Job summary
Are you a Registered Nurse seeking a truly
rewarding role where your skills and compassion make a real difference?
At St Nicholas Hospice Care, we believe in
giving our team the time and space to deliver outstanding, person-centred care.
Our nurse to patient ratio ensures you can focus on what matters most:
supporting patients and families with dignity and compassion.
Main duties of the job
- The provision of specialist palliative and end of life nursing care, primarily on Sylvan Ward.
- The delivery of a holistic model of care, which supports the psychological, emotional, social
and spiritual needs of the patient.
- Participation in the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of person-centred nursing care for patients.
- Awareness of the importance of supporting family members through periods of death,
dying and bereavement.
- Working effectively with MDT colleagues, delegating duties according to the skills and
knowledge of junior team members.
- To actively support and model the SNHC Values: Compassion, Accountability, Respect,
Equity
About us
St Nicholas Hospice Care is a successful charity
serving the local area of West Suffolk and Thetford. Every year we support
nearly 2,000 local people, delivering care across multiple settings. Our
services are not just for patients, but for their family and friends too, and
include everything from specialist medical care to bereavement support and
practical help.
Outstanding Benefits
- Free onsite parking (guaranteed
space)
- 25 days paid annual leave
(increasing with service)
- Excellent training and
development opportunities
- NHS pension continuation or
access to a group pension scheme
- Home-made meals in our onsite
bistro
- Life assurance
- Blue Light Card scheme
discounts
- Health Cash Plan &
Wellbeing programme (dentistry, optical, emotional wellbeing support)
- Enhanced Occupational Sick Pay
- Social events (photography
group, quiz nights, picnics, and more)
- Supportive management with
regular 1:1s, appraisals, team meetings, and away days
- Unsocial hours uplift of up to
60% for some shifts
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical Care
- Plan and provide direct nursing care for patients on Sylvan Ward, ensuring that
interventions are based upon assessment and evaluation
- Demonstrate sound clinical competencies, skills and knowledge in relation to specialist
palliative and end of life care
- Ensure that clinical quality is evident within care delivery, by adhering to evidence based
interventions, working to SNHC clinical guidelines and best practice
- Provide clinical support and advice by telephone, during out of hours periods, acting within
the limits of own expertise and experience and signposting for advice, as required
- Working with MDT colleagues, develop plans of care to support patient discharge
- Effectively delegate care within the scope of expertise of MDT colleagues and with an
understanding of registered nurse accountability
- Promote patient safety with the use of dynamic risk assessment, mitigating identified risk
and escalating this as appropriate
- Support and promote patient autonomy by working in partnership to agree care needs and
treatment plans, with an awareness of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
- Demonstrate collaborative working by seeking the support of internal and external clinical
expertise, as appropriate
- Maintain accurate and timely patient documentation at all times.
Demonstrate a compassionate and values-led approach to care delivery and MDT
interactions, at all times
- Demonstrate high level communication skills, recognising the impact of loss, grief and
bereavement upon the patient and their family, utilising the skills across the MDT to support
these
- Communicate effectively with all members of the multi-disciplinary team
- Demonstrate an awareness of risk and ability to act upon this by managing this and
reporting, as appropriate
- Ensure awareness of clinical risk management processes, including the use of RADAR to
log incidents for investigation
Leadership and management
- Act as a professional role model at all times
- Actively participate in the professional development of colleagues and learning, via
mentorship and clinical assessor programmes
- Utilise opportunities to share clinical expertise, knowledge and skills with colleagues and
learners, both formal and informal
- Act as a Shift Co-ordinator to direct clinical care and support operational decision-making
such as planning patient admissions and supporting discharges
- Undertake line management duties for a small number of staff in junior posts
- Utilise opportunities to formally extend and share knowledge by engaging in Link Nurse
activities
- Actively participate in processes which support improvement programmes, including clinical
governance and quality improvement activities, such as audit
- Demonstrate willingness to participate in initiatives which support team working and
resilience, such as reflective practice and group supervision
Professional Development
- Consider learning and development needs and participate in opportunities to support these
- Demonstrate willingness to participate in initiatives which support own practice and
wellbeing, such as clinical supervision and reflective practice
- Undertake any reasonable additional responsibilities which enhance own learning and
practice, and which support the clinical team and patient care
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical Care
- Plan and provide direct nursing care for patients on Sylvan Ward, ensuring that
interventions are based upon assessment and evaluation
- Demonstrate sound clinical competencies, skills and knowledge in relation to specialist
palliative and end of life care
- Ensure that clinical quality is evident within care delivery, by adhering to evidence based
interventions, working to SNHC clinical guidelines and best practice
- Provide clinical support and advice by telephone, during out of hours periods, acting within
the limits of own expertise and experience and signposting for advice, as required
- Working with MDT colleagues, develop plans of care to support patient discharge
- Effectively delegate care within the scope of expertise of MDT colleagues and with an
understanding of registered nurse accountability
- Promote patient safety with the use of dynamic risk assessment, mitigating identified risk
and escalating this as appropriate
- Support and promote patient autonomy by working in partnership to agree care needs and
treatment plans, with an awareness of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
- Demonstrate collaborative working by seeking the support of internal and external clinical
expertise, as appropriate
- Maintain accurate and timely patient documentation at all times.
Demonstrate a compassionate and values-led approach to care delivery and MDT
interactions, at all times
- Demonstrate high level communication skills, recognising the impact of loss, grief and
bereavement upon the patient and their family, utilising the skills across the MDT to support
these
- Communicate effectively with all members of the multi-disciplinary team
- Demonstrate an awareness of risk and ability to act upon this by managing this and
reporting, as appropriate
- Ensure awareness of clinical risk management processes, including the use of RADAR to
log incidents for investigation
Leadership and management
- Act as a professional role model at all times
- Actively participate in the professional development of colleagues and learning, via
mentorship and clinical assessor programmes
- Utilise opportunities to share clinical expertise, knowledge and skills with colleagues and
learners, both formal and informal
- Act as a Shift Co-ordinator to direct clinical care and support operational decision-making
such as planning patient admissions and supporting discharges
- Undertake line management duties for a small number of staff in junior posts
- Utilise opportunities to formally extend and share knowledge by engaging in Link Nurse
activities
- Actively participate in processes which support improvement programmes, including clinical
governance and quality improvement activities, such as audit
- Demonstrate willingness to participate in initiatives which support team working and
resilience, such as reflective practice and group supervision
Professional Development
- Consider learning and development needs and participate in opportunities to support these
- Demonstrate willingness to participate in initiatives which support own practice and
wellbeing, such as clinical supervision and reflective practice
- Undertake any reasonable additional responsibilities which enhance own learning and
practice, and which support the clinical team and patient care
Person Specification
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Excellent communication skills
- Awareness of the principles of palliative care and a commitment to work towards these
- Awareness of the principles of safe use of medication, including the management of controlled drugs
- Understanding and awareness of safeguarding principles
- Proven ability to support team members at all levels
- Ability to recognise and learn from mistake
- An open approach to learning and development
- Willingness to challenge poor practice
- Understanding of the value and importance of volunteers
- Contemporary evidence-based clinical skills and knowledge
- Willingness to extend own practice by learning
- Ability to remain calm during times of heightened emotions and use skills to de-escalate these situations
- Willingness to learn skills which support a one team approach to care, to support business continuity
- Working with staff across organisational and professional boundaries
- IT literate, including Outlook emails, iRota and electronic patient records (SystmOne)
- Good understanding of high quality care
- Ability to problem solve to support clinical and organisational need
- Ability to work full roster (including unsocial hours)
- Robust understanding of equity, diversity and inclusion, recognising the needs of others without judgement or prejudice
Experience
Essential
- Able to demonstrate commitment to continuing professional and
- development.
- Enthusiasm for specialist palliative care
Desirable
- Clinical experience and experience of palliative care
- Good knowledge of palliative care theory and practice
Qualifications
Essential
- Adult Registered Nurse (Active NMC registrant)
- Relevant Diploma or Degree in Nursing
Desirable
- A qualification in palliative care or long term conditions, or willingness
- to work towards this
- Teaching and Assessing qualification (ENB 998, Practice Assessor, or
- similar)
Person Specification
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Excellent communication skills
- Awareness of the principles of palliative care and a commitment to work towards these
- Awareness of the principles of safe use of medication, including the management of controlled drugs
- Understanding and awareness of safeguarding principles
- Proven ability to support team members at all levels
- Ability to recognise and learn from mistake
- An open approach to learning and development
- Willingness to challenge poor practice
- Understanding of the value and importance of volunteers
- Contemporary evidence-based clinical skills and knowledge
- Willingness to extend own practice by learning
- Ability to remain calm during times of heightened emotions and use skills to de-escalate these situations
- Willingness to learn skills which support a one team approach to care, to support business continuity
- Working with staff across organisational and professional boundaries
- IT literate, including Outlook emails, iRota and electronic patient records (SystmOne)
- Good understanding of high quality care
- Ability to problem solve to support clinical and organisational need
- Ability to work full roster (including unsocial hours)
- Robust understanding of equity, diversity and inclusion, recognising the needs of others without judgement or prejudice
Experience
Essential
- Able to demonstrate commitment to continuing professional and
- development.
- Enthusiasm for specialist palliative care
Desirable
- Clinical experience and experience of palliative care
- Good knowledge of palliative care theory and practice
Qualifications
Essential
- Adult Registered Nurse (Active NMC registrant)
- Relevant Diploma or Degree in Nursing
Desirable
- A qualification in palliative care or long term conditions, or willingness
- to work towards this
- Teaching and Assessing qualification (ENB 998, Practice Assessor, or
- similar)
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).
Additional information
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).
