Lead Nurse (Primary Care) in Carlisle

The Lead Nurse will provide clinical and operational leadership to the nursing team within the GP practice, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, safe, evidence-based patient care for the practice population. This is a clinical/leadership role with allocated time for leadership duties. The role is offered on a 37.5 hour per week basis, but can be offered on a part-time or job share basis for the right applicant(s).

Main duties of the job

• Provide strong clinical leadership to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and high-quality care.
• Contribute to service development and quality improvement initiatives, driving innovation and continuous improvement in patient outcomes.
• Lead, manage, and support multidisciplinary teams, fostering a positive and collaborative working environment.
• Uphold professional and regulatory responsibilities, ensuring practice aligns with relevant standards, policies, and governance requirements.

About us

We are a forward-thinking 6 GP partner semi-rural dispensing and training practice operating over 4 sites in Brampton, Corby Hill and Wetheral currently serving around 16,500 patients.

Job responsibilities

• Clinical Leadership
  • Provide clinical leadership and supervision for nursing staff, ensuring high standards of care across all nursing services.
  • Deliver and coordinate clinical services including chronic disease management e.g., diabetes, COPD, hypertension immunisations, vaccinations, and health promotion.
  • Lead on annual vaccination programmes including stock control (supported by the nursing team).
  • Undertake advanced clinical duties such as immunisation delivery, cervical cytology, wound care, blood tests, ECGs, and other clinical procedures as required by the practice.
  • Provide or support nurse-led clinics and autonomous clinical decision-making within scope of practice.
  • Support adherence to national and local clinical guidelines and evidence-based practice.
• Service Development & Quality Improvement
  • Identify opportunities and lead initiatives to develop nursing services to meet practice priorities and patient needs.
  • Contribute to achieving practice performance targets (e.g., Quality and Outcomes Framework, immunisation targets).
  • Promote clinical governance, audit, quality assurance, and continuous improvement.
  • Lead, mentor, and supervise the nursing team, including registered nurses, nurse associates and healthcare assistants.
  • Recruitment, induction, appraisal and development of nursing staff.
  • Manage nursing rotas and contribute to team workload planning.
  • Carry out annual appraisals and monitor CPD.
  • Lead on nursing standards, protocols and best practice.
  • Support quality improvement and service development.
  • Encourage a positive, open and supportive team culture.
  • Help manage risk, safety and complaints processes.
• Health, Safety & Infection Control
  • Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines.
  • Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness and regulatory / contractual / professional requirements, and good practice guidelines.
  • Responsible for the correct and safe management of the specimens process, including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct and clean containers, storage and transport arrangements.
  • Management and maintenance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the practice, including provision, ordering, availability and ongoing correct usage by staff.
  • Responsible for hand hygiene across the practice.
  • Ownership of infection control and clinically based patient care protocols, and implementation of those protocols across the practice.
  • Monitor practice facilities and equipment in relation to infection control, ensuring that provision of hand-cleansing facilities, wipes etc. are sufficient to ensure a good clinical working environment.
  • Safe management of sharps procedures, including training, use, storage and disposal.
  • Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile way, safe and free from hazards.
  • Actively identifying, reporting, and correcting health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised.
  • Keeping own work areas and general/patient areas generally clean, sterile, identifying issues and hazards/risks in relation to other work areas within the business.
  • Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum twice annually).
  • Waste management, including collection, handling, segregation, container management, storage and collection.
  • Spillage control procedures, management and training.
  • Decontamination control procedures, management and training, and equipment maintenance.
  • Maintenance of sterile environments.
• Work closely with GP Partners, Business Manager, Practice Manager, other clinicians and admin staff to integrate nursing services with the wider practice and PCN.
• Maintain effective communication with patients, carers and teams to support care delivery and practice goals.
• Attend and contribute to clinical and practice meetings.

Education & Development

• Support training and professional development of nursing staff and students.
• Promote a learning environment and disseminate new clinical knowledge, guidelines and best practice.

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse with Current NMC PIN.
• A good standard of Education to Degree level or Higher.
• Trained in cytology.

Experience

• Minimum 4 to 5 years nursing experience.
• Minimum of 2 to 3 years experience in Primary, community or hospital based care.
• Evidence Long term condition management.
• Evidence of complex wound care management.
• Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively with people at all levels by telephone, email, and face to face.
• Effective time management planning and organising.
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously.
• Knowledge of EMIS.
• Evidence of Audit and reporting.
• Experience of team leadership or staff supervision.

Other

• Must be flexible in working hours able to work at desired times including evenings and weekends.
• Own transport with ability and willingness to work across all practice sites.

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.

£46,235 to £52,859 a year Currently under review.