Liaison/Rapid Response Sister/Charge Nurse in Luton

Integrated Discharge Team

• Work collaboratively with a range of multidisciplinary and organisational teams across both hospital and community settings.
• Facilitate safe and timely discharge for patients receiving End-of-Life care and those requiring Department of Health Fast Track or 100% Continuing Healthcare funding.
• Promote clear and effective communication between patients, relatives, carers and professional colleagues to ensure seamless care delivery, including the exchange of sensitive clinical information.
• Support effective information sharing across organisations to maintain continuity of care throughout the patient journey.
• Represent community services at multidisciplinary meetings and case conferences.
• Enable and empower patients and their families/carers to participate in discharge planning, promoting independence, choice and informed decision-making.
• Assess and prescribe equipment required for discharge to promote patient safety and support effective care delivery within the community.
• Provide clinical supervision and participate in regular one-to-one sessions with delegated members of the team.
• Recognise and manage challenges associated with cross-boundary working, particularly in relation to patients with complex needs and multiple care pathways.
• Contribute to the GP Liaison Service by receiving referrals for same-day assessment within the Acute Trust and managing these effectively, with a focus on avoiding unnecessary admission where appropriate.
• Ensure that all patients are treated with dignity, compassion and respect at all times.

Rapid Response

• Prevent avoidable hospital admissions through comprehensive assessment, care planning, implementation, treatment and evaluation of care packages tailored to individual patient needs, in accordance with Trust policies and guidelines.
• Support admission avoidance by assessing, coordinating and delivering specialised care packages for patients.
• Undertake a range of core nursing interventions, including intravenous antibiotic administration, wound care, clinical observations, pressure area care and risk assessments such as PURPOSE-T and MUST.
• Undertake advanced clinical procedures including intravenous therapy, cannulation, syringe driver management and catheterisation.
• Perform diagnostic procedures and tests, where competent, to gain a comprehensive understanding of a patient's condition, including ECGs, phlebotomy, blood glucose monitoring, Point of Care Testing and interpretation of blood results.
• Prescribe medication, where appropriately qualified and authorised, in accordance with independent nurse prescribing standards and professional guidelines.
• Work autonomously, using advanced clinical skills and nursing knowledge to assess, plan and deliver episodes of care, referring to other services where appropriate to support patient outcomes.
• Facilitate effective communication between patients, relatives, carers and professional colleagues to ensure coordinated and seamless care.
• Respond to urgent referrals from health and social care professionals, using sound clinical judgement and triage skills to assess, plan and implement evidence-based interventions.
• Gather, analyse and interpret information from referrers, making informed decisions and advising on the most appropriate care pathway for the patient.
• Assess and prioritise unscheduled requests for nursing intervention, ensuring allocation to the most appropriately skilled clinician.
• Ensure that all patients are treated with dignity, compassion and respect at all times.
• Be accountable for the holistic assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of patient care packages and treatment interventions.
• Identify and manage complications associated with patient care, implementing interventions that support patients to remain safely at home wherever appropriate.
• Maintain accurate and contemporaneous records.
• Refer patients to other services and agencies as appropriate, including Social Services and specialist teams.
• Recognise and escalate unforeseen crisis situations relating to staffing, caseloads, support networks or supervision, escalating risks, actions and outcomes to senior colleagues/team members as required.
• Manage personal workload and support team workload management to ensure effective delivery of community care and reduce inappropriate hospital admissions.
• Coordinate and oversee complex packages of care involving multiple professionals and agencies, providing specialist advice to patients and families to support informed decision-making.
• Take responsibility for maintaining and developing the clinical skills and knowledge required to support safe care for patients on the caseload.
• Participate in maintaining standards of care within the team, supporting the teaching, coordination, deployment and supervision of staff in accordance with their skills, knowledge and development needs.
• Participate in workforce planning, including annual leave, sickness and study leave cover, where required.
• Be accountable for the effective management, prioritisation and delegation of work for both self and team members.
• Develop personalised, evidence-based care plans and ensure care is delivered by the most appropriate member of the multidisciplinary team.
• Provide education and health promotion to patients and carers regarding their condition, treatment, potential side effects and expected outcomes, encouraging self-management, independence and resilience.