Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Newtownabbey

We are currently recruiting for the following role: Advanced Nurse Practitioner - Primary Care.

Hours: Part-time/Out-of-Hours

Responsible to: General Practitioner

Accountable to: Medical Director

Location: Dalriada Urgent Care sites to include Antrim Area Hospital and Causeway Hospital

The post holder is an experienced nurse, who acting within their professional boundaries, will provide care for the presenting patient from initial history taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of their care. They will demonstrate safe, clinical decision-making and expert care for patients. They will work collaboratively with their team to meet the needs of patients, while supporting the delivery of policy and procedures. To work at this level, NMC requirements for advanced practice must be met.

Scope and Purpose of the Role:

• To deliver a high standard of patient care as Nurse Practitioner (NP), using advanced autonomous clinical skills, and a broad and in-depth theoretical knowledge base.
• Dealing with presenting patients' needs in a primary care setting.
• To ensure the highest standards of care are provided for the patients.
• To develop the nursing provision offered by the service.

Job Dimensions:

• To manage own clinical workload, responding effectively to patient need and ensuring patient choice.
• To work as part of the Clinical Team, and work collaboratively with secondary care colleagues to ensure effective patient care.

Primary Duties & Areas of Responsibility:

Clinical Role:

• Make professionally autonomous decisions for which he/she is accountable.
• Provide a first point of contact within the Service for patients presenting with undifferentiated, undiagnosed problems, making use of skills in history taking, physical examination, problem-solving and clinical decision-making, to establish a diagnosis and management plan.
• To prescribe safe, effective and appropriate medication as defined by current legislative framework.
• Provide safe, evidence-based, cost-effective, individualised patient care.
• Offer a holistic service to patients and their families, developing where appropriate an on-going plan of care/support, with an emphasis on prevention and self-care.
• Promote health and well-being through the use of health promotion, health education, screening and therapeutic communication skills.
• Refer patients directly to other services/agencies as appropriate.
• Promote integrated and seamless pathways of care.
• Contribute to the service achieving its quality targets to sustain the high standards of patient care and service delivery.

Professional Role:

• Promote evidence-based practice through the use of the latest research-based guidelines and the development of practice-based research.
• Monitor the effectiveness of their own clinical practice through the quality assurance strategies such as the use of audit and peer review.
• Maintain their professional registration.
• Participate in continuing professional development opportunities to ensure that up-to-date evidence-based knowledge and competence in all aspects of the role is maintained.
• Work within the latest NMC Code of Professional Conduct.
• Record accurate consultation data in patients' records in accordance with the latest NMC guidance and other pertinent standards.
• Keep up to date with pertinent health-related policy and work with the practice team to consider the impact and strategies for implementation.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues within and external to the service.
• Pro-actively promote the role of the NP within the service, and externally to key stakeholders and agencies.

The post-holder will not undertake the following:

• Any aspect of care for which they are not competent.

Health and Safety / Risk Management:

The post-holder must comply at all times with the Health and Safety policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting System. The post-holder will comply with the Data Protection Act (1984) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).

Equality and Diversity:

The post-holder must co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc.

Respect for Patient Confidentiality:

The post-holder should respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

Communication & Working Relationships:

The post-holder will establish and maintain effective communication pathways with colleagues, stakeholders, patients and their carers. Recognise the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating. Utilise communication skills to support patients to adhere to prescribed treatment regimens. Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication when appropriate.

Full pack is available on our careers page - to apply, click apply now and complete the application form TPBN1_NI.