Practice Nurse (Maternity Cover)

Job responsibilities

Key responsibilities

Clinical practice

Assess, plan, develop, implement and evaluate treatment programmes that promote health and well-being

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

Work with other health care professionals to 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.

Review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, appropriate to patient needs and in accordance with evidence-based practice and national and practice protocols with support from NMP or GP.

Work with patients in order to support adherence to prescribed treatments

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

Support and manage health needs of women presenting for family planning and cervical cytology consultations

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

Implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children

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

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

Meet the needs of patients presenting for opportunistic wound care

Communication

Demonstrate sensitive communication styles to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment

Communicate with and support patients 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

Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication

Estimate and maintain effective communication with individuals and groups within the practice environment and with external stakeholders

Act as an advocate when representing patients and colleagues

Delivering a quality service

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

Evaluation of the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required

Collaborate on improving the quality of health care in partnership with other clinical teams, 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 and review of patient complaints and identify learning from clinical incident and near-miss events.

Assess the impact of policy implementation on care delivery

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 regarding family violence, vulnerable adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour, and refer as appropriate

Leadership - personal and people development

Take responsibility for own development learning and performance including participating in clinical supervision and acting as a positive role model

Support the development of others in order to maximise potential

Actively promote the workplace as a learning environment, encouraging everyone to learn from each other and from external good practice

Encourage others to make realistic self-assessment of their application of knowledge and skills, challenging any complacency and actions that are not in the interest of the public and/or users of services

Act as a clinical leader in the delivery of GPN services to patients, ensuring that the needs of the patient are the priority

Participate in planning and implementing changes within the area of care and responsibility

Contribute and participate in the development of local guidelines, protocols and standards

Ensure awareness of sources of support and guidance (eg PALS), and provide information in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any difficulties and referring where appropriate

Promote the role of the senior GPN in the provision of care

Team working

Understand own role and scope, 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 assessing competence

Ensure clear referral mechanisms are in place to meet patient need

Prioritise own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team

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 and safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines

Ensure safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs.

Oversee the monitoring, stock control and documentation of controlled drug usage according to legal requirements

Support members of the nursing team to undertake mandatory and statutory training requirements

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 healthcare 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 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 the responsibility of self and others regarding the Freedom of Information Act

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

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 the observance of equality and diversity good practice

Accept the rights of individuals to choose their care providers, participate in care and refuse care.

Assist patients from marginalised groups to access quality care

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• Excellent communication skills written and oral
• Strong IT skills
• Clear, polite telephone manner
• Competent in the use of Office and Outlook
• Systmone user skills
• Effective time management (planning and organisation)
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously
• Good interpersonal skills
• Problem solving and analytical skills
• Ability to follow clinical policy and procedure
• 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 onoing professional development
• Effectively utilises resources
• Punctual and committed to supporting the team

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in primary care
• Experience of working as a practice nurse or community nurse
• Experience of infection prevention and control measures
• Experience of chronic disease management

Clinical knowledge and skills

Essential

• Wound care/removal of sutures and staples
• ECGs
• Venepuncture
• Chaperone procedure
• Travel medicine
• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Asthma
• Spirometry
• CHD
• Understanding 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 understand when to refer to GPs
• Understanding of infection prevention and control measures
• Knowledge of health promotion strategies
• Understand the requirement for PGDs and associated policy
• Requesting pathology tests and processing the results, advising patients accordingly
• Immunisations (routine, childhood and travel)
• Women's health (cervical cytology, contraception, etc)

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse

Desirable

• Post graduate diploma or degree Primary Care
• Prescribing Nurse

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).