Colorectal Clinical Nurse Specialist Palliative Care

Job overview

We are recruiting for a Colorectal Clinical Nurse Specialist Palliative Care who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.

We are looking for a highly motivated Nurse who is committed to delivering excellent patient care and who takes pride in what they do, they will work within the colorectal nursing team to improve and enhance the patients' journey. The post holder will contribute to the on-going role in the development of the service for patients with Colorectal disease and Colorectal cancer; mainly in the palliative and Living with cancer setting. Excellent communication skills are paramount, an ability to prioritise workload, whilst working as part of a team is also essential.

We are looking for an enthusiastic qualified Nurse who can demonstrate current experience/ significant experience at band 6 level working in the field of colorectal surgery/cancer/palliative care. We would consider this as a developmental role for the right candidate. Experience of managing nurse led clinics is desirable. We are keen to recruit a passionate, accomplished team player.

The successful candidate will be a motivated, proactive excellent communicator, who works well within a team, whilst also autonomously supporting a case load.

Our Values are Include, Respect and Improve. It is important that you understand and refer to our values during your recruitment process and beyond

Main duties of the job

The post holder is a recognised expert in the field of Colorectal cancer, responsible for assessing, developing and implementing specialist nursing care programmes and undertaking specialist nursing procedures. Where applicable and qualified as a Nurse Independent Prescriber, prescribe any drugs within clinical competencies.

Responsible for providing specialist advice and support to, and liaising with, other staff. This includes the provision of specialist education and training for other staff and students responsible for implementing a clearly defined integrated approach to patient care encompassing new treatments and evidence based care.

Required to undertake research and lead clinical audits in own specialist area.

Develop the palliative care pathway for colorectal cancer patients. Managing nurse led clinics, overseeing palliative Colorectal in patient episodes and liaising with oncology consultants

Working for our organisation

At East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general & specialist services we provide & our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible & innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.

We run the following hospitals:

• The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
• New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
• Hertford County, Hertford
• Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC), Northwood

We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient-led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant transformation; our staff & patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.

We understand that finding and starting a new job is an important life decision. If you need reasonable adjustments for a disability, or a life event, such as menopause - so that we can consider your application fairly & to get the best out of you during the selection process, please let us know.

We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees. Employees are entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns & we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made & considered formally, & will need to be balanced against service needs, but our starting point will always be to find ways to support making them happen.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification applicant pack for further detailed information regarding this role.

Person specificationQualificationsEssential criteria

• Registered nurse education to Degree level or willingness to undertake
• Post registration qualification in specialty
• Evidence of continuous professional development
• Teaching qualification
• Advanced communication skills/counselling qualification or willingness to undertake

Desirable criteria

• Advanced clinical assessment
• Research Module Masters Degree

Previous ExperienceEssential criteria

• Significant relevant experience in the Specialty and ability to demonstrate expert nursing skills
• Band 6 experience colorectal surgery/ oncology/ Palliative Care
• Multidisciplinary team working
• Accept personal accountability for own practice
• Experience of formal/informal teaching
• Experience of initiating change
• Understanding evidence-based practice
• Experience of Clinical Governance
• Understanding of patient pathways and it’s complexities and how to support patients through this

Desirable criteria

• Running Nurse led clinics
• Experience working with personalised care programme

SkillsEssential criteria

• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Experience of working with electronic patient records and other IT systems
• Capable of working as an integral member of a small team
• Flexible and adaptable to changing situations due to workload and colleague’s needs
• Ability to undertake teaching of staff and patients
• Leadership skills
• Ability to work unsupervised and manage own workload; effective time - management
• Effective interpersonal skills
• Ability to lead developments in practice, show initiative
• Commitment to multi-disciplinary working
• Demonstrate analytical and judgmental skills
• Ability to quickly appraise situation and act accordingly

Desirable criteria

• Advanced communication skills
• Independent Nurse prescriber

Our values

We want our staff to believe in, demonstrate and live our values in everything we do.

Include
We value the diversity and experience of our community colleagues and partners, creating relationships and climates that provide an opportunity to share, collaborate and grow together.

Respect
We create a safe environment where we are curious of the lived experience of others, seek out best practice and are open to listening and hearing new ideas.

Improve
We are committed to consistently delivering excellent services and continuously looking to improve through a creative workforce that feels empowered to act in service of our shared purpose.

Committed to our Community

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion for all job applicants, staff, patients and the wider community. We want to create a workforce which represents the communities we serve. We are on a journey to become a more inclusive organisation and we welcome applications from everyone regardless of their background. In particular we encourage applications from candidates with disabilities, and candidates from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds who are currently under-represented in various parts of our workforce .

We understand the importance of balancing work and home life. We are committed to support flexible working for our staff wherever possible and all our employees are given the opportunity to discuss potential for flexible working.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and achieved our status in 2019.

We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact us by emailing resourcing.enh-tr@nhs.net

We are also proud to support our UK armed forces by supporting Reservists, Cadet Instructors, Veterans and military spouses/partners into employment and offering supportive policies that value their contribution to the community and to our Trust.

We are committed to being a carer-friendly environment, addressing the complex needs of families with caring responsibilities. In partnership with Carers in Hertfordshire, all our working carers have access to support from recruitment. We are also a member of Carers UK, providing resources to make balancing work and caring easier. Our approach is inclusive, recognizing diverse challenges and creating a supportive environment where carers feel valued.

---