Community Specialist Palliative Care Nurse

Job summary

Band 6 Community Specialist Palliative Care Nurse - South Team. (Base Location Whitnash Lodge).

hours weekly.

We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic and motivated nurse with a passion for palliative care. Have you undertaken recent study to support your knowledge and skills in this area? Working autonomously and collaboratively within a multi -disciplinary team? Then we are looking for you.

You will demonstrate excellent communication skills in supporting patients and their families and must be committed to providing high quality compassionate care.

A commitment to teaching and education is equally important.

Palliative or end of life care experience is essential. In return, we offer a supportive and friendly environment and access to training and continuous professional development to enhance this role.

There will be an opportunity for the successful candidate to undertake the European Certificate in Essential Palliative Care.

Main duties of the job

To provide a specialist palliative care nursing service across Warwickshire. This includes providing specialist advice, education and training, leadership and change management in pursuit of excellent palliative care.

The post holder will work collaboratively to support the assessment and management of patients requiring specialist palliative care.

A key component of this post will be to work collaboratively with others and providing leadership, education, and training in specialist palliative care to enable the wider workforce to improve their skills. The post holder will work in collaboration with the locality team to deliver the specialist palliative care element of the SWFTs Business plan.

There is requirement to work clinically across Warwickshire in order to meet the needs of the service.

About us

Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further.

We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity.

Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are 'Trusted to provide safe, effective and compassionate care'. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn't matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Supports the delivery of specialist palliative care across Warwickshire.

Participates in shared clinical caseload approach to assess and manage specialist palliative care patients (under the supervision of a Band 7 Clinical Nurse Specialist).

Participates in the development and provision of specialist palliative care education and training within local trust and actively participates in these functions across Warwickshire.

Participates in local audits, research projects, as requested by Lead Nurse.

Works across professional boundaries using creative reasoning and problem solving.

Supports and manages change within a complex environment including across organisational boundaries in the pursuit of excellent palliative and end of life care.

Influences the development of others through education and training.

Utilises patient and public experience feedback to drive innovation and change.

Assesses; analyses and interprets specialist needs of patients and carers in order to compare varied options for treatment, care/support.

Provides specialised palliative care advice to patients, carers, and all members of the multidisciplinary health care team concerning clinical investigations, disease and symptom management, and other issues within sphere of competence.

Uses specialist knowledge to refer patients and carers to other specialist/multidisciplinary services.

Advises patients, carers and health care professionals on services impacting on palliative care in both acute and primary care settings in addition to social.

Communication/Key Relationships - Internal, External

Uses high level of interpersonal and communication skills for the purposes of facilitating ethical clinical decision making.

Negotiates with health and social care professionals involving contact with acute and primary care sector together with statutory and voluntary services to facilitate seamless access to and transition between palliative care.

Services for patients and carers.

Uses alternative methods to communicate with patients where there are barriers present hearing disabilities, mental health, language and sensory impairment.

Ability to communicate extremely sensitive diagnostic information.

Uses counselling skills as a therapeutic tool.

Control of Resources

Accurately records and manages personally generated patient information in compliance with data protection regulations.

Maintains data base of service information for the purposes of audit and service development.

Participates in assessment of patient eligibility for Continuing Health Care funding for nursing care from a palliative care perspective.

Manages office resources in order to fulfil job responsibilities.

Uses Microsoft Office to create documents, reports and educational materials.

Facilitates multidisciplinary teams to deliver high quality palliative care.

Promotes a culture that supports and enables self-management and proactive planning towards the end of life.

Demonstrates leadership through clinical expertise, delivering high standards of person-centred care and using the underpinning philosophy of co-creating care with people with specialist palliative care needs.

Promotes a culture that supports and enables self-management and proactive planning towards the end of life.

Contributes to the delivery of specialist education and training to other professionals involved in patient care.

Supports and contributes to the development and promotion of the nursing service ensuring the delivery of high quality, cost-effective care.

Supports patient and public involvement within the sphere of practice.

Supports and contributes to quantitative and qualitative data collection of the nursing service in order to provide evidence of productivity, outcomes and quality and contributes to providing Macmillan and SWFT with reports demonstrating the evidence.

Participates in service reviews and initiatives to drive service improvement in the field of specialist palliative care.

Supports and contributes to the implementation and monitoring of adherence to relevant clinical guidelines.

Takes professional responsibility for ensuring effective communication between all service providers across the care pathway.

Actively participates in multi-professional meetings, acting as patient advocate and representing nursing views.

Acts as a role model for excellent communication skills and expertise.

Develops skills in conflict resolution and negotiation skills when dealing with difficult or challenging situations.

Provision of Professional Advice

Develops new skills in response to emerging knowledge and techniques.

Judgement and Decision Making/Freedom to Act

Actively integrates theory and practice within the field of specialist palliative care.

Acts as an associate for a clinical caseload under supervision, working to proactively manage care and provide easy access for ongoing support for patients.

Assesses peoples information needs and provides relevant information to meet those needs through the use of information prescriptions.

Provides clinical expertise, specialist advice and support across service boundaries.

Supports the nursing contribution to service development, ensuring the pursuit of excellence in care.

Follows an agreed care pathway, refers to other professionals and signposts to other agencies as appropriate.

Promotes the service and clinical excellence by contributing to publishing and presenting innovations, audit and research locally, regionally and nationally.

Supports and contributes to the development of policy and clinical guidelines.

Participates in policy formation and implementation related to specialist palliative care.

Works collaboratively to develop and implement specialist palliative care policies/standards.

Working Conditions ( shift work or requirement to travel)

Works flexibly regarding both time and location across Warwickshire in order to meet service needs.

Accesses independent means of transport for domiciliary visits and meetings at various locations across Warwickshire.

Manages risks of lone working in community setting.

SWFT endorses the principle that whether people smoke or not is a matter of personal choice but where they smoke is a matter of public concern. The policy on smoking and health protects non-smokers and requires that all SWFT premises are smoke free.

Responsibility for Research and Development

Undertakes audit/research projects at request of Lead Nurse.

Participates in wider audit/research projects SWFT; Network initiatives and disseminates results.

Continuously updates and disseminates knowledge of current research within speciality.

Identifies mechanisms to obtain and use feedback in order to develop patient focussed service.

Takes personal responsibility for life -long learning and continuous personal development through clinical supervision, appraisal and training.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Registered General Nurse Educated to degree level or equivalent Post-basic qualification in cancer/palliative care or relevant subject or workings towards Evidence of continued professional development

Desirable

Evidence of training in audit/ quality improvement methodology Advanced communications skills training or prepared to work towards Evidence of training in teaching/education or prepared to work towards Nurse prescribing

Experience

Essential

Relevant post registration experience, at Band 5 or above, in cancer, palliative &/ or end of life care within current role Experience of multi-professional working Experience of teaching Evidence of good communications skills Understanding of Cancer, Palliative and End of life Care National Agendas

Skills

Essential

IT literate Effective communication Ability to motivate self and others Ability to work autonomously and as part of a team Able to concentrate for extended periods when providing clinical care

Desirable

Flexible attitude to working Exemplar written communication skills

Personal Qualities

Essential

Diplomatic Calm and objective Assertive, confident, yet approachable Personally and professionally mature Recognition of own limitations Demonstrates enthusiasm Able to travel between sites

Other

Essential

Ability to deal with complex and difficult emotional situations

---