Job responsibilities
JOB TITLE: NURSING ASSOCIATE
REPORTS TO: CLINICAL MANAGER
HOURS: Part time approx. 25 - 30 hours per week
Monday to Saturday within the Clinical Rota
SPECIAL REQUIRMENTS: Ability to carry out home visits when required:
Requires Full driving licence and the use of a car with the appropriate insurance for business use. Mileage is claimable for business use.
Job summary:
You will understand the nursing process and be able to assess, plan, implement and evaluate programmes of care to improve health and well-being and meet the healthcare needs of individuals and groups.
You will work as an active member of the multidisciplinary team supported by our Multidisciplinary team. You will deliver care within the boundaries of your role, focusing on identification and monitoring of long-term conditions and the enhancement of patient access to care. To enable relationships to develop with the individual nursing teams and the surgeries your timetable will be flexible and include Saturdays on a rota basis.
Practice Values:
To demonstrate and provide evidence of the Practice Values, these are:
- Provide a professional service
- Working together as one
- Respect for each other and our patients
- Offer a patient led service
Roles and responsibilities:
Work as part of the MDT to provide and monitor care, under direct or indirect supervision.
Improve safety and quality of care at every opportunity.
Support registered nurses to enable them to be able to focus on the more complex clinical care.
Perform and record clinical observations such as blood pressure, temperature, respirations, and pulse; promote health and well-being to all patients, for example undertaking the NHS health check.
Care for individuals with dementia, mental health conditions, and learning disabilities.
Advise patients on general healthcare and promote self-management where appropriate, including signposting patients to personalised care colleagues and local community and voluntary sector services.
Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately, seeking support and advice from your peers when required, and always work within your competencies.
Demonstrate an ability to work under pressure, prioritising workload effectively.
Demonstrate an ability to use a problem-solving approach within limits of your competence.
Demonstrate an ability to provide holistic patient centred care.
Work in a solution- focused way as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
Promote holistic healthcare and work in partnership with other agencies.
Access and participate in supervision.
Maintain an accurate diary in accordance with lone working policy and adhere to mobile working guidance.
Identify and take appropriate action/make appropriate referrals in any situation where there may be vulnerability, safeguarding or health concerns.
Understanding of the scope of the role of the Nursing Associate in context of the nursing and multidisciplinary team.
Understands and acts in line with NMC professional standards for practice contained within The Code.
Knowledge of when to seek advice and escalate to the appropriate professional for expert help and advice.
Provide support and supervision to training nursing associates, healthcare assistants, apprentices, and those on learning assignments/placements as required.
Understand requirements for NMC professional Revalidation and clinical Supervision.
Understand and act in accordance with the Code: Professional standards of practice and behaviours for nursing associates and fulfil all registration requirements.
Enhance own performance through continuous professional development, imparting own knowledge and behaviours to meet the needs of the service. NMC Standards of proficiency for registered nursing associates September 2018.
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 implement and lead on a full range of promotion and management 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 will 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.
- Ownership of infection control and clinically based patient care protocols, and implementation of those protocols 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 (minimum twice annually).
- Routine management of own team / team areas, and maintenance of work space 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.
- Demonstrate due regard for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults in line with the organisations safeguarding protection policies and procedures.