Job responsibilities
Core
Principles:
To
be courteous and polite to all people associated with the practice on the
telephone, face to face or in written form.
To
ensure confidentiality of information (written/oral or electronic) is always
preserved whether at or away from work in accordance with the contract of
employment.
To
follow practice procedures to ensure that Caldicott Guardian and Security
requirements are always met.
To
follow procedures to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998
To
follow all practice policies, protocols and procedures concerned including
Safeguarding, with the maintenance of ethical practice.
To
support and participate in initiatives to ensure a safe and healthy environment
for all practice users. This includes following procedures to ensure the
control of potential hazards to health and safety.
To
respect, support, contribute to and take personal responsibility for
implementing commitment to Diversity and Equality of Opportunity
To
contribute to a culture of continuous improvement
To
deal with complaints promptly and according to practice policy
To
perform duties to standards required by the practice in accordance with quality
assurance.
To
demonstrate commitment to Continuing Professional Development
To
demonstrate computer literacy
Primary
Responsibilities:
The following
are the core responsibilities of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner. There may be,
on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent
upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
Develop,
implement and embed health promotion and wellbeing programmes
Manage
patients presenting with a range of acute and chronic medical conditions,
providing subject matter expert advice
Implement
and evaluate individual specialised treatment plans for chronic disease
patients
Identify,
manage and support patients at risk of developing long-term conditions,
preventing adverse effects to the patients health
Provide
advanced, specialist nursing care to patients as required in accordance with
clinical based evidence, NICE and the NSF
Request
pathology services as necessary
Process
and interpret pathology and other test results as required
Provide
chronic disease clinics, delivering patient care as necessary, referring
patients to secondary/specialist care as required
Maintain
accurate clinical records in conjunction with extant legislation
Ensure
SNOMED CT codes are used effectively
Maintain
chronic disease registers
Chaperone
patients where necessary
Prioritise
health issues and intervene appropriately
Support
the team in dealing with clinical emergencies
Recognise,
assess and refer patients presenting with mental health needs
Be
an extended and supplementary prescriber, adhering to extant guidance
Support
patients in the use of their prescribed medicines or over the counter medicines
(within own scope of practice), reviewing annually as required
Contribute
to practice targets (QOF, etc.), complying with local and regional guidance
Liaise
with external services/agencies to ensure the patient is supported
appropriately (vulnerable patients, etc.)
Delegate
clinical responsibilities appropriately (ensuring safe practice and that the
task is within the scope of practice of the individual)
Support
the clinical team with all safeguarding matters in accordance with local and
national policies
Understand
practice and local policies for substance abuse and addictive behaviour,
referring patients appropriately
Deliver
opportunistic health promotion where appropriate
Secondary
Responsibilities:
In addition to
the primary responsibilities, the Advanced Nurse Practitioner may be requested
to:
Act
as the audit lead, effectively utilising the audit cycle
Participate
in local initiatives to enhance service delivery and patient care
Support
and participate in shared learning within the organisation
Opportunities
to develop an area of specialist interest, taking the lead within the
organisation
Continually
review clinical practices, responding to national policies and initiatives
where appropriate
Participate
in the review of significant and near-miss events applying a structured
approach i.e., root cause analysis (RCA)
Develop
practice administrative and clinical protocols in line with the needs of the
patient and current legislation
Confidentiality:
While
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
careers, 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
and safety:
The
post-holder must comply at all times with the Practices Health and Safety
Policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures and
reporting incidents by following the Practices incident reporting procedure.
Equality
and diversity:
A
good attitude and positive action towards ED&I creates an environment where
all individuals are able to achieve their full potential. Creating such an
environment is important for three reasons: it improves operational
effectiveness; it is morally the right thing to do, and it is required by law.
Patients
and their families have the right to be treated fairly and be routinely
involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be
treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any
grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil
partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual
orientation. Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our
staff with dignity and respect.
Staff
have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression.
Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued and
equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on
any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil
partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual
orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that they treat our patients
and their colleagues with dignity and respect.
Quality
and Continuous Improvement:
To
preserve and improve the quality of our output, all personnel are required to
think not only of what they do, but how they achieve it. By continually
re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall
effectiveness of the way we work. The responsibility for this rests with
everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities to improve
quality and share good practice.
This
practice continually strives to improve work processes which deliver healthcare
with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a
culture of continuous improvement where everyone counts, and staff are
permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery
and enhance patient care.
Learning
and development:
The
effective use of training and development is fundamental to ensuring that all
staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude and
competences to perform their role. All staff will be required to partake and
complete mandatory training as directed by the training coordinator, as well as
participating in the practice training programme.
Staff
will also be permitted (subject to approval) to undertake external training
courses which will enhance their knowledge and skills, progress their career
and ultimately enable them to improve processes and service delivery.
Communication:
The
post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within
the team and will strive to:
Communicate
effectively with other team members.
Communicate
effectively with patients and carers.
Recognise
peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond
accordingly.
