Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist

We care for you as much as you care for others. There’s a place for you at CNWL. We’re passionate about delivering first‑class patient‑centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people. We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust.

With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career. With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you’re at, there’s always a place for you at CNWL.

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London’s population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run. Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference.

We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff. We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Job overview: CNWL are pleased to announce a vacancy within Hillingdon's Palliative care service. We are looking for an innovative, enthusiastic and dynamic nurse to join our team whose aim is to:

• Improve the coordination and continuity of care and support for patients and their families/carers.
• Enable supportive and proactive nursing care for people in the community who are palliative and at the end of life.

We are looking for an expert nurse with first class clinical skills, who have the ability to effectively triage clinical calls, have leadership ability, are strong team players, and who enjoy working in an ever changing and innovative environment. You should have a creative, imaginative and flexible approach to service delivery and quality improvement and have excellent interpersonal skills with post graduate experience of working in the community, hospital or hospice environment with associated palliative care experience. Flexible working hours are available. This is a Monday to Friday service working 8am to 4pm.

Main duties of the job:

• Improve the coordination and continuity of care and support for patients and their families/carers.
• Triaging telephone calls into the service from Patients, carers, relatives and Clinicians.
• Triaging referrals into the service.
• Enable supportive and proactive nursing care for people in the community who are palliative or at the end of life providing high quality end of life care.
• Working closely within a multi disciplinary team ensuring excellent communications are upheld.
• Upholding ACP wishes of patients and supporting them to achieve their desired preferred place of care/death.

Working for our organisation: Hillingdon Community Palliative care team are a small team of CNS's and admin that strive to provide the best possible care to Palliative/end of life patients in their own homes in the community. Working for Hillingdon community Palliative care team, we pride ourselves on great team work and rising to the challenges of day to day working in such a diverse community.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• To be professionally and legally accountable for all work undertaken.
• To work within the Provider operational guidelines the Trusts, and NMC Code of Conduct at all times.
• To ensure that the patient and their informal carers have an understanding of treatment protocols and give informed consent to examination and treatment interventions recommended.
• To undertake specialist-nursing triage and assessment of clients with palliative care needs through subjective questioning, objective examination, and study of appropriate written material (e.g. clinical records) available.
• This will include acting as the first point of contact for palliative care across Hillingdon in both Primary and Secondary care settings and act as an expert nurse in palliative care for patients and their families with palliative care needs.
• To independently receive, assess and make referrals from a variety of sources where no other nursing professional is currently involved.
• To establish priority, to determine needs, initiate and monitor treatment plans and to direct and support clinicians in this process.
• To work independently within a general Multi-Disciplinary Team to advise where needed, on a palliative approach to patients.
• To work autonomously in isolated community care settings that vary in relation to local socio economic and multi-cultural.
• To use comprehensive knowledge of other multidisciplinary roles and external agencies to ensure best referral management and achieve best patient outcomes.
• To contribute to the development and implementation of uni-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary clinical policies, guidelines, protocols and care pathways.
• To participate in multi-disciplinary assessments and cross agency assessments as required.
• To ensure dignity for the patients and their families at all times.
• To ensure clinical records are recorded and maintained on the team.
• To provide specialist contribution to health promotion and health education initiatives.
• Attend, and actively participate in relevant departmental and nursing team meetings.
• To contribute to maintaining effective communication lines within the service and with other relevant services.
• To attend, actively participate in, and lead multi-disciplinary meetings and case reviews as required.
• To participate in educational programmes and internal/external training initiatives designed to improve palliative skills in a range of professionals.
• To act when required as a mentor for nursing students undergoing CPD courses.
• To act as an educational resource for other nursing staff in their management of patients and families with palliative care needs.
• To evaluate all education and training initiatives undertaken and assist administration keep up to date statistics on personal performance.
• To utilise opportunities to develop skills and knowledge further, keep up-to-date with current practice in this field and attend accredited courses.
• To train and share with others the specialist knowledge gained through appropriate study or accredited/recognised specialist professional courses.
• To comply with all mandatory training.
• To establish and maintain effective lines of communication within the team, with service users, and with other health agencies.
• To communicate sensitive information in a form that is understandable to patients and their informal carers and promotes patients partnership with care.
• To communicate sensitive information in a manner that is recommended by national and local guidance.
• To effectively use a variety of verbal and non-verbal communication skills/tools to ensure that patients and their informal carers understand individual therapeutic education and advice provided.
• To provide copies of all correspondence to patients according to the Trusts policies.
• To advise and negotiate complex information exchange, information, interrelationship issues arising with staff/patients and their carers/local agencies.
• Inform the Line Manager promptly of any complaints or concerns expressed about the service.
• To make effective presentations using a range of multi-media resources to internal and external staff groups for public relations and training/education purposes.
• To contribute to the research activities of the Palliative Care Team as required.
• To support research activity and studies underway e.g. by recruiting participants as required.
• To keep abreast of relevant clinical issues and research in the field of palliative care.
• To ensure that clinical practice is in line with national and local nursing guidelines and demonstrate clinical effectiveness with patient care.
• Contribute and support to the Clinical Governance strategy of the Palliative Care Centre and the Trust as required.
• Synthesise data and evidence from published research where applicable to the role, service and current practice.

Person specification:

• Qualifications: RGN (NMC Registered), Recognised teaching qualification, Achieved or working towards first degree, Non-medical prescriber and physical assessment qualification.
• Skills/Knowledge: Contemporary and relevant clinical knowledge and expertise, Ability to negotiate with a variety of clinical professionals, patients and their families, Ability to prioritise workload and manage time effectively, Ability to solve problems and take action to address issues, Ability to supervise and develop people, Excellent verbal and written communication, Basic computer literacy.
• Experience: Extensive experience in appropriate speciality, Experience of case/ward management, Experience of teaching clinical staff and patients and families, Experience of caring for patients in their own home, Demonstrate ability to initiate, evaluate and sustain change management.
• Audit and Research: Previous experience of audit, standard setting and quality issues, Ability to incorporate research into practice and to motivate others to do so, Experience of user involvement in service planning and delivery.
• Professional Requirements: Take responsibility for and demonstrate evidence of own professional development, Demonstrate commitment to development of palliative and EOLC, Understanding of equal opportunities.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible. Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system. Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period. If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.