Virtual Ward Assistant Practitioner

Are you an Assistant Practitioner or Nursing Associate and looking for a new challenge? Would you like the opportunity to work for Unplanned Community Services within Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust? Then look no further as an exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Virtual ward team in North Lincolnshire.

This post will cover the whole of North Lincolnshire under the guidance of the Frailty ACP's and Virtual Ward coordinators.

The local ambition is to bring all strands to work together across an agreed integrated Virtual Ward pathway moving from an individual provider focus to a system-wide approach. The aim is to improve efficiency and patient experience whilst reducing demand on acute hospital inpatient beds.

Where it is safe and appropriate to do so, the virtual ward will provide acute clinical care at home (including care homes) with treatment and monitoring for people who would have previously been treated and monitored as inpatients in a hospital bed.

You must be flexible, caring, and professional and have the ability to remain calm under pressure.

The Virtual ward assistant practitioner is an integral part of the Virtual ward team providing quality nursing care to patients in the community.
Duties will include unsupervised delegated nursing duties as defined by the Virtual ward coordinator/ACP, you will work alone developing and maintaining effective channels of communication with other professionals and agencies.

The Nursing Associate/Assistant Practitioner will be proficient and competent and work within their scope of practice as governed by the NMC Code (2018) and NMC Standards of Proficiency (2018).

The Nursing Associate/Assistant Practitioner will provide holistic and person centred care and support for people in their care.

The Nursing Associate/Assistant Practitioner may be expected to participate in audits and service improvement initiatives. The Nursing Associate/Assistant Practitioner will be expected to supervise and support HCAs, Trainee Nursing Associates and Pre-registration nurses.

It is anticipated that this role will continue to develop through the acquisition of further skills based on NMC (2018) guidelines and development of the Nursing Associate role.

We’re a large organisation with three hospitals located in Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Goole. We also provide community services in North Lincolnshire. Our 6,500 members of staff care for and support a population of more than 400,000 people.

We encourage all our staff to innovate and adopt ‘best practice’ so we can deliver excellent care to our patients. We ask staff to live our values; kindness, courage and respect.

We are committed to recruiting the best people to work with us. You could be one of them.

In line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Recruitment & Workforce team will use and hold your personal data for the intended purpose and in line with the Recruitment & Workforce Privacy Statement.

“We are committed to safeguarding the welfare of children/vulnerable adults and expect the same commitment from all staff and volunteers”.

Being an accountable professional

Act in the best interests of the people at all times in a manner which illustrates respect for privacy, dignity and confidentiality

Communication and relationship skills

Communicate effectively using a range of skills and strategies with colleagues and people at all stages of life and with a range of mental, physical, cognitive and behavioural health challenges

Knowledge, training and experience

Utilise professional knowledge to plan and implement care interventions for patients, working with the ACP/VW Coordinators, including reassessment of nursing interventions

Analytical and Judgement skills

Monitor patients’ health and well-being. Interpret, promptly respond, shares finding, and escalate as needed, informing appropriate professional of any changes to the patient’s condition

Planning and organisational skills
- Manage and prioritise own workload
- Plan and provide appropriate direct patient care within own scope of practice
- Assist the team lead/matron in the implementation of corporate and nursing objectives

Physical skills

Develop a range of core clinical skills which include a range of nursing duties to ensure the patient safety and wellbeing at all times, as described within the NMC Nursing Associate standards of proficiency

Responsibilities for policy and service development implementation
- Follow Trust policy and procedures
- Adhere to the NMC professional code of conduct and standards of proficiency for Nursing Associates
- Assist in the efficient and effective use of financial and physical resources
- Ensure that appropriate supplies are available to support the delivery of care
- Responsible for ensuring equipment within the working environment is maintained and in working order and report faults with equipment, and ensuring repairs are undertaken
- Follow trust policies