Ward Staff Nurse in Lowestoft

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic individual to work within our established inpatient team. You will support both nursing and therapy teams to facilitate rehabilitation in an inpatient environment. Our aim is to promote recovery and well-being, whilst empowering patients to self-manage and maximise their independence using meaningful activity. We take a very holistic approach to rehabilitation working on the ethos that all patient interactions have the potential to be a rehabilitation opportunity.

Main duties of the job

You will be working within a team consisting of band 7 ward manager, band 6 sister/charge nurse, band 5 registered nurse and band 3 senior healthcare support workers who are all trained in a range of skills. Your role will be very physical, providing hands-on, patient-facing care. You will work alongside both nursing and therapy teams, delivering care so that they can support and respond to the patient's needs. This includes all aspects of activities of daily living, with an ethos of rehabilitation to support patients to gain as much independence as possible.

About us

ECCH is a well-established health care provider and has been successfully delivering NHS care within the community since 2011. We provide a range of NHS, community health and social care services predominantly across the easterly region of the Norfolk/Suffolk borders. We are aligned to NHS terms and conditions, and offer many employee benefits. We are a social enterprise and staff-owned organisation which means staff can opt to be shareholders and have a real say in how ECCH is run and evolves to deliver healthcare for the future. At the heart of our ambition, we work in partnership with and for the community to become the provider and employer of choice for community healthcare.

The Unit presently comprises of 33 intermediate care beds delivering rehabilitation, which are located over three individual units that have 11 single rooms in each. For our intermediate care patients, our aims are to reduce acute hospital admission and facilitate early discharge by utilising the skills of the multidisciplinary team of nurses and therapists.

Job responsibilities

• Contribute to, support and promote ECCH's strategic direction, values and culture in relation to proactive and reactive services.
• Discuss all treatment options with sensitivity, knowledge and expertise, and to act as a patient advocate when appropriate, respecting patient confidentiality with privacy and respect for diverse cultural backgrounds and requirements.
• Actively manage the patients' admission, involving clinical experts, when relevant, to advise in the treatment plan.
• Proactive discharge management, ensuring patients are consulted and proper management of situations where patients need assistance in decision making.
• Act as a resource for other health and social care professionals on matters relating to nursing.
• Proactive participation in multidisciplinary team meetings.
• Take charge of the service and/or site in the absence of a Sister/Charge Nurse, accepting responsibility during this time to lead the team and maintain a safe environment.
• To act as an effective role model to other staff, being clear about expectations and ensuring that safe patient care is central to all activities.
• To provide complex information to the patients, clinicians and other agencies to assist in decision-making, using persuasive, motivational, negotiating, training, empathic and reassurance skills.
• Participate in clinical supervision within the team as required.
• Participate and maintain a learning environment and maximise opportunities for education and development in the clinical area.
• Contribute to the clinical governance agenda through participation in clinical risk assessment and clinical audit.
• Contribute to an environment conducive to effective working, respecting and supporting staff to deliver high quality clinical services.
• Contribute to change and innovation within the ward.
• Work as part of the multidisciplinary team to deliver evidence-based cost-effective care.
• Work in collaboration with colleagues to contribute to the development of care pathways for patients requiring a range of healthcare needs.
• Work with patients towards self-care and independence utilising health coaching techniques.
• Contribute to the review of current policies/protocols/guidelines and the development of clinical pathways and outcomes for inpatients.
• Contribute to supporting evidence to meet the Care Quality Commission (CQC) fundamental standards.
• Plan and organise a range of complex clinical activities to ensure best practice is delivered to patients in your delegated area of responsibility.
• Take responsibility for own personal and professional development; maintain competence, knowledge and skills commensurate with role.
• Be wholly accountable for practice taking every reasonable opportunity to sustain and improve knowledge and professional competence and ensure all aspects of professional behaviour as required within professional code are followed at all times.
• Maintain legible, accurate and contemporaneous patient records in accordance with ECCH Policy and Nursing and Midwifery Council standards for record keeping.
• Take responsibility to ensure compliance with Health and Safety Policy, Fire and Environmental Waste Regulations.
• Be responsible for understanding, following and implementing ECCH policies and procedures.
• Ensure own compliance with ECCH risk management systems, proactively identifying risk, reporting and managing risk within area of responsibility.
• Take responsibility for the cost-effective management and safe use of clinical equipment.
• Contribute to the effective use of resources.
• Contribute to the evaluation of training programmes to support patients and carers gain the necessary knowledge and skills to maintain independence.

All roles within East Coast Community Healthcare CIC (ECCH) require staff to demonstrate our Values and Signature Behaviours in the care and service they provide to patients, service users, stakeholders and colleagues. All members of staff should consider these as an essential part of their job role. Our Values outline the core behaviours that we can all achieve and are summarised as an acronym within the word 'CARE'. These stand for: Compassion, Action, Respect and Everyone. Underpinning our Values are our Signature Behaviours which highlight by taking the right actions we continue to build a strong culture. Our four Signature Behaviours are: Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead | Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Certificate, Diploma or Degree in Nursing to enable NMC registration
• Evidence of continued professional development and a professional portfolio
• Mentorship/teaching and Assessing Course or equivalent
• Working towards, or keen to undertake further study
• Health related degree

Experience

• Evidence of experience working within a community nursing or hospital setting
• Evidence of experience working within a secondary care environment
• Evidence of experience working to improve clinical practice
• Evidence of experience working with a case management approach to care

Additional Criteria

SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

• Enthusiastic and committed to individualised goal directed care
• Willing to challenge poor practice
• Understanding of all aspects of clinical governance appropriate to level of experience including a base knowledge of the CQC fundamental standards
• To be able to assess, plan, implement and evaluate the nursing needs of patients
• Professional knowledge of nursing care, current trends
• Ability to prioritise and delegate workload
• Act on unplanned situations utilising appropriate clinical judgement
• Must have an understanding of the legal and ethical issues pertaining to nursing
• Able to undertake phlebotomy, cannulation and the administration of intravenous therapy/blood transfusions
• Ability to complete SystmOne training in order to comply with the record keeping requirements of the role

PERSONABLE ATTRIBUTES

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent organisational skills and good time management
• Ability to communicate appropriately to a wide variety of people
• Ability to work on own initiative and autonomously
• Use of a computer to access emails, use of internet
• Willing to work flexible hours/location to accommodate the needs of the service including internal rotation (days, nights, weekends and Bank Holidays)
• Ability to embrace our Culture, Values and Signature Behaviours: (Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead | Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together).
• Willingness and ability to work across different sites and travel to alternative sites and across the community as required

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.