Job responsibilities
Clinical practice
Autonomously diagnose, monitor, manage and treat Acute, non-acute and long-term conditions for presenting patients, including (as appropriate) history taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of care, utilising the current evidence base and referring to current national and local guidelines, whilst working within scope of professional practice and referring to colleagues where appropriate.
Proactively identify, diagnose and manage treatment plans for patients at risk of developing a long-term condition and those on the frailty list
Review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, appropriate to patient needs and in accordance with evidence-based practice, taking account of national, local and practice guidelines.
Initiate and interpret investigations as appropriate for individual patients and within the scope of professional practice, taking account of national and local guidance.
Work with patients to support adherence to prescribed treatments
Exercise prescribing rights within the clinical role in accordance with current prescribing legislation and NMC guidance.
Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care
Directly admit patients to secondary care hospital in acute medical need.
Refer patients as appropriate to other members of the MDT, secondary care, and to other statutory and voluntary organisations including referral for x-ray.
Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies and apply principles of self-care
Support and manage health needs of women presenting for family planning and cervical cytology consultations
Where appropriate, implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children
Advise, support and, where appropriate, administer vaccinations for patients travelling abroad
Take responsibility for achieving maximum targets for GMS contract within specified areas.
Communication
Demonstrate sensitive communication styles to ensure patients and carers are fully informed and consent to treatment, using alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding and cultural background etc.
Uses developed communication, negotiation conflict management skills which require empathy, reassurance and persuasive skills where there can be significant barriers to acceptance which need to be overcome.
Develops and delivers presentations to all members and levels of MDT both within the practice and to the wider CCG/regional/national community promoting good practice and innovation.
Establish and maintain effective communication within the practice environment and with external stakeholders
Lead and participate in practice team meetings as required by the lead nurse.
Acts as an advocate for patients, carers and services.
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 and co-ordinate others workload in a manner that maintains service delivery and promotes quality
Deliver care as an individual and team according to national, local and quality guidelines using evidence-based care, utilising experience, expertise, critical thinking, judgement and discretion in clinical decision making.
Assess effectiveness of care delivery for the nursing team through peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation
Implement and review the application of evidence-based practice in nursing
Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required
Co-ordinate the quality agenda in responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate
Evaluate patients response to nursing care provision and the effectiveness of care
Participate and lead where appropriate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation
Assess the impact of policy implementation on care delivery
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
Interpret national strategies and policies into local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice
Leadership personal and people development
Role models standards of care and behaviour through clinical practice.
Take responsibility for own development, learning and performance, maintaining a portfolio to demonstrate competence in line with the re-validation process.
Understand own role and scope within the organisation and identify how this may develop over time.
Support the development of nursing team
Identify gaps in service provision and work with the MDT to develop and implement changes to needed to improve service provision, as agreed with the management team.
Participate and co-ordinate where appropriate the planning and implementation of changes within the area of care and responsibility including the development of local guidelines, protocols and standards
Participate in weekly nursing team meetings and practice meetings as appropriate.
Oversee and assist in the development of nursing practice protocols and guidelines for chronic disease areas in line with the needs of the practice, taking into account national and local guidance.
Operates high standards of Probity.
Team working
Work with the Nurse Manager in supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working
Delegate appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence of nurses
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 nursing team activities that create opportunities to improve patient care, and lead as requested.
Management of risk
Manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures or processes are in place to protect staff and patients
Ensure the safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs.
Act as a role model and undertake mandatory and statutory training requirements
Ensure infection-control measures within the practice meet local and national guidelines
Utilising information
Use technology and appropriate software packages as an aid to the planning, implementation and monitoring of care, presenting and communicating information
Review and process data using accurate Read codes in order to ensure easy and accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes
Understand the responsibility of self and others regarding the Freedom of Information Act
Collate, analyse and present clinical data and information to the team using appropriate charts and/or graphs with the aim of enhancing care.
Work within and to information governance standards
Learning and development
Act as mentor/preceptor and resource for all nursing and support staff as appropriate to the role.
Provide educational and training opportunities to pre-registration nursing students to ensure placements satisfy the relevant elements of their learning agreement.
Disseminate learning and information to other team members in order to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments (e.g. courses and conferences)
Assess own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate to fulfil the role including x-ray training as required by hospital trust.
Provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning
Research and Development
Evaluate clinical practice through audit of service, developing and managing strategies to address any shortfalls.
Involvement in research/evaluation and/or development work which may be as part of proposals lead by the post-holder, the nursing team or as part of other members of the MDTs work.
Implement research findings as appropriate to practice.
Equality and diversity
Promote diversity and equality of opportunity
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
Other
Respond to critical alert messages where appropriate.
Give good and regular attendance
Maintain a tidy and organised workspace.
Attend practice based and external meetings as appropriate to the job and to facilitate professional development
Work to practice non-clinical staffing policies and procedures
Provide a chaperoning service if requested.
If the practice opts to provide early morning, evening, week end sessions or similar, the post holder will be expected to participate either within contracted hours, or as additional paid hours/time in lieu (at the practices discretion)