Undertaking periodic infection control training/updates (minimum twice annually)
• Routine management of own team / team areas, and maintenance of workspace standards
• Waste management including collection, handling, segregation, container management, storage and collection
• Spillage control procedures, management and training
• Decontamination control procedures, management and training, and equipment maintenance
• Maintenance of sterile environments

Equality and Diversity / Safeguarding

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

• Acting in a way that recognises the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation.
• Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
• Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

The post-holder will also ensure that Safeguarding of both vulnerable adults and all children is always at the forefront of their daily routine, to include:

• Understanding and looking out for any safeguarding concerns that may occur
• Reporting these concerns to the appropriate person or persons
• Undertaking Safeguarding Adults/Children training

Personal/Professional development:

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development.
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.
• Completion of mandatory training, e.g., Data Security Awareness, Basic Life Support, Fire, Health and Safety etc. as directed by the Practice Manager.

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance.
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources

Communication:

The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Recognize peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly

Contribution to the implementation of services:

The post-holder will:

• Apply practice policies, standards and guidance
• Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work.
• Participate in audit where appropriate

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree or equivalent
• NMC registered

Experience

Essential

• Experience of running diabetic clinics

Desirable

• Experience of working within a nursing team in Primary Care

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

Lyndhurst Surgery

Address

2 Church Lane

Lyndhurst

SO43 7EW

Employer's website

https://www.lyndhurstsurgery.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)