Medicines Safety Nurse Specialist

Job Overview

The Medicines Safety Nurse Specialist will provide specialist advice and support to nursing staff and managers in all areas relating to medicines safety.

Under the direction of the Lead Medicines Safety Nurse Specialist, the post-holder will offer ongoing evidence-based training for all clinical staff throughout the organisation in medicines management and medication safety.

As part of the Medicines Safety Team, the Medicines Safety Nurse Specialist will contribute to the development, implementation, and monitoring of policies and procedures in medicines management and medication safety.

The Medicines Safety Nurse Specialist will also encourage medication incident reporting and learning from medication incidents to promote safer care.

Main Duties of the Job

• Help to maintain training records for staff which can be accessed to verify competence for relevant managers, for Quality and Assurance for the Trust and relevant external auditors.
• Participate in service development and evaluation including audit and research under the direction of the Lead MSNS in line with the Medicines Safety Team objectives.
• Contribute to investigations of incidents to help ensure that they are completed within the required organisational timeframes.
• Assist in the response to internal and external safety alerts related to medications as directed by the Lead MSNS and Medicines Safety Pharmacist. Report any medication safety issues to MHRA via the Yellow Card reporting system.
• Produce reports as requested from relevant departmental or organisational groups.
• As part of the relevant teams contribute to the development, review, and update of medicines management policies and procedures.

Working for our Organisation

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that 'happy staff, makes for happy patients'. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement, and living our values 'the WWL Way'.

WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. With this in mind we are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

At WWL we value the benefits a rich and diverse workforce brings to our community and therefore welcome applications from all sections of society.

Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities

• Using complex analytical and judgmental skills, provide advice across the range of work procedures and practices related to medicines safety and management.
• Attend and actively participate in the Trust Medicines Safety group highlighting any concerns relating to medicines safety and providing progress reports as required.
• Support the Pharmacy team in the development and delivery of medicines safety and medicines management initiatives.
• Support the Lead MSNS in promoting effective practice change relating to nursing input into medicines management systems, products or roles, working with teams to overcome barriers and resistance and to ensure quality improvements.
• Use learning from individual or themed medication incidents to provide comment on procedures and/or make proposals for changes to working practices and procedures in relation to medicines safety as a result.
• Responsible for collecting, processing, and analysing the information from incident reports in order to provide details of identified trends, lessons learned, and actions required by local teams and Divisions.
• Act as a supporting resource for staff on policies, protocols, systems of work, standard operating procedures relating to aspects of medicines management and provide training for staff in relation to medicines safety and medicines management.
• Act as a resource for managers and clinicians on medicines management and policies, providing specialist information on medicines management processes and practice.
• Provide advice and support to ward managers and matrons in the investigation of medication related errors, ensuring that lessons are learnt and shared across the Trust.
• Post holder will be an integral member of the IV faculty and contribute to this group as directed by the Lead MSNS in conjunction with the Professional Practice team and the Vascular Access Nurse Specialist.
• Planning of workload to maximise effective use of human and clinical resources under the direction and leadership of the Lead MSNS.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential Criteria

• Recent clinical practice experience
• Working knowledge and understanding of medicines management processes and of managing professional standards within an NHS setting
• Evidence of recent relevant professional development and experience of contributing to and effectively implementing Nursing and Midwifery and/or other professional strategies

Desirable Criteria

• Quality improvement experience
• Experience of patient safety issues and clinical governance

Qualifications

Essential Criteria

• Registered nurse; Educated to degree level
• Acute Illness Management (AIM) course or equivalent

Desirable Criteria

• Master's degree level study or equivalent experience, skills, and knowledge
• Teaching Qualification
• Coaching / mentorship / leadership qualification

Skills

Essential Criteria

• Basic and enhanced clinical nursing
• Risk assessment and risk management
• Well-developed interpersonal, leadership, and motivational skills to facilitate working with multi-professional teams
• Well-developed written and verbal communication skills together with influencing and negotiating skills for interacting with individuals at all levels across the organisation.
• Able to demonstrate knowledge of professional code(s) of conduct and maintaining high professional standards
• Must have excellent organisational skills and the ability to work on own initiative and/or as part to a team. Must be able to work under pressure, to set deadlines and in difficult situations. Ability to develop services. Must be able to problem solve.

Desirable Criteria

• The ability to provide and receive complex and sensitive information relating to serious medication incidents
• Development of policies and procedures
• Report writing skills including serious investigations

Knowledge

Essential Criteria

• Knowledge and understanding of Trust medicines management policy and the NMC Standards for Medicines Management.
• Knowledge of educational structures and purpose
• Duty of candour requirements and implementation

Desirable Criteria

• Expert in the use of medicines
• Patient safety systems and processes, with a focus on human factors and safe systems of work

Additional

Essential Criteria

• Must always behave in a professional manner
• Able to travel between trust sites and community premises as required for the role
• Able to work under own initiative or as part of a team
• Must be prepared to give supervision and train more junior staff
• Must be flexible and adaptable
• Able to manage time effectively and prioritise
• Excellent professional role model with values congruent with those of WWL
• Must be prepared to deal with difficult staff and challenging situations