Job responsibilities
JOB
SUMMARY
To provide specialist palliative nursing care to patients and their
families within a service that works every day and at all hours, by phone, by
visits and advising and teaching others.
CLINICAL
RESPONSIBILITIES
To work within a team
providing specialist palliative care to patients, within a community setting, the
Hospice, and community unit and care homes.
Supporting carers and
other providers delivering care, through the advice line, training and education.
To undertake in-depth
holistic assessments of patients with palliative care needs, regardless of
their diagnosis, and plan care to meet patient outcomes. To provide
information, advice, psychological and spiritual care to patients, their
families and carers, liaising and referring on as necessary to appropriate
healthcare professionals in the Hospice, hospital and community
To visit patients and
families when a specialist consultation is needed or seeing patients in the
Hospice Community Unit when able to travel.
To provide telephonic
support to patients, families and other professionals provided day and night.
To attend and
participate in multi-disciplinary palliative care meetings around patient care
management, and present patients at the community MDT and to the caseload
reviewer.
Provide a rapid
response service for patients needing urgent specialist care. Providing care as
needed such as drugs, position changes and interventions, if appropriate to
improve the comfort of the patient, or advising others to do so
To represent the
Hospice and patients at meetings, as required
To maintain and promote
effective and efficient working and communication with all involved in the
patient, to ensure appropriate sharing of information
To provide support and expertise to other professionals,
as required, acting as a role model and a resource providing expert knowledge
and support.
To comply with relevant drug policies, including
Non-Medical Prescribing and legislation concerning drugs and administration
To attend Gold Standard Framework (GSF) Meetings.
To have an understanding of safeguarding principles
and be able to apply these within everyday practice and intervention/within
your role.
MANAGEMENT
RESPONSIBILITIES
To work with the Head
of Nursing and Team Leaders, to plan and implement change and development
within the Community Team where this would increase effectiveness and
efficiency of practice.
To support the CHCA
service and CHCAs
To work as part of a
team to ensure the priorities of the service are met especially in times of
absences and high demand. To adapt to the pressures of changing demands, day to day
Ensure that the service
is covered if sickness occurs with supervision from a Band 7 or Head of
Nursing.
To
manage patient caseloads, ensuring good communication, planning and reviews.
To participate in education
and training
To maintain patient
statistics, and comprehensive patient records. Making sure that other nurses
are able to carry on with the caseload easily in your absent, when needed
To participate in the development of clinical
standards, research and clinical audit, working within the Clinical Governance
Framework of the Hospice and in palliative care in general.
To record all equipment
loaned out, ensuring records are kept up to date and that equipment is
returned.
To work autonomously
making decisions, but seeking advice from colleagues or/and senior clinical
team, as needed.
PERSONNEL
RESPONSIBILITIES
To participate in
professional staff placements and lay persons to the community service.
To participate in
education and training e.g. syringe drivers
To recognise
indications of staff stress and to facilitate staff support.
EDUCATIONAL
RESPONSIBILITIES
To work with the Head of Nursing and Director of
Care, identifying own educational needs.
To update own
specialist skills and knowledge in cancer and palliative care, through
continuous professional development
To demonstrate a
research-based approach to nursing and work in conjunction with the
multi-professional team towards applying this to practice.
To participate in
internal and external education programmes as required.
To give feedback from
attended education programmes/study days to the multi-professional Team.
To participate in
supervision sessions/peer support, as required.
PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT
To devise a personal
development plan with the Team Leader or Head of Nursing in line with the
Hospice objectives and personal needs.
To maintain and
increase personal, clinical and managerial skills.
ORGANISATIONAL
RESPONSIBILITIES
To work at all times
within the policies and guidelines of the Hospice, participate in the ongoing
review and update of the policies and guidelines within the community team and act
within NMC guidelines at all times.
To ensure effective use
of resources.
To play an active part
in the development and maintenance of good relationships with all who have
business with the Hospice.
To respect at all times
the confidentiality of information covering patients, staff and volunteers.
To promote the Hospice
philosophy of care towards patients, relatives and visitors.
To uphold the Hospice
and individual team values at all times
Because of the special nature of the Hospice
and its work, you may on occasion be asked to undertake other duties to help
maintain our high standard of care.
THIS JOB DESCRIPTION IS NOT NECESSARILY
EXHAUSTIVE AND MAY BE SUBJECT TO REVIEW BY THE HEAD OF NURSING IN CONJUNCTION
WITH THE POST HOLDER.
