Practice Nurse to cover for Maternity leave

Job responsibilities

To work as part of the primary healthcare/nursing team with  responsibility for ensuring the delivery of safe and effective nursing care to the whole practice population. The focus of the role is the delivery of evidence based practice for patients with long term conditions and management and preventative nursing interventions, delivering this care to patients in a range of clinics offering alternative appointments and times.

The following are the core responsibilities of the practice nurse. 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 well-being programmes

Implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for chronic disease patients

Identify, manage and support patients as risk of developing long-term conditions, preventing adverse effects on the patients health

Provide routine nursing care to patients as required in accordance with clinical based evidence, NICE and the NSF

Provide travel medicine services

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

Maintain chronic disease registers

Prioritise health issues and intervene appropriately

Support the team in dealing with clinical emergencies

Implement vaccination programmes for adults and children

Support patients in the use of their prescribed medicines or over the counter medicines (within own scope of practice)

Liaise with external services / agencies to ensure the patient is supported appropriately (vulnerable patients etc.)

Support the clinical team with all safeguarding matters, in accordance with local and national policies

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

Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the NMC

Deliver opportunistic health promotion where appropriate

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse
• Experience of working as a practice nurse or community nurse
• Experience of chronic disease management

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Understands the importance of evidence based practice
• Broad knowledge of clinical governance
• Ability to record accurate clinical notes
• Ability to work within own scope of practice and understanding when to refer to GPs
• Knowledge of public health issues in the local area
• Awareness of issues within the wider health arena
• Knowledge of health promotion strategies
• Understands the requirement for PGDs and associated policy
• Skills
• Excellent communication skills (written and oral)
• Strong IT skills
• Clear, polite telephone manner
• Competent in the use of Office and Outlook
• EMIS user skills
• Effective time management (Planning & Organising)
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously
• Good interpersonal skills
• Problem solving & analytical skills
• Ability to follow clinical policy and procedure
• Experience with audit and able to lead audit programmes
• Experience with clinical risk management

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Polite and confident
• Flexible and cooperative
• Motivated, forward thinker
• Problem solver with the ability to process information accurately and effectively, interpreting data as required
• High levels of integrity and loyalty
• Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations
• Ability to work under pressure / in stressful situations
• Effectively able to communicate and understand the needs of the patient
• Commitment to ongoing professional development
• Effectively utilises resources
• Punctual and committed to supporting the team effort
• Other requirements
• Flexibility to work outside of core office hours
• Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check
• Occupational Health Clearance

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrate an understanding of the role of the Practice Nurse.
• Experience of chronic disease and health promotion.
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary environment with a wide range of individuals at different levels.
• Experience of developing relationships with external agencies and organisations.
• Experience of working across organisational boundaries within health or social care.

Desirable

• Recent experience in primary and/or community nursing.

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).