General Practice Nurse

Job responsibilities

Job Summary

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

The focus of the role is the provision of primary and secondary prevention of disease and health promotion through delivery of evidence-based practice for patients.

The General Practice Nurse is responsible for the care they deliver and must demonstrate critical thinking skills in clinical decision-making in the management of patients. They will work collaboratively within the general practice team to meet the needs of all patients, support the delivery of policy and procedures, and provide nurse leadership as required.

The General Practice Nurse provides primary care nursing support, patient interventions and treatment within the practice and from time to time in patient's homes or elsewhere as required. The General Practice Nurse will also be required to fulfil a variety of additional roles that occur from time to time. As part of the General Practice team, the General Practice Nurse must work within their scope of practice and be responsible for providing patient-centred, culturally appropriate and individual holistic care to patients.

The General Practice Nurse will work closely with GPs and other practice team members to provide efficient, effective professional nursing services.

Job Purpose

To provide high quality care and services based on the needs of the practice population. Working with colleagues (in a multidisciplinary team) within the practice, you will deliver care within the boundaries of your role and competence, focusing upon supporting patients to be healthy, monitoring of long-term conditions, health promotion and screening activities. You will work collaboratively with the general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the production of and adherence to policy and procedures. You will work collaboratively with the practice team to deliver on specific City and Hackney practice contract requirements, designed to offer patients a broader range of services delivered in primary care and improve health outcomes.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical Practice

Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that encourage patients to live healthily, and apply principles of self-care;

Assess, plan, implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for patients with a known long-term condition;

Proactively identify, diagnose and manage treatment plans for patients at risk of developing a long-term condition as appropriate;

Work with other health care professionals to diagnose, monitor, manage and treat long-term conditions, including non-drug-based treatment methods using a management plan, and in line with national and local policies and practice needs;

Work with patients in order to support adherence to prescribed treatments;

Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side-effects and interactions;

Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care;

Support and manage health needs of patients for family planning, reproduction and sexual health needs, including sign posting to abortion services where requested. Cervical sample taking;

Recognise, assess, support and refer patients presenting with mental health needs in accordance with local policy and individual nurse competences;

Take a lead role in ensuring the delivery of contracts, managed through City and Hackney GP Confederation, designed offer a broader range of services in primary care and improve health outcomes.

Implement and participate in national vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children. Provide travel advice and appropriate vaccinations within the remit of travel vaccination provision, with the addition of yellow fever vaccination, if at a designated yellow fever centre;

Meet the needs of patients presenting for opportunistic wound care;

Urgent treatment (including resuscitation, stabilisation and assisting with assessment as necessary)

Assessment of the urgency and severity of presenting problems by history taking and examination before referral to the appropriate clinician or service. Assessment may be by telephone or face to face;

Follow-up of patient test results and communication with patients where appropriate;

Undertaking treatment options and carrying out appropriate procedures and clinical interventions including but not limited to counselling, advising and the provision of information;

Set up and assistance with minor surgery and other procedures;

Health Screening for at -risk patients and patients new to the practice including CVD risk and infection disease screening;

Acting as a chaperone as required;

Home visits where required.

Maintaining and Improving Health

Provide timely clinical and culturally appropriate health services through

Ongoing health education and advice, including counselling to improve health and prevent disease;

Use of recall and reminder systems and, as appropriate, referral to national screening programmes.

Education to assist patients to reduce or change risky and harmful lifestyle behaviour.

Delivery of immunisation programmes;

Working with public health providers in the prevention and control of communicable diseases for individuals and families and reporting to relevant public health providers;

Ongoing care and support for people with chronic and terminal conditions;

Health promotion to the practices' enrolled and local population, linking to public health programmes at a local, regional and national level, and where appropriate, using such programmes to target specific populations.

Co-ordination of Care

Provide a general interface between the patient and other services that may be required to assist their well-being or recovery, including:

Co-ordinating an individuals rehabilitation process and participating where appropriate in provision of recovery oriented services;

The development of collaborative working relationships with community health services and relevant non-health agencies;

Acting as an advocate on behalf of patients with external agencies.

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, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating, negotiating appropriate adjustments where appropriate;

Utilise communication skills to support patients to adhere to prescribed treatment regimens;

Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication;

Act as an advocate when representing the patients and colleagues viewpoints to others.

Administration

To maintain accurate patient records and enter onto the computer using agreed SNOMED codes;

Ensure accurate completion of all documentation associated with patient care;

To collect data and participate in regular practice audit and research projects;

To contribute to any practice development plans.

To work with the team to review practice performance and activity from available EMIS searches and Clinical Effectiveness Groups (CEG) dashboard data to help prioritise areas of work and agree actions to achieve targets.

General

To maintain own annual registration with the NMC and professional indemnity and adhere to The Code: Professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives and nursing associates;

To maintain a safe and therapeutic environment for all Primary Health Care Team staff, patients, carers and co-workers from other agencies;

Ensure all statutory regulations (e.g. Health & Safety, COSHH, etc.) are implemented and adhered to;

To promote a professional approach at all times by attire and attitude to patients and staff both in and out of the Practice;

To maintain own continuous professional development and ensure PDP kept up-to-date through annual appraisal in line with the requirements of the Practice;

Attend and participate in staff and Practice meetings and in-house clinical training sessions.

The above is only an outline of the tasks and outcomes required of the role. This may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the organisation.

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council
• Registered Nurse Part 1,2,12
• Thorough and up-to-date knowledge of nursing theory and best practice at the level of a newly qualified nurse.
• Understanding of equality & diversity and how to apply it to
• Understanding of NMC Code of Practice and requirements of it for own practice & behaviour.
• Knowledge of primary health care and General Practice.
• Knowledge of the role of General Practice Nurse
• To have gained effective experience and skills from primary care or community student placements
• Motivated, and able to articulate reasons for desire to work in this clinical area.
• Demonstrates effective nursing practice in all basic registered nurse procedures.
• Demonstrates an empathetic and caring approach to patients and relatives and ensure that patients dignity & respect is maintained at all times.
• Demonstrates awareness of importance of working as part of a team.
• Communication Skills; both written and verbal.
• IT skills To be proficient in using Microsoft packages and GP practice IT systems (e.g. EMIS)
• Self-directed practitioner
• Highly motivated
• Flexibility
• Enthusiasm
• Team player
• A willingness to work under supervision/ training and assessment in the general practice setting.
• Positive attitude, ability to gain trust and support with patients, carers and work colleagues.
• Own professional indemnity
• Self-directed practitioner
• Highly motivated
• Flexibility
• Enthusiasm
• Team player

Desirable

• Relevant nursing/health degree
• Ability to identify social determinants of 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
• Demonstrates awareness of importance of working as part of a team.
• Able to work under own initiative within boundaries of role.

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).