Practice Nurse in Aylesbury

To be responsible for the delivery of practice nursing services, working as part of the practices multidisciplinary team who provide care within their scope of practice to the entitled patient population. The practice nurse will be responsible for a number of clinical areas such as health promotion, chronic disease management, health prevention, well woman and well man clinics, as well as supporting the management team in the reviewing of clinical policy and procedure.

The main duties include assisting with patient assessments, taking vital signs, administering vaccinations, and conducting routine screenings such as blood pressure and cholesterol checks. They also help manage chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, and hypertension by monitoring patient progress and providing education. Additionally, practice nurses promote health by offering advice on healthy lifestyles, smoking cessation, weight management, and sexual health. They are responsible for wound care, such as dressing wounds, removing sutures, and providing post-operative care. Administrative tasks like managing patient records, scheduling appointments, and supporting documentation are also part of their role. Furthermore, practice nurses assist GPs during consultations, preparing patients for examinations and taking notes. Overall, they play an essential role in preventive care and chronic disease management, supporting both patients and healthcare providers.

Mandeville Practice provides comprehensive NHS primary care services to help you manage your health and well-being. The Mandeville Practice is part of PCMS Ltd and is located in a purpose-built building, occupying two floors. Our aim is to provide a high quality, caring and personal health care service to our whole patient population by:

• Putting our patients at the centre of what we do
• Having a highly qualified and trained multi-professional integrated primary Healthcare Team
• Offering our services in a safe, supportive and suitably equipped environment, using technological advances in healthcare systems for our patients' benefit

We aim to treat all our patients promptly, courteously and in complete confidence.

The following are the core responsibilities of the practice nurse. There may be on occasion a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent on factors such as workload and staffing levels:

• Develop, implement and embed health promotion and well-being programmes
• Implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for chronic disease patients
• Identify, manage and support patients at risk of developing long-term conditions, preventing adverse effects on patients' health
• Provide routine nursing care to patients as required in accordance with clinical-based evidence, NICE and the NSF
• Provide wound care (ulcer/Doppler etc.) to patients
• Request pathology services as necessary
• Process pathology results as required
• Provide chronic disease clinics, delivering patient care as necessary, referring patients to secondary/specialist care as required
• Maintain accurate clinical records in conjunction with extant legislation
• Ensure read codes are used effectively
• Maintain chronic disease registers
• Develop, implement and embed well woman clinics
• Develop, implement and embed well man clinics
• Chaperone patients where necessary
• Assist GPs with minor surgery when required
• Prioritise health issues and intervene appropriately
• Support the team in dealing with clinical emergencies
• Recognise, assess and refer patients presenting with mental health needs
• Implement vaccination programmes for adults and children
• Support patients in the use of their prescribed medicines or over-the-counter medicines (within own scope of practice)
• Liaise with external services/agencies to ensure the patient is supported appropriately (vulnerable patients etc.)
• Delegate clinical responsibilities appropriately (ensuring safe practice and that the task is within the scope of practice of the individual)
• Support the clinical team with all safeguarding matters, in accordance with local and national policies
• Understand practice and local policies for substance abuse and addictive behaviour, referring patients appropriately
• Deliver opportunistic health promotion where appropriate

In addition to the primary responsibilities, the practice nurse may be requested to:

• Act as the audit lead, effectively utilising the audit cycle
• Monitor and ensure the safe storage, rotation and disposal of medicaments
• Support junior members of the nursing team, providing guidance when necessary
• Participate in local initiatives to enhance service delivery and patient care
• Support and participate in shared learning within the practice
• Continually review clinical practices, responding to national policies and initiatives where appropriate
• Participate in the review of significant and near-miss events applying a structured approach, i.e. root cause analysis (RCA).

Clinical knowledge includes wound care/removal of sutures and staples; ECGs; Venepuncture; New patient medicals; Chaperone procedure; Requesting pathology tests and processing the results, advising patients accordingly; Travel medicine; Diabetes; Hypertension; Asthma; Spirometry; CHD; Immunisations (routine, childhood and travel); Women's health (Cervical cytology, contraception etc.); Understands the importance of evidence-based practice; Broad knowledge of clinical governance; Ability to record accurate clinical notes; Ability to work within own scope of practice and to understand when to refer to GPs; Knowledge of health promotion strategies; Understands the requirement for PGDs and associated policy; Knowledge of public health issues in the local area; Awareness of issues within the wider health arena.

Qualifications: NMC Registered Nurse

Experience: Experience working in a primary care environment; Experience chronic disease management. Experience of working as a practice nurse or community nurse.

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.