Practice Nurse

Job responsibilities

Job Title: General Practice Nurse

Accountable to: GP Partners and Practice Manager

Practice Nurse Line Manager

Hours: 16 hours per week

Shift pattern: 0830-1700, 1000-1830, 1200-2030

Salary: To be negotiated dependent on experience

Job summary

The post holder is responsible for the delivery of practice nursing care to the practice population.

Supported by clinical members 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, promotion and screening activities.

They 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 programs to promote health and well-being, and prevent adverse effects on health and well-being.

Implement and evaluate individual treatment plans and management for patients with a known long-term condition, such as COPD, asthma, diabetes, rheumatology, and heart failure.

Minor illness assessment, advise and management under on call GP supervision

Identify, and manage as appropriate, treatment plans for patients at risk of developing a long-term condition.

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 healthy lifestyles and apply principles of self-care.

Promote and deliver evidence-based care for patients presenting with aural conditions.

Support and manage health needs of women presenting for cervical cytology consultations, contraception advice and reviews.

Assess, plan, and evaluate patients presenting with wounds and leg ulcer management.

Implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programme for both adults and children.

Advise, support and, where appropriate, administer vaccinations for patients travelling abroad.

Recognise, assess and refer patients presenting with mental health needs in accordance with the National Framework (NSF) for Mental Health

Communication

Utilise and demonstrate sensitive communication styles, to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment.

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 regimes.

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 the 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, including allied professionals, such as medical students, trainee doctors, and physician associates.

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 dutie.s

Ensure clear understanding and utilisation of referral mechanisms within the practice.

Accept delegation from other members of the clinical practice team, 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 measures 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.

Learning and development

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.

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.

Equality and diversity

Identify patterns of discrimination, take action to overcome this, and promote diversity and quality of opportunity.

Enable others to promote equality and diversity in a non-discriminatory culture.

Support people who need assistance in exercising their rights.

Monitor and evaluate adherence to local chaperoning policies.

Act as a role model in good practice relating to equality and diversity.

Accept the rights of individuals to choose their care providers participate in care and refuse care. Assist patients from marginalised groups to access quality

Experience

Essential

• Registered Nurse
• Ability to record accurate clinical notes
• Ability to work within own scope of practice and understanding when to refer to GPs
• Ear care irrigation and treatment of infections
• Experience of chronic disease management in any of the following: asthma, COPD and diabetes
• Experience of working in primary care
• Experience of working autonomously
• Experience of infection control
• Immunisations and vaccinations

Desirable

• Anticoagulation monitoring
• Cervical screen taker
• Contraception checks
• Health promotion
• Minor illness
• Minor injuries
• Spirometry
• Wound care

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered General Practice Nurse (degree or diploma)

Desirable

• Chronic disease diploma
• Family planning qualification
• Minor illness qualification
• Nurse prescriber

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• Good communication,
• Team worker,
• Understand the importance of evidence based practice,
• Understand the requirement for PGDs and associated policies,
• Good interpersonal skills,
• Flexible and co-operative,
• Effective time management,
• Punctual.

Desirable

• Experience of using the EMIS clinical system,
• Knowledge of the Quality outcome framework,
• Knowledge of working within a Primary care network.

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).