Senior Staff Nurse Supportive Care Team (Hospice at Home)

Job responsibilities

Actively engage with primary and community care colleagues to identify those individuals in the last 12 months of life, raise awareness of and access to hospice services, increase opportunities for advance care planning and work to maximise patient independence, self-care and autonomy

Provide responsive assessment and care planning to support early discharge from hospital/hospice and/or prevent avoidable admissions

Build on the assessment and care planning of community nursing providers to enable patients to remain in their preferred place of care/death

Effectively manage risk on a planned and responsive basis, escalating urgent/emergency situations as they arise

Work in collaboration with those involved in a persons care including family/informal carers, to prevent crisis development and enable the person to remain in their own home in keeping with individual preferences and where admission avoidance is possible

Deliver high quality person-centred care for those referred to the service with palliative/end of life care needs

Provide support and supervision for the work/development of team members including for example Health Care Assistants, volunteers and those on placement including student nurses

Ensure medicines are managed and administered in accordance with all internal policies, standard operating procedures and legislation related to the management of controlled drugs

Ensure that patient records are completed accurately and in-line with hospice policy and professional standards

Establish and maintain effective communications and working relationships with the multi-professional/multi-agency team

Verify death for patients on the caseload, following procedures and best practice guidance for care after death and liaising with families, carers and others involved in care as appropriate

Contribute and/or lead on the provision of education/development opportunities within own area of knowledge and training

Knowledge

Essential

• K1 Care Planning process including assessment and
• evaluation of care
• K2 Current best practice/developments in nursing

Desirable

• K3 Advance Care Planning
• K4 Current thinking and approaches to Care outside
• Hospital

Skills

Essential

• S1 Well developed communication skills to enable
• effective communication with patients,
• colleagues and a wide range of partners in care
• S2 Solution focused approach to problems/risk
• S4 Sensitive and responsive to patient/carer need
• S5 Ability to identify and respond flexibly to
• changing priorities
• S6 Effective organisation and negotiation ability
• S7 IT skills including inputting to clinical records
• systems
• S8 Full UK driving with business class insurance and
• access to a vehicle for work purposes

Personal Attributes

Essential

• PA1 Able to work independently while recognising
• and valuing the contributions of colleagues,
• formal and informal carers and wider MDT
• PA2 Commitment to an enabling/empowering and
• non-discriminatory approach to patient care
• PA3 Able to contribute to a 7 day rota including
• weekends and Bank Holidays
• PA4 Good attendance record with a flexible
• approach to meet service need
• PA5 Ability to engage in clinical interventions that
• may include moving and handling people and/or
• equipment

Experience

Essential

• E1 Working with adults with life limiting illness
• E5 Multi-disciplinary / multi agency working

Desirable

• E2 Palliative/end of life care experience
• E4 Community / home based nursing

Qualifications

Essential

• Q1 1st Level Registered Nurse (Adults)
• Q2 Evidence of professional development
• Q3 Palliative care qualification/willing to undertake

Desirable

• Q4 Community Practitioner Nurse Prescribing
• Q5 Mentorship or equivalent

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).