Job responsibilities
St Josephs Hospice, Hackney
BAND: Band 7
REPORTS
TO: Team Manager
ACCOUNTABLE
TO: Nurse Consultant
RESPONSIBLE
FOR: Delivering high quality specialist palliative
nursing care in community settings. Demonstrating clinical excellence and the
highest standards of nursing practice.
JOB PURPOSE:
- Provide a flexible role within and between teams to
cover leave, sickness and emergencies and to provide general supervision to
band 6 nurses
- Provide high quality community specialist
palliative care nursing services to patients and their families within the boroughs
that the hospice serves
- Working as an integrated team
of nurses, you will contribute to the overall care of patient and families
referred to St Josephs within the community setting. Specialising in the advisory and Care
Coordinator component of this support you will have shared clinical
responsibility for the patients within a defined area and within the team as a
whole
-
As a team member you will contribute to a positive
supportive working environment with an emphasis on team work and
cooperation. You will participate in a
rota system providing a 7 day a week face to face and telephone service for
patients and their families. This may include visiting out of hours in
exceptional circumstances
-
Identify opportunities for clinical audit and research
and undertake these activities within the research governance framework of the
hospice
- It is anticipated that the
work plan will be 10% supervision, 80% clinical (clinical management), and 10% Education and Teaching.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
St. Josephs Hospice is a charity established in 1905 by the Religious
Sisters of Charity to offer patients diagnosed with a life limiting illness a
range of care and professional advisory services. It currently provides high quality palliative
and end of life care to a significant and growing number of people living in
East London and beyond. It employs a
large team of clinical staff, including medical practitioners who work across
community, in-patient and out-patient services delivering individualised,
responsive and holistic support to patients and their families/carers.
KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
You will work closely with a range of professionals
within the hospice and external partners to identify and support expert care to
patients and their families within the boroughs. You will be expected to build close
and effective working relationships with professionals providing end of life
care within the boroughs.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
Leadership and managerial
-
Working closely with the Team Coordinator, to act as the ultimate clinical nursing
specialist and oversee the community nursing service for a defined area
-
Provide effective clinical supervision to the team,
act as an ambassador for best practice and with honesty and integrity
-
Assist the Nurse Consultant with translating
service strategy into effective operational functionality and objectives
-
Provide professional/clinical (nursing) leadership
to other Palliative Care Nurse Practitioners and grades of staff, acting as a
point of expertise, providing advice and support
-
Take management responsibility for other grades of
staff and participate in the performance management cycle including undertaking
appraisals
-
Input into workforce planning process and
maintaining effective use of resources
(rota and rotation of staff)
-
Participate in multi-professional meetings, acting
as a patient advocate and representing nursing
-
Attend appropriate patient related and team
meetings
-
Participate in service development initiatives as
appropriate and instigate and manage change within a complex environment
-
Work with the Team Manager and Nurse Consultant to
develop St Josephs policies and processes and ensure team compliance
-
Responsible for assurance of standards and clinical
governance, standard setting and audit.
Clinical
-
As Care Coordinator participate in First Contact
assessment and decision- making, included attendance at the first contact
meeting
-
Responsible for the continued co-ordination of the
content and delivery of your allocated patient's care plan, and assure that the
patient is getting the right service from St Josephs.
-
Undertake patient assessments to an advanced level,
using appropriate tools
-
Be able to undertake nurse prescribing
-
In liaison with other Nurse Practitioners, ensure
the overall quality and provision of nursing care of patients and families
referred to St Josephs in the community setting and their needs are met
-
Promote the principles and practice of palliative
care as an extension of the hospice into the community
-
Work across a range of
settings, including community visits e.g. home/care home/community hospitals),
telephone conversations and patients in outpatient services
-
Assess the needs of patients and their carers and
identify their respective physical, psychological, social, cultural and
spiritual needs
-
Work within a team framework, collaborating with
colleagues and members of other disciplines
-
Use a proactive and sensitive approach with
patients and relatives to enable involvement in advance care planning
-
Assess peoples information needs and provide
relevant information to meet those needs using resources within the hospice
-
Offer bereavement support to carers in
collaboration with the bereavement team, or refer them onto the appropriate
service
- Provide appropriate specialist nursing
interventions
-
Participate in the out of hours rota to provide
telephone advice and exceptional visits if indicated
-
Contribute to patient management by attending Gold
Standard Framework (GSF), hospital and other practice based meetings
-
Liaise and communicate with community, nursing home
and hospital staff in order to raise awareness and promote Hospice services
-
Ensure that all relevant information
is documented and recorded on the appropriate systems
-
Foster positive working relations with the Primary
Healthcare professionals and with other health and social care professionals in
the delivery of community based palliative care.
Service Development
-
Provide input to service development initiatives
using the appropriate evidence
-
Ensure systems are in place to ensure continuous
improvement, quality assurance and clinical governance
-
Promote and engage staff in new ways of working -
such as the use of technology and working off site
-
Develop and review departmental policies and
processes and ensure team compliance.
-
Assist Team manager to produce and maintain
statistical information as required, particularly for workforce planning, audit
and funding purposes
-
Keep abreast of current
advances in nursing practice and research
-
Together with the Team
Manager and Nurse Consultant, initiate, promote and participate in nursing and
inter-disciplinary audit projects
-
Together with the Team
Manager and Nurse Consultant, take a key role in the hospice Clinical
Governance framework
-
Work across professional
boundaries using creative reasoning and problem solving.
Education and Training
-
Take responsibility for
attending and ensure others attendance at mandatory and hospice compulsory
training and in-house courses in line with organisational policy and current
legislation
-
Actively participate in, and
contribute to the on-going educational programme of the Hospice
-
Attend and actively
participate in the identified CPD opportunities provided
-
Proactively maintain
appropriate level of clinical competence as identified within the St Josephs
Competencies
-
Identify training and
education needs in line with service provision with Team Manager.
-
Assist in orientation programmes
for new members of staff
-
Act as a mentor / supervisor
for developing staff under the direction of the Team Manager as directed
-
Initiate and participate in
research projects as required. To undertake regular audit to facilitate the provision
of high quality services
-
Take personal responsibility
for life-long learning, self -development and reflection.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
-
Identify own learning and development needs in
order to meet the key requirements of the post
-
Take responsibility for linking own development
needs with the Hospice appraisal and objective setting process
-
Take responsibility for own continuing development
by undertaking specific areas of work/projects to develop new skills.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Comply with and promote St Josephs Hospice Equal
Opportunity Policy and avoid any behaviour which discriminates against
colleagues, potential employees, patients/clients or their families on the
grounds of sex, marital status, race, age, belief, colour, nationality, ethnic
or national origins, religion, disability, creed, class, gender or sexual
orientation.
MISSION & CORE VALUES
All Hospice
staff are expected to work in line with St Josephs Mission & Core Values
as these precepts act as a value base which directly influences how all work
activities are undertaken. The ethos of the Hospice should be apparent in the
behaviours and attitudes of all employees as the work they undertake, whether
it is direct or indirect care is ultimately for the benefit of patients. The
Mission and Core Values are an integral part of all job descriptions, the
probationary period and performance and development reviews. (Full details are
attached)
