Clinical Nurse Specialist

Job responsibilities

To provide specialist support for patients and their families, ensuring their physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual needs are identified and met.

To act as a role model as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, demonstrating high standards of holistic care and providing evidence based clinical leadership within the speciality.

To lead on complex communication issues and co-ordinate the patients pathway ensuring all patients have a named point of contact within the Upper GI nursing team. Demonstrate exceptional communication skills when discussing diagnosis and prognosis with patients and be confident when dealing with difficult or challenging situations.

To demonstrate advanced practice in planning, implementing and evaluating nursing care, documenting the outcomes of consultations in the hospital notes and /or on the Somerset database. Ensure patients are well informed at all stages of the pathway.

To attend the weekly cancer multidisciplinary team meeting, contributing to the discussion, providing expert nursing opinion and advocating for the patients.

To contribute to collaborative working relationships and effective communication between all members of the Upper GI cancer multidisciplinary team and other healthcare professionals. Develop an in-depth knowledge of the local and regional pathways for patients with HPB cancer, including knowledge of key contact points for referral and advice.

Demonstrate an ability to work across organisational and professional boundaries.

To implement all elements of personalised care and support across the HPB cancer pathway; to include comprehensive holistic assessment of patients needs (HNA) at key stages and agreeing plans of care in consultation with the patient/family, ensuring a written copy is available for the patient.

Support the generation of an End of Treatment Summary for patients following each modality of treatment, ensuring their ongoing needs are identified and addressed.

To demonstrate an awareness of any clinical trials available for HPB cancer patients.

To screen patients for psychological distress and provide Level 2 psychological support for patients and their carers. Signpost them as needed to additional sources of support.

Refer patients with complex psychological needs to the Macmillan Clinical Psychologist.

To identify and meet patient/carers specialist information needs utilising the local Macmillan Information Centre.

To support the development of patient focused education, including personalised support and advice to enable them to cope with the ongoing consequences of their diagnosis. Refer patients to the dedicated Cancer You Tube Channel to access self-management strategies, if appropriate.

To lead the development of specialist Health & Wellbeing events for patients living with HPB cancer, ensuring they are tailored to meet individual needs.

To identify and address the palliative care needs of patients and their families, referring patients with complex needs to the Specialist Palliative Care Team

To use advance communication skills to support patients in the development of an Advance Care Plan at the appropriate point of their journey to identify their preferences and wishes, supporting them to communicate this information to key people and ensuring they have the opportunity to discuss all aspects of their care.

To oversee proactive telephone support for patients in the palliative stage of their disease, supporting team members to identify new or progressive symptoms and provide specialist advice and support when said issues are escalated.

To review inpatients admitted with complications related to their disease/treatment, influencing management options and liaising with professionals across primary and secondary care to ensure safe effective discharge from hospital.

To identify AMBER patients and work with the multidisciplinary team to agree ceiling of intervention, ensuring patients and carers are part of this process, as appropriate.

To be actively involved in the self-assessment of the service against National Quality Standards related to UGI HPB cancer, taking an active part in the NHS England Quality Surveillance Program.

To ensure the specialist nursing service is developed in line with National Directives related to cancer care. This may include contributions to policies and clinical guidelines.

To initiate and be actively involved in service evaluation and audit. This will include the gathering of feedback from patient surveys and regular overview of service activity data. This will underpin decisions to drive innovation and implement change in order to enhance patient experience.

To participate in service reviews as required, completing a SWAT analysis to highlight the effectiveness/challenges of the nurse specialist service. Contribute to decisions about solutions to any issues identified, including the identification of areas of practice that need developing to promote optimal care and the best outcomes for patients.

To contribute to decisions regarding regional service delivery through participation in local, regional and national meetings.

To support the development of all members of the team, contributing to the appraisal process and objective setting, where appropriate.

To engage in the formal annual appraisal process and plan future professional development and competencies to be achieved in order to work in a specialist role. Take appropriate action to ensure that these are met.

Actively engage with the learning and development opportunities offered by Macmillan.

To adhere to the NMC Code of Professional Conduct and other national regulations.

To maintain a personal professional profile, demonstrating clear evidence for nursing revalidation

Educations, Training and Qualifications

Essential

• RN Level 1
• Relevant Master's Degree or equivalent level of education, training or experience.
• Fundamentals of Cancer Care module post graduate level or equivalent level of education or training
• Trained to provide Level 2 Psychological Support
• Advanced communication skills training or equivalent level of education or training
• Rosalind Franklin Leadership program or equivalent level of education or training
• Registered independent nurse prescriber or willingness to undertake

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• In-depth knowledge and experience in caring for patients living with Upper GI/HPB cancer
• In-depth knowledge and experience in implementing the core domains of personalised care
• Experience of multi-professional working
• Leadership & Management
• Knowledge of the National Frameworks related to cancer care
• Experience of leading research/audit
• Understanding of Macmillan Cancer Support and its role across the UK

Desirable

• Previous experience of working as a Clinical Nurse Specialist

Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication skills
• Advanced Assessment Skills
• Ability to work autonomously & as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Effective organisation and time management skills
• Ability to exercise initiative & implement change
• Problem solving skills
• Effective negotiation and interpersonal skills
• Analytical and IT skills
• Ability to develop policies, protocols & guidelines

Desirable

• Effective report writing skills

Key Competencies/Personal Qualities and Attributes

Essential

• Passionate and committed to bring our Dedicated to Excellence values to life, improving the way we work with each other, particularly focusing on empowerment, equality diversity and inclusion of our staff, patients and service users
• Diplomatic, calm & objective
• Assertive and confident, yet approachable
• Innovative, flexible, enthusiastic & motivated

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).