Urgent Care Practitioner

Please note: at this stage, the role is open only to colleagues currently employed within Kent and Medway NHS Trusts and the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Urgent Care Services encompass a variety of offerings under one umbrella, with staff collaborating through an integrated approach across different services. The teams focus on preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and supporting timely discharges. We must respond swiftly to urgent needs, requiring a flexible workforce capable of delivering medical, nursing, and therapy interventions. Managing complex cases, the service also provides guidance toward long-term support and anticipatory care planning for patients with chronic conditions.

Out-of-hours unscheduled care is offered for patients who may be at the end of life or facing urgent healthcare needs, which can include treating acutely unwell individuals to avoid hospital admission and supporting hospital discharges.

The Hospital at Home Service is a nurse-led model that enables patients to leave the hospital once clinically stable and complete their acute care at home. This service is a collaboration between MTW and KCHFT. The Virtual Ward model, in partnership with the acute trust, delivers hospital-level treatment at home. Unlike Hospital at Home, it is specialist-led, with patients virtually admitted to the acute trust and monitored through the Virtual Ward Hub while being treated at home. The service provides nursing care within patients' homes across the West Kent area, and a valid driver's license is essential for this role.

Shifts run from 08:00 to 21:00, seven days a week, with an average of 3-4 clinical shifts per week. The team gathers at the base at the start and end of each shift, with additional check-ins during the day. Most visits are planned, but due to the nature of the services, urgent visits can be added throughout the day. The team is equipped with extensive clinical tools and expertise, enabling a 2-hour community response.

The Band 7 Urgent Care Practitioner will oversee the supervision, teaching, and leadership of staff members, ensuring the quality of care they provide. This role requires an experienced Community Nurse with non-medical prescribing experience or a willingness to undertake it. As the senior clinician, you will provide sound clinical judgment, act as a role model, and take accountability for your team's decisions and performance.

Rated 'outstanding' by the CQC, we've got a passion for delivering high standards of patient care and excellent services to improve the health of our communities. To do this we need outstanding people who share our values compassionate Aspirational Responsive Excellent

We know a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion leads to better patient care and a happier workforce. We pride ourselves in being diverse and welcome applications from people with varied backgrounds, perspectives and experiences

We ask for information about your protected characteristics on our application forms. This isn't visible to anyone involved with shortlisting or interviewing you, except when you choose to be considered under the guaranteed interview scheme due to disability. Short listers will see two ticks alongside your application to ensure they apply the principles of the scheme to your submission

The data we collect helps us to ensure we are attracting diversity in our applicants, that all our colleagues have equitable access to career opportunities and supports us on our journey to being a Great Place to Work

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want you to be able to work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Talk to us about a flexible working arrangement that won't involve sacrificing time for personal interests or family commitments. We'll support you to work flexibly in a way that will suits us both

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As a community Trust many of our roles require individuals to be able to drive to perform their duties. As such you will be asked to confirm you have a full UK driving licence where driving is a requirement of the role to be able to proceed with your application. We are committed to supporting candidates with disabilities into employment, if you are unable to drive due to a disability, please contact the Recruitment Team via quoting the vacancy reference number so we can support you further.

The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this in your application. If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know. All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate.

Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert.

We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job.

At KCHFT we strongly encourage colleagues in clinical and non-clinical roles who have direct or social contact with patients to be fully vaccinated. In this way we will be doing all we can to ensure your safety and that of your colleagues and the patients we serve.

Find out more about the community difference here .

Good luck We can't wait to meet you and welcome you to #teamKCHFT, #cometocommunity.