Hospice Community Clinical Nurse Specialist in Ipswich

Are you an enthusiastic Registered Nurse who wants to give the best possible care? Have you thought about a career in Specialist Palliative Care at St Elizabeth Hospice? St Elizabeth Hospice is an independent charity and hospice, which improves life for people in the East Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney areas living with a progressive or life-limiting illness. Our most recent Care Quality Commission report rated the hospice as Outstanding. Established in 1989, the hospice has built a reputation for delivering high-level care to patients and the community it serves. Through medicine and therapy, they ease pain; give life purpose and make life liveable. Last year the charity supported over 4,000 patients and their families.

We are seeking an experienced Registered Nurse to join the Reactive Service within our Community Nursing Team on a permanent basis. You will provide specialist palliative care advice and support to patients in the East Suffolk area working at an enhanced level of practice to manage patients in complex, challenging and changing situations and environments. If you would like an opportunity to find out more about working at the hospice and how it can fit your own career aspirations, we recommend an informal visit/discussion prior to you completing your application.

Main duties of the job

• To thrive in this role, you will need to demonstrate experience in influencing the holistic care of patients and carers with end of life and specialist palliative care needs.
• The ideal candidate will possess skills and capabilities across all four pillars of nursing: clinical practice, education, research and leadership and will be required to function to a high level of autonomy within specialist palliative care.
• Please note that we have a flexible workforce policy which means that employees will be deployed in other areas when there is the need to do so.

Salary: £47,810.00 - £54,710.00 - Band 7 (will consider band 6)

Hours: Part-time 23 or 34.5 hours per week. 11.5 hour shifts Monday to Sunday. Day shifts 07:30 to 20:00 and night shifts 19:30 to 08:00.

About us

The hospice's work is centred on the individual's needs and they provide specialist support wherever it is needed; whether that is in the home, another setting in the community, in hospital or in the hospice itself. Support is provided to patients and their families via the In-Patient Unit, the Community Care Unit including outpatients clinics, home visits from the Community Nursing, Medical and Therapy Teams, the One Call 24/7 telephone helpline and bereavement support.

The hospice offers a generous benefit package, including:

• 27 days annual leave entitlement
• Life Cover
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Car Leasing Scheme
• Health Service Discounts
• Occupational Sick Pay
• Blue Light Card
• Employee Assistance Programme

St Elizabeth Hospice is committed to safeguarding and protecting the adults and young people that we work with and has a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, neglect and discrimination of any person. As such, all posts are subject to a rigorous safer recruitment process, including the disclosure of criminal records and vetting checks. We have a range of robust safeguarding policies in place which promote safeguarding across the hospice and staff are expected to undertake regular, mandatory safeguarding training to equip them with the knowledge and skills to identify and respond to potential risks.

Job responsibilities

• To work at an enhanced level of practice to manage community patients in complex, challenging and changing situations and environments, seeking further guidance when the boundary of competence is reached.
• Will possess skills and capabilities across all four pillars of nursing: clinical practice, education, research and leadership.
• Required to function to a high level of autonomy within specialist palliative care.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• To undertake in-depth holistic assessments of patients with palliative care needs, regardless of their diagnosis and plan care to meet patient outcomes.
• To provide information, advice, psychological and spiritual care to patients, their families and carers, liaising and referring on as necessary to appropriate healthcare professionals in the Hospice, Hospital and community.
• Responsible for managing the reactive work via the One Call service, ensuring a timely and appropriate response to all clinical calls.
• Work in a collaborative, compassionate way, promoting equality, respecting diversity, and ensuring inclusivity, taking responsibility for challenging behaviour that does not align with these values.
• Apply clinical reasoning to individual presentations and complex situations, utilising information from different sources to make timely, appropriate, and evidence-based judgements.
• Optimise safety through assessment and management of risk.
• Use advanced communication skills in delivering highly emotive information clearly, sensitively and unambiguously with staff, patients, families and professionals by face to face, telephone and/or electronic means.
• Provide skilled and expert palliative nursing interventions, working closely with medical and other colleagues to ensure a coordinated and effective service across boundaries of inpatient, community and outpatients and across professionals, carrying out reactive visits as clinically indicated.
• Maintain and develop working relationships with community and hospital colleagues ensuring effective communication so enhancing patient care.
• Involve patients, families, and carers in co-production of and making informed decisions regarding strategies to manage their own health and wellbeing.
• Participate in the development and updating of practice policies/guidelines and procedures using high-quality contemporary evidence-based resources.
• Participate in the evaluation of significant events, capturing the learning from these experiences to improve patient care and service delivery.
• Identify own personal development needs, proactively seek feedback, and take effective action to address them using a mix of strategies.
• Share knowledge, experience and expertise with nurses and others at all levels, through strategies such as formal and informal teaching, facilitated reflective practice, skills supervision, coaching, mentoring and preceptorship.
• Participate in the supervision, evaluation and assessment of nurses aspiring to work at an enhanced level acting as the line manager for allocated Senior Registered Nurses.
• Undertake activities that monitor and improve the effectiveness, impact, and value of own and others work.
• Use a wide range of contemporary high-quality data, research, evidence based professional practice, and valid and reliable tools and techniques, to proactively evaluate and sustainably improve current ways of working.
• Display self-leadership by managing own workload and competing demands.
• Support innovation and service development utilising evidence-based approaches to optimise effective, sustainable change.
• Work within current evidence-based policies, processes, standards, and governance systems, alerting others when revisions are needed to ensure they remain fit for purpose.
• Reflect on and contribute to improving ways of working and supporting a culture of safety.
• Promote a safeguarding is everyone's business culture, acting as a safeguarding deputy if required.
• Ensure adherence with relevant Infection Prevention and Control policies and procedures, raising any risks to the IPC group/service lead.
• Lead and participate in research, integrating research-based evidence in all aspects of specialist palliative care into clinical practice.
• Contribute to the audit programme, taking a lead role in specialist palliative nursing audits.
• Deputise for the Community Service Lead as requested.
• Keep abreast of national policy on palliative and end of life nursing strategy to use as a framework for practice development.
• To update own specialist skills and knowledge in cancer and palliative care, through continuous professional development.

General

• Where you are a member of a professional body you are required to conform to the professional standards set by that body.
• You are required to ensure your registration is current and practice continuous professional development.
• Because of the special nature of the Hospice and its work, the post holder may on occasion be asked to undertake other duties to help maintain our high standard of care.

This job description is not necessarily exhaustive and may be subject to review by the Director of Care in conjunction with the postholder.

Person Specification

Experience

• Significant post registration experience including proven palliative care / Oncology experience at a Band 6 or above, or equivalent level.
• Experienced in assessing patient needs that may be complex and subject to change.
• Knowledge of the national palliative care agenda.
• Have an understanding of safeguarding principles and be able to apply these within everyday practice.
• Experience of working in the community.
• Previous experience of developing and implementing policies and procedures.

Qualifications

• First level Registered Nurse with current NMC registration.
• Level 6 and / or level 7 post registration education in palliative care or related qualification.
• Advanced communication course.
• Non-Medical Prescribing.
• Counselling qualification.

Specific Skills

• Expert current knowledge of pain and symptom management, which underpins theory, usually gained through recent clinical practice at a senior level.
• Ability to identify psychological or spiritual distress requiring referral to other specialist services.
• Evidence of counselling skills and practical application.
• Evidence of ability to interact and influence at all levels within the organisation.
• Commitment to clinical excellence through regular professional updating.
• Computer literacy sufficient to input patient records and work efficiently and effectively.
• Able to prioritise and manage own time effectively.

Personal Qualities

• Ability to inspire and motivate others.
• Smart personal presentation, appropriate to the role.
• Can lead and develop team working.
• Car driver, holding a current valid driving licence.
• Active member of the multi-disciplinary team.
• Ability to work flexibly to the needs of the service.
• Proven personal coping strategies in dealing with emotionally loaded situations.

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.