Night Driver & Care Support for Urgent Community Nursing in Norwich

An exciting opportunity to join the Out of Hours Urgent Community Response Team on a fixed term contract. This role will be to provide support to the Out of Hours Community Nursing Service overnight in the delivery of high standards of healthcare to patients within their own homes, care homes, the travelling community and in clinics. Our aim is to avoid admissions to the acute setting by providing urgent community nursing care. We cover all areas in Norfolk and Waveney, in teams, every night with the coordination team based at Norwich Community Hospital. We work in partnership with East Coast Community Healthcare to deliver care across Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

Main duties of the job

• Work in partnership with the nurse co-ordinator to support deployment of clinical teams as directed.
• Drive Nurses to visits of patients.
• Undertake care under the supervision of the registered nurse.
• Engage in the use of SystmOne including mobile working.
• Engage with referral to discharge standard processes.
• Be aware of the demand and capacity model which will reflect workload needs at any given time.
• Engage in admission avoidance when required.

Job responsibilities

• Coordination support: Work as part of the clinical triage team within the Out of Hours Community Nursing service, and under the direction of a nurse coordinator, whilst on shift undertake the registering of referrals.
• Under supervision of the nurse coordinator assist in allocation of visits and to ensure visits are prioritised according to the service and the patient need.
• Ensure all documentation and record keeping undertaken in line with local SOPs and Trust Policies.
• Use assistive technology to support the allocation/deployment of visits fairly and efficiently.
• Assist with processing of urgent referrals by using geographical knowledge with the assistance of technology.
• Work in accordance with the local processes and standard operating procedures as set out by the Trust.
• Be a knowledge resource for troubleshooting assistive technology alongside the nurse co-ordinator.
• Effectively communicate with teams deployed to visits.

• Driver: Locate and drive the Out of Hours Nurse safely to designated address and back to the teams base. Ensure the vehicle used is fuelled and maintained in accordance with the lease terms and road safety regulations, and ready to use at the start of each shift. Ensure that the vehicle logs are completed at the end of each shift to a standard to satisfy auditors. Interact with sat-nav devices including training and troubleshooting. Effectively communicate with co-ordination team.

• HCA: Assist the nurse with moving and handling patients as required. Assist the nurse with clinical tasks where required. Assist in the delivery and collection of equipment. Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of consent, and gain consent as appropriate following organisational policies. Be exposed to bodily fluids, infected material, blood products, when assisting with clinical tasks, therefore must utilise precautions and adhere to infection control policies.

Person Specification

• Qualifications: NVQ 2 In Health Care Social Care or equivalent experience. GCSE Grade C or above in Maths and English or equivalent.
• Experience: Driving for a minimum of one year. Previous experience in a health/care setting. Experience in customer care. Knowledge of the local area.
• Skills, Abilities and Knowledge: Highly motivated. Ability to use own initiative. Good observational & reporting skills. Ability to manage stressful situations. Concentrate when undertaking patient care and inputting data/patient records. Good interpersonal skills. A team player. Flexible approach to accommodate patient/service needs. Have basic IT and standard keyboard skills. Able to kneel bend and stoop and work in cramped environments. Able to manoeuvre limbs of around 5-6kg. Able to manoeuvre patients using handling aids. Knowledge of additional specialist areas through in-house training and short courses including Palliative Care, Long Term Conditions and Diabetes Management. Be aware of assistive technology.
• Communication: Tact and diplomacy. Empathy and sensitivity. Ability to report and escalate issues as required. Able to communicate effectively using the English language in both written and verbal forms.
• Personal and People Development: Able to identify with the Trust's commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults. Resilience to stressful situations. Able to prioritise and plan.
• Other: Must hold a full and valid driving licence. 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.