Band 6 Sister/Charge Nurse in Luton

The post holder is designated deputy for the Senior Sister and is expected to support the Senior Sister in achieving the directorate's aim and objectives. The post holder will have excellent clinical skills and knowledge of intensive care, high dependency and special care of the newborn.

The post holder will be responsible for the appropriate deployment and teaching of staff and/or students, liaising with other agencies and ensuring that trust policies and procedures are adhered to. The post holder is responsible for the assessments of the care needs, the development, implementation and evaluation of care without supervision and is required to supervise and teach other nursing and non-nursing staff, acting as a clinical role model. The post holder will also regularly take charge of the clinical area.

Main duties of the job include:

• To take responsibility for the assessment of care needs, development, implementation and evaluation of programmes of care within a family centred partnership, from admission through to discharge, to ensure smooth transition from hospital to home.
• To support the Senior Nurse and take a leading role in developing with staff a mechanism for setting goals and benchmarking standards of care.
• To help and participate in developing tools to improve the quality of clinical services across the department through evidenced based practice.
• Disseminate knowledge, experience and expertise to all within the workplace in order to create a culture of sharing best practice.
• Support systems for sharing good practice within the Unit, Trust and wider region.
• To maintain accountability and comply with the NMC Guidelines, local and trust policies.
• To provide professional advice regarding the development and provision of Client care within the Unit to qualified and unqualified staff.

Managerial Responsibilities:

• To lead by example and act as a role model to motivate and maintain morale and good team working.
• To organize staff to meet the workload within the department with an appropriate skill mix to ensure 24 hour cover, and manage unexpected staffing issues effectively.
• To assist the Senior Nurse, set goals to manage and minimise risk in investigating patient complaints, accidents and incidents reporting and to take corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
• Ensure compliance with trust policies and procedures amongst the multidisciplinary team.
• To assist the Senior Sister in monitoring sickness absence levels.
• Attend and actively contribute to relevant meetings.

Communication:

• To work cohesively as a team in providing a smooth transition from hospital to home for infants and their families, adopting effective and efficient discharge planning at all times.
• To maintain clear, accurate, legible contemporaneous patient documentation at all times.
• To ensure and maintain effective communication within the multi-disciplinary team to achieve an optimum level of service to the patients and families.

Professional Development and Education Responsibilities:

• To attend in-house educational sessions, including updates on breastfeeding initiatives, safeguarding, safe equipment use, resuscitation and life-long learning sessions.
• To facilitate ongoing learning and professional development of junior staff, in conjunction with the sister/charge nurse.
• To participate in maintaining and supporting a stimulating unit learning environment.

Professional and legal Responsibilities:

• To maintain confidentiality at all times.
• To promote awareness and compliance amongst colleagues regarding trust policies, procedures, guidelines and standards.
• Uphold the principles of the NMC code of professional conduct.

Qualifications:

• First level qualification and current NMC registration.
• Current NLS certificate.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Experience:

• Level 2/3 NICU senior staff nurse experience.
• Able to work under pressure to meet demands of a heavy workload.

Skills:

• Ability to manage own caseload and work under pressure.
• Teaching and assessing skills.
• Good inter-personal and communication skills.