Job responsibilities
Job purpose
1. Provide transformational leadership by facilitating all specialities in their portfolio to follow the Pathway to Excellence principles and in turn deliver structural empowerment, continual exemplary professional practice along with innovation & improvements.
2. To work in alignment with the Matron handbook (NHS England and NHS improvement 2020) ensuring focus on all elements outlined in this document https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Matrons_Handbook.pdf
3. To provide compassionate leadership through being visible, accessible, authoritative and influential. They will be a presence to who staff, patients, families and carers can rely, to ensure the fundamentals of care are delivered effectively and efficiently.
4. To promote a workforce environment where staff feel they are autonomous, in control with a sense of belonging as well as the competence to deliver safe and quality clinical care.
5. Provide professional and inclusive leadership to nurses, midwives and ward managers, acting as a role model within the Division and the Trust ensuring that competence in managerial and clinical practice is both developed and maintained as well as offering opportunities to all.
6. Provide assurance to the Divisional Director of Quality and Nursing that there is continuous quality improvement (QI) in the delivery of clinical services and are tailored to the needs of the patients using digital information and systems to develop care delivery.
7. Provide clear clinical leadership for nursing and take responsibility and accountability for specific clinical services, wards and departments within the Division of Medicine and wider Trust including safe staffing levels and an overall workforce to deliver care 24/7.
8. Support the development of advanced health care practice skills in all aspects of the role.
9. Work in partnership and collaboration with other Matrons and General Managers within the Division, leading on clinical governance and risk agendas for specific services, ensuring dovetailing of strategic and operational roles and responsibilities.
10. Provide nursing leadership, set and maintain professional nursing standards, provide professional nursing advice and direction to the Specialty Director, General Manager and to other colleagues within their Division. The Matron will be professionally and managerially responsible for the named ward/department sisters/charge nurses.
KEY RESULT AREAS
Patient care
1. Demonstrate and promote a patient and family centred style of clinical practice that works to go above and beyond to deliver continual outstanding patient care.
2. To use best evidence, clinical reasoning skills and techniques to assess, plan, implement and evaluate patient care and progress. This will include patients with diverse or complex presentations/multi-pathologies in individual or group therapy sessions.
3. Manage operational and strategic issues together with direct care nursing staff relating to length of hospital stay, reducing bed days and facilitating timely discharge and pathways of care. Participate in supporting ward teams with complex Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meetings to aid effective patient care, which will include taking an active role in team meetings, case conferences and specialist interest group meetings.
4. Plan and ensure service delivery is safe in any event. This includes working through emergency planning and resilience, fire and security as well as managing violence and aggression. In turn respond to emergency situations with composure, maintaining patient safety and seeking immediate support, supporting the patient, family and other staff as required.
5. To communicate effectively with patients and carers any potentially complex, sensitive or distressing information; in order to provide and promote patient centred care. Patients may have communication, perceptual or cognitive/understanding difficulties. To be the person who makes a distressing situation that bit easier.
6. To maintain clear, accurate and concise patient records through the use of our digital Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system and in line with departmental and professional standards and include relevant outcome measures. This will include contributing to complaint responses.
7. Maintain patient dignity and confidentiality at all times including working within information governance principles.
Professional practice, goverance and patient safety
1. Act as an expert professional clinical resource within the areas of responsibility utilising highly specialist knowledge, underpinned by theory and practice experience.
2. Deliver the outcomes and measures for patient safety as identified in the Trusts various strategies and overall Quality Account.
3. Support the utilisation of digital platforms to plan, improve data awareness, patient safety and accurate record keeping as well as using data from these systems to inform our decisions and assurance.
4. Lead on and facilitate complex care, discharge or patient care issues or complaints using analytical skills to problem solve and find solutions to ensure best practice and best patient care outcomes are achieved. To ensure that services are continually developed and reviewed. This will include meeting with patients and their representatives to manage and resolve complaint issues.
5. Be responsible for ensuring compliance with all NMC/HCPC professional codes both personally and for nursing teams.
6. Lead, inspire and co-ordinate by motivation, the development and implementation of nursing and midwifery care standards, encompassing the Essence of Care philosophy, against recognised best practice, facilitating continuous review, benchmarking and improvement.
7. Act as a high-profile role model for nurses within areas of responsibly, accountability and authority, promoting and demonstrating the standards of care expected. Challenge, influence and develop nursing teams utilising shared governance to continuously improve standards. To meet the current agendas e.g., Care Quality Commission, and national legislation.
8. Provide an integral role to ensure the management and prevention of hospital-acquired infection in liaison with Infection Control Team and governmental standards. But also work in innovative and proactive ways to prevent infection.
9. Ensure clinical governance agenda encompasses continual quality improvement that focuses on reducing risk and developing efficiency and quality in care. Focusing on Patient Safety, Patient Experience & Clinical Outcomes/Effectiveness.
10. Protect and enhance the Trust high standard of reputation within the local community. This will involve the investigation and resolution of detailed and complex patient complaints as well as supporting Senior Sisters / Charge Nurses with the timely resolution of complaints at a local level as appropriate.
11. Ensure a smart, professional image that enhances the public perception of the Trust and the professionalism of its staff is portrayed.
Leadership, professional standards and accountability
1. Be the moral compass to ensure that nursing is always ensuring equality, diversity, inclusion and opportunities for both patients and staff. This includes ensuring access to services, promotions and development opportunities.
2. Set and maintain professional standards, ensuring staff within the Matrons sphere of responsibility maintain their professional standards in accordance with the Nursing & Midwifery Code: Standards, Performance and Ethics.
3. Provide clear vision and motivation, by utilising enhanced leadership and communication skills, ensuring that nursing teams and individuals have clear objectives for developing nursing care provision in line with national and local objectives.
4. Lead and support ward, departmental nursing teams through the processes of change and service development to promote safe, enhanced care and service delivery.
5. Provide nursing staff with the opportunity to have autonomy to build on good work, strengthen areas of weakness and take up new challenges, identifying role and career development opportunities and incorporating succession planning and talent management.
6. Be a transformational leader and promote and represent nursing at a local and corporate level if required. While working to ensure nursing has a sustainable workforce of the future.
7. Comply with practice related regulatory measures e.g. Hygiene Code, NHSLA Standards, Mental Capacity Act, Mental Health Act and NICE Guidance.
8. Manage and be responsible for multiple budgets (pay and non-pay) for areas of responsibility ensuring delivery of cost effective and quality service. This will include the purchasing of equipment or services as well as achieving financial savings as agreed with the Specialty Director and Divisional Triumvirate.
9. Empower and develop delegated ward and departmental managers to practice appropriate authority over their management of pay and non-pay financial resources to ensure the quality of service provision, within the financial target, liaising with Divisional accountants as appropriate.
10. Review and ensure that workforce, staffing establishments and skill mix are appropriate to current clinical demands, ensuring compliance with the principles of Improving Working Lives. Develop and implement national and local strategies within a Division using appropriate and innovative approaches to maximise retention and recruitment. Participate in bi-annual workforce benchmarking.
11. Provide appropriate strategic and operational support and direction to Senior Sisters/Charge Nurses to achieve all Trust workforce targets, namely sickness management, recruitment and retention of staff and development.
12. Work alongside the Specialty Director and General Manager in ensuring that negotiation of business and workforce plans, service level agreements.