Paediatric Liver Transplant Educator

This post is only open to internal applicants.

Main area: Paediatric Liver Transplant

Grade: Band 7

Contract: Secondment: 12 months

Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week

Job ref: 213-CAX-7259080

Employer: King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Site: King's College Hospital

Town: London

Salary: £54,320 - £60,981 per annum including HCA

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 13/06/2025 23:59

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1.8 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

The primary role of the post holder is to provide nurse led specialist individual care to children and their families/carers throughout the transplant process with an emphasis on advanced practice. There is a strong commitment to education and health promotion as well as a supportive role for the transplant recipients and their families in the short and long term.

Main duties of the job:

• To provide a specialist nursing service for children and families/carers undergoing liver/liver & kidney and/or hepatocyte transplantation.
• To manage a client caseload ensuring continuity of a high standard of evidence based nursing care from point of assessment through transplantation & discharge.
• To introduce the potential transplant recipients and their families/carers to the concept of transplantation providing an individualised education programme throughout the process through assessment and coordination with the multidisciplinary team.
• To provide psychological, practical and emotional support to children and their families/carers throughout the transplant process based on their individual need, ensuring family centred care.
• To accept responsibility of own patient caseload ensuring at all times children and families/carers have an accurate and consistent pathway, providing continuity of care.
• To work autonomously assessing children and their families/carers’ needs throughout the process, making referrals to the appropriate multi-disciplinary team agencies and communicate effectively with them.
• To provide appropriate education care to children and families/carers on the waiting list, ensuring all relevant information is available to enable individuals to make informed decisions/ choices concerning their treatment options, providing informed consent.
• To provide specialist advice relating to treatments and the prescription of medications throughout the process.
• To coordinate a seamless service through the development of enhanced multi-disciplinary team processes and communications as well as external agencies.
• To attend multidisciplinary team meetings including paediatric and coordinate meetings as appropriate to role.
• To regularly review clinical status of patients awaiting transplantation and ensuring all diagnostic investigations and results are up to date.
• To ensure logistical arrangements are in place to facilitate emergency admission for transplant.
• To support and empower children/families/carers to enable them to participate fully in decisions concerning their care.
• To liaise with MDT and influence appropriate and timely discharge ensuring follow up arrangements are in place for children and families.
• To liaise with referring consultants, community, social services, GPs and counselling services to develop service for children, families and health care professionals.
• To ensure all children awaiting OLT are correctly registered with NHSBT.
• To communicate highly sensitive and complex information to distressed / grieving families where there are barriers to understanding and acceptance, using a high level of communication skills due to the emotive atmosphere, particularly in the case of the child in acute liver failure who requires listing for transplant.
• To provide clinical support, expert nursing advice and ongoing education to patients / families, making clinical assessment of patients current condition and offering appropriate evidence based emergency / and non-emergency advice to ensure patient safety.
• Provision of psychological and emotional support to patient and their families using effective communication skills and counselling strategies during the immediate pre transplant phase, transit to theatre and peri-operatively where appropriate.
• To co-ordinate and facilitate the process of transplantation liaising and negotiating with numerous disciplines, co-ordinators colleagues, transplant surgeons, anaesthetic / theatre staff, medical / nursing staff, laboratory services and administration staff.
• To facilitate transition of adolescent patients from Paediatric to Adult liver unit.
• To actively involve service users in providing feedback of their experience of the current service and suggestions for improvement and development of service.
• To support and provide cover for the Intestinal CNS as required.
• To support and provide cover for oncology patients (under the care of the transplant surgeons).
• To manage and organize paediatric HPB surgery (under the care of the transplant surgeons).

Education Audit and Research:

• Promote and educate patients, health care professionals and the general public about the benefits of transplantation / organ donation.
• Communicate complex information to children and their families/carers using a high level of communication skills to facilitate understanding, acceptance and reassurance.
• Provide specialist information for children and families/ carers in a method which promotes awareness, understanding and empowers individuals to make decisions regarding their care.
• To ensure appropriate information and educational material is available for children and families/carers to enable them to make informed choices and decisions.
• Work proactively / reactively with corporate communications providing factual information for the media supporting transplantation / donation.
• Plan and deliver specialist education and training for health care professionals, participating in Trust programmes, national and international meetings / conferences as appropriate.
• Act as a resource of expert advice for all health care professionals and other relevant parties within the trust and externally.
• Prepare educational materials to support education strategy and meet individual families’ needs.
• Actively seek users input concerning the educational material used.
• Evaluate; initiate change and implement educational programmes and materials that meet the users’ needs in collaboration with the Paediatric transplant team.
• Initiate and participate in any appropriate / relevant Trust approved research projects within the care group in conjunction with Paediatric transplant Coordinators.

Managerial / Administrative:

• Establish and maintain effective lines of communication with all members of the multi-disciplinary team within Kings, NHS Blood & Transplant, and Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation, Department of Health, GPs, referring centres Consultants and specialist staff.
• To take personal responsibility to ensure standards of practice are met.
• Maintain accurate confidential records of recipients, donors, transplant procedures and outcomes in accordance with the Data protection Act 1998.
• Act as a resource on issues relating to Human Tissue Act, Human Transplant Act, Department of Health, NHSBT service regulations.
• To actively contribute to initiatives within the care group and provide support to colleagues.
• Maintain and develop a network with transplant nurses within the UK and international to assist in the development of the specialist role.

Personal Professional Development:

• To adhere to NMC code of professional conduct, providing safety for children and families.
• Personally responsible for own development using reflective practice ensuring own educational needs are met.
• Attendance at mandatory updates as per trust policy.
• To undergo and actively participate in own performance appraisal providing a realistic view of strengths and areas for personal development.
• Setting of objectives and personal development plan.
• Attendance at relevant meetings, conferences relating to transplantation to ensure understanding of current issues within a rapidly changing speciality and to enhance skills appropriate to the role, promoting nursing research and evidence based practise.
• Generate and disseminate research within the transplant community and actively participate in scientific meetings / conferences.
• To keep up to date with NMC, trust, NHSBT, DOH guidelines and protocols, including The Children Act.
• To attend all relevant paediatric multidisciplinary meetings.
• To undergo annual BLS, Fire and Manual Handling and 3 yearly APLS.
• Actively participate in the development and ongoing updating of written information available for families, at times in conjunction with the 2 other paediatric liver transplant centres in the UK.

Person specification:

• Experience in Paediatric liver.
• Management experience at Band 6.

IMPORTANT: Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you. If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications. To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert. Please provide email addresses for referees where possible. Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust’s criminal records checking policy. All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role. Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.