Macmillan Secondary Breast Cancer Nurse Specialist

Job responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

Clinical

• To provide comprehensive and specialist assessment such as holistic needs assessment and care planning for patients with a range of highly complex presentations, by utilising advanced clinical reasoning, evidenced based knowledge, investigative and analytical skills and specialist assessment techniques.
• To provide support and advice accordingly with the aim of promoting optimal quality of life.
• Plan, implement and evaluate care delivery both physical and psychological according to changing health care needs to ensure continuity of effective patient care and considers inclusivity and personalisation.
• To communicate complex clinical findings to the patient/carers to gain valid informed consent prior to any intervention or procedure.
• To work within a legal framework for those patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.
• To ensure that the delivery of kind, compassionate and respectful care takes place and that the Clinical Nurse Specialist Team develop relationships with patients that encourages collaborative decision making.
• Ensure the maintenance of professional contemporaneous records at all times, document all actions and interventions in a clear, honest and timely manner in line with Trust policy.
• Collect, collate, evaluate and report information, Involve patients and carers/relatives and work closely with secondary breast cancer user involvement in the planning and delivery of care and development of services to enhance the patient/carer experience.
• Work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to ensure patient needs are met, especially in relation to ongoing support and palliative care needs. This may encompass primary, secondary and other tertiary care providers.
• In conjunction with specialist palliative care, ensure optimal symptom control.
• Ensure assessment and timely diagnosis of disease progression and that adequate support is in place.
• Develop effective teamwork, to ensure that the delivery of patient care is reviewed as part of a multidisciplinary team. To attend metastatic MDT meetings and team meetings as appropriate and to contribute to discussions about individual patients. To attend other professional and clinical meetings as appropriate.
• Deal with concerns raised by patients and carers in a proactive manner, review patient feedback results and update patient experience improvement plans as needed.
• Champion a safeguarding culture, which meets the needs of people with issues involving mental capacity or children.
• Ensure patients, relatives and other staff are received in a professional manner and act in a courteous and polite manner at all times, thereby ensuring good public relations between patients, public and staff.
• Use advanced communication skills in a variety of settings.
• To have an advanced knowledge of local and national standards that may impact on practice.
• To run the nurse led clinic and telephone clinics.
• To support, mentor, lead and educate the band 6and band 4 members of the team.
• To communicate effectively and support patients and carers prior to, during and after treatment and at key points in their cancer journey i.e disease progression/ advanced care planning.
• To be aware of current research protocols and liaise with the Breast Research Nurses regarding eligibility.
• To implement Trust Policies and Procedures
• To act always in accordance with the NMC Code of Conduct and Guiding Documents

Managerial/Clinical Leadership.

• To provide specialist, expert clinical knowledge to clinical colleagues, patients and carers/relatives both within and outside the Trust and manage a caseload of patients.
• Evaluate service delivery; identify areas for improvement and initiate change.
• To build effective professional relationships with Greater Manchester Cancer and across Acute and Community settings.
• To provide written evidence of service development and performance participating in Macmillan reviews and annual report.
• Initiate and support clinical developments / projects to promote excellence in patient care.
• Provide and receive clinical supervision and mentorship to facilitate reflective practice and attend peer supervision.
• Promote patient and public involvement activities in the specialist area, leading to service improvement by working with service users.
• Attend and participate in the CNS Forum and other committees and meetings at divisional and at a strategic Trust level
• Act as a role model presenting a professional image at all times.
• To take part in recruitment and selection of appropriate staff in the team
• To be fully aware of the divisional objectives and the Trusts corporate plan.

Education and Development.

• To participate in annual appraisal and accept personal responsibilities for professional growth and development.
• To identify training needs of non-specialist Christie and Network colleagues and develop educational programmes in collaboration with Breast colleagues.
• To provide specialist input, develop and teach on relevant post registration courses.
• Together with other professional colleagues develop information and resource packs for patients and their carers.
• Maintain a professional portfolio

Research and Audit

• To ensure that clinical practice is based on evidence and current best practice and to disseminate information to staff.
• To identify areas of Breast nursing practice that need to be researched and to participate where appropriate in nursing and multi disciplinary research, clinical audit, and benchmarking, in order to improve effectiveness of patient care.
• Disseminate and promote best practice through presentation at regional, national and international oncology conferences. Provide written and verbal feedback to colleagues.
• Contribute to the writing of protocols relevant to Breast specialty.
• Undertake, where appropriate, nursing research with published outcomes.

Qualifications

Essential

• RGN
• Degree in Nursing/Health related subject
• Post registration qualification in oncology
• Teaching and assessing

Desirable

• Masters Degree
• Counselling Certificate
• Palliative Care Certificate

Experience

Essential

• Experience post registration with years at a senior level
• Breast cancer experience
• Participation in service development and implementation of change

Desirable

• Nursing leadership
• Project management
• Experience of influencing change

Skills

Essential

• Advanced communication skills
• Able to analyse data and provide written reports.
• Able to work autonomously
• Able to present information to professional groups.
• Ability to develop effective interpersonal relationships with colleagues across health and social care setting
• Strong organisational/prioritising skills

Desirable

• Evidence of writing protocols/standards.
• Evidence of effective team working across professional and organisational boundaries.

Knowledge

Essential

• Knowledge of professional and NHS issues, and policies relating to the breast speciality
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Values

Essential

• Ability to demonstrate the organisational values and behaviours

Other

Essential

• Demonstrates flexibility in working hours.

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).