Practice Nurse

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder is responsible for the delivery of basic practice nursing services care to the practice population. Supported by senior nurses within the practice, they will deliver care within the boundaries of their role, focusing upon supporting patients to be healthy, monitoring of long-term conditions, health prevention and screening activities. You will carry out a full range of Practice Nursing duties including womens health, family planning and immunisations. You will work collaboratively with the general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing nurse leadership as required.

Key responsibilities

Clinical practice

• Assess, plan, develop, implement and evaluate treatment programmes to promote health and well-being, and prevent adverse effects on health and well being
• Assess and care for patients presenting with uncomplicated wounds
• Support and advise women requesting information relating to family planning needs
• Support and manage health needs of women presenting for cervical cytology consultations
• Implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children
• Implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for patients with a known long-term condition including diabetes and / or cardiovascular disease.
• Identify, and manage as appropriate, treatment plans for patients at risk of developing a long-term illness as detailed by the Quality and Outcomes framework.
• Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care
• Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that encourage patients to live healthily, and apply principles of self-care
• Deliver opportunistic health promotion using opportunities such as NHS health checks
• Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side effects and interactions
• Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that promote patients to live healthily, and encourage principles of self-care
• Recognise, assess and refer patients presenting with mental health needs in accordance with the National Framework (NSF) for Mental Health
• Advise, support and, where appropriate, administer vaccinations for patients travelling abroad
• Promote and deliver evidence-based care for patients presenting with aural conditions

Communication

• Utilise and demonstrate sensitive communication styles, to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment
• Communicate with and support patients who are receiving bad news
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating
• Utilise communication skills to support patients to adhere to prescribed treatment regimens
• Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication
• Estimate and maintain effective communication with individuals and groups within the practice environment external stakeholders
• Act as an advocate when representing the patients and colleagues viewpoints to others

Delivering a quality service

• Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
• Produce accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures
• Prioritise, organise and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality
• Deliver care according to NSF and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines and evidence-based care
• Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation
• Participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the organisation and its activities
• Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required
• In partnership with other clinical teams, collaborate on improving the quality of health care, responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate
• Evaluate the patients response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care
• Support and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation
• Participate in the management, review and identify learning from patient complaints, clinical incidents and near-miss events utilising a structured framework (eg root-cause analysis)
• Participate in the performance monitoring review of the team, providing feedback as appropriate
• Understand and apply legal policy that supports the identification of vulnerable and abused children and adults, being aware of statutory child/vulnerable adult health procedure and local guidance
• Work within policies relating to domestic violence, vulnerable adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour, and refer as appropriate

Team working

• Understand own role and scope in the organisation and identify how this may develop over time
• Work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working
• Delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence of those taking on delegated duties
• Ensure clear understanding and utilisation of referral mechanisms within the practice
• Accept delegation from other nurses, prioritise own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded in own practice
• Work effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery
• Participate in team activities that create opportunities to improve patient care
• Participate in and support local projects as agreed with the practice management team

Management of risk

• Manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients
• Monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines
• Ensure safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs is undertaken
• Where appropriate, oversee the monitoring, stock control and documentation of controlled drug usage according to legal requirements
• Undertake mandatory and statutory training
• Apply infection control measure within the practice according to local and national guidelines
• Apply policies that reduce environmental health risks, are culturally sensitive and increase access to health care for all
• Participate in the local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice

Utilising information

• Use technology as an aid to management in planning, implementation and monitoring, presenting and communicating information
• Review and process data using accurate Read codes about patients in order to ensure easy and accurate retrieval for monitoring and audit processes
• Manage information searches using the internet and local library databases, for example, the retrieval of relevant information for patients on their condition
• Understand own and others responsibility to the individual organisation regarding the Freedom of Information Act
• Collate, analyse and present clinical data and information to the team using appropriate charts and/or graphs to enhance care
• The post-holder will comply with the Data Protection Act (1984) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990)

Learning and development

• Act as mentor to students, assessing competence against set standards as requested and if appropriately qualified
• Disseminate learning and information gained to other team members in order to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments
• Assess own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate
• Make effective use of learning opportunities within and outside the workplace, evaluating their effectiveness and feeding back relevant information
• Provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning

Equality and diversity

• The post-holder must co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc.
• Respect the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients and carers.
• Understand basic legal and communication issues regarding child abuse

Health & 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 using the organisations Incident Reporting System

Respect for patient confidentiality

• The post holder should respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role

Job description agreement

• This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities only. There may be other duties required of the post-holder commensurate with the position. This description will be open to regular review and may be amended to take into account development within the practice. All members of staff should be prepares to take on additional duties or relinquish existing duties in order to maintain the efficient running of the practice.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered General Nurse
• Knowledge of needs of patients with long-term conditions
• Aware of accountability of own role and other roles in a nurse led service
• Knowledge of health promotion strategies
• Awareness of clinical governance issues in primary care
• Knowledge of patient group directions and associated policy

Desirable

• Ability to identify determinants on health in the local area
• Knowledge of public health issues in the local area
• Awareness of local and national health policy
• Awareness of issues within the wider health economy

Experience

Essential

• Clinical skills cervical cytology, immunisation and vaccination, ear care, minor surgery
• Experience and enthusiasm in the management of diabetic care
• Change-management skills and ability to support patients to change lifestyle
• Communication skills, both written and verbal
• Ability to communicate difficult messages to patients and families
• Negotiation and conflict management skills
• IT skills

Desirable

• Experience of working in primary care
• Uses initiative
• Gets on well with people at all levels

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

Attleborough Surgeries

Address

Station Road

Attleborough

Norfolk

NR17 2AS

Employer's website

https://www.attleboroughsurgeries.com (Opens in a new tab)