Band 5 Registered Nurse - Inpatient Unit in Bristol

Are you a highly motivated, dynamic Nurse who is passionate about delivering the highest quality of care? Would you like to be part of a committed and supportive multi-disciplinary team that delivers empowering and compassionate care? Would you like the opportunity to develop your clinical knowledge and skills within palliative care? If so, a registered nurse role at St Peters Hospice could be for you.

Main duties of the job

• To work as a member of the hospice team providing evidence-based nursing to patients and their families/friends.
• To be responsible for the assessment, planning and delivery of care which is underpinned by evidenced based practice.
• To work actively towards achieving the clinical competencies needed to meet the needs of patients under our care.
• To work actively towards achieving the skills needed to manage a shift providing leadership to the team ensuring all care is delivered in accordance with St Peters Hospice policies and procedures.
• Actively lead, guide and supervise junior staff and volunteers.

About us

We’ve spent over 40 years helping people die in peace, and with dignity. Combining compassion with clinical expertise, we provide patients with the best possible care at the end of their lives. We’re here for the people around our patients too, those closest to them. Before, during and after a bereavement, we provide support that’s remembered forever. We think it’s that unforgettable support that inspires people to give back to St Peters. To fundraise for us. Donate. Volunteer. We’re not exaggerating when we say that we couldn’t do what we do without our wonderful supporters. We really can’t thank them enough. We want to help many more people to die well. And we’re doing this by teaching others. As a centre of educational excellence, we share our skills with other health professionals, helping the NHS and care homes to provide better end-of-life care. We’re here for all, for free, forever.

Job responsibilities

• To assess, plan, implement and evaluate individualised patient care in collaboration with the patient and their carers and the multi-disciplinary team.
• Ensure that patient privacy and dignity is maintained at all times, ensuring confidentiality and robust General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) practice at all times.
• To deliver all care in a caring and compassionate manner, treating patients and colleagues with dignity and respect.
• Carry out duties and responsibilities with regard to the Hospice Equality, Diversity and Respect Policy.
• Recognise the importance of people’s rights and act in accordance with legislation, policies and procedures.
• Act in ways that acknowledge, respect and recognise people’s expressed beliefs, preferences and choices: respecting diversity and valuing people as individuals.
• To administer medications as prescribed and monitor and report on their effect.
• To respond to all admissions effectively and within agreed standards.
• To prioritise own workload and manage own time to ensure priorities are met in a timely fashion and quality is not compromised.
• Support all patients and their families, respecting their beliefs and personal circumstances.
• Understand and engage fully in the clinical governance practices and procedures at St Peters Hospice.
• To contribute to practice improvement and clinical audit, implementing any recommended changes.
• Ensuring that you work in a way that complies with legislation and trust policies and procedures on health and safety and risk management.
• Contribute to maintain Health and Safety standards and Risk Assessment within the IPU.
• Work within SPH Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Policy to ensure you safeguard the interests of all patients.
• Support bereaved families after the patient’s death, informing them of the after-death processes that need to occur.
• Work within own scope of practice, taking professional accountability for clinical competence.
• Use resources economically and efficiently.
• To report accidents, incidents and complaints as per policy, participating in investigations as required.
• Able to deal with emergencies and challenging situations by own actions, knows escalation procedures and familiar with information resource.

Communication

• To communicate with patients and families in a sensitive, supportive and caring manner, taking account of individual personal beliefs, culture and understanding.
• Identify barriers to communication, contextual factors that might affect communication and other cultural or personal preferences when communicating and take these into account.
• Maintain integrity when communicating with others.
• Be a representative of St Peters Hospice at all times.
• To communicate professionally and in a timely way with all internal and external allied health care professionals to ensure the patient and family receive coordinated care of a high quality.
• To ensure all documentation is completed accurately, legibly and in a timely manner in accordance with hospice policy, NMC standards and in line with Information Governance requirements.
• To help patients/relatives overcome barriers to understanding when English is not their first language or they have other language/communication barriers.
• Deliver shift handovers in a concise and efficient manner.

Teamwork

• To work as an open and honest member of the multidisciplinary team to ensure a coordinated and defined management plan/plan of care for each patient.
• To develop effective and supportive working relationships with other members of the Hospice multi-disciplinary team.
• Contribute to the morale of the team, acknowledging it can be a highly emotive work environment and to ensure your own resilience and those of others.
• Motivate and encourage others and feel confident to raise concerns of both yourself and others.
• To supervise Health Care Assistants and Volunteer staff working in the IPU, and allocate appropriate patients under their supervised care.
• To work with and support the IPU management team, including shift leadership as required.
• To attend and contribute to debriefing sessions, reflective case reviews and contribute to the ongoing development of the service as required.
• To actively contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings and team meetings.
• Make constructive suggestions to improving services in a professional manner, working with the senior management team to express these and look at them in context.
• Provide both positive and negative feedback to colleagues and contribute positively to the culture of the IPU.

Personal and professional development of self and others

• To actively participate in, and contribute to the individual performance review and development process.
• Ensuring that you have undergone an annual individual performance review.
• To keep up to date with all mandatory and statutory training, and apply learning to practice.
• Ensuring that you are compliant with the expectations and raising any issues with your line manager should there be a legitimate reason for non-compliance.
• To take responsibility for own individual professional development by keeping up to date with current advances in nursing practice and research, particularly in the field of palliative care.
• Take account of own behaviour and its effects on others.
• Assist in the orientation, and mentorship of new staff and student nurses.
• Be an excellent role model and representative of St Peters Hospice.
• Work towards NMC revalidation and support that of colleagues.
• Demonstrate a commitment to developing research/audit skills and contribute to the research/audit plans of others.
• Be flexible and adaptable to clinical and operational changes.
• Actively work on your own resilience in relation to working within palliative care and the positives and challenges that may bring to you as an individual.

Additional Responsibilities (for Personal Development Planning when fully competent in core role)

• To be willing to be trained and supported to carry out the Individual Performance Review of Health Care Assistants.
• To develop leadership skills to take shift responsibility for the IPU.
• Develop and lead an area of special interest and share expertise and practice development with MDT colleagues as a link role.
• Demonstrate competency in a broad range of clinical competencies as outlined in your job description and/or part of your Individual Performance review.
• To regularly take charge of a shift - dealing with staff allocation and task delegation and ensuring standards are met through effective use and co-ordination of resources.
• To participate in the training and mentoring of student nurses and external placements.
• To monitor practice and competence for Bank RNs and Health Care Assistants by regularly working with them as part of a shift.

Person Specification

• NMC RGN Registration.
• Evidence of further study and continuous professional development.
• Willingness to further develop palliative care knowledge.
• Module in palliative care.
• Advanced communication skills training.
• Mentoring or teaching qualification.

Experience

• Minimum of one year post qualifying experience as a band 5.
• Sound knowledge of current developments in palliative care.
• Desire to work in palliative care.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, verbal and written, to include report writing and record keeping.
• Sound knowledge of the guidelines set out in the NMC code of professional conduct.
• Ability to organise own workload.
• Time management/basic problem solving skills.
• Recent acute hospital, community, palliative care or oncology experience.
• Long term condition nursing experience.
• Knowledge of the role of audit in relation to clinical governance.
• Knowledge of risk assessment.

Additional Criteria

• Good organisational skills.
• Knowledge of Health and Safety.
• Person-centred approach to patient care.
• Recognise when something is wrong/safety has been breached and having the courage to rectify the problem or escalate to a senior member of the team.
• Keeping the environment safe, clean and tidy.
• Taking responsibility for own actions/responding to errors and engaging in any.
• Emotional robustness to cope with the psychological demands of the role.
• Ability to communicate information to patients, families and carers.
• Resilient, due to frequent exposure to difficult/complex situations such as dealing with dying patients and their families/carers.
• Ability to work an internal rotation shift pattern to cover a 24/7 service.
• Flexibility/punctuality.
• Works well in a team, being open and honest.
• Being positive, approachable and engaging with the common goals and strategy of the hospice.
• Sharing of good ideas and best practice to encourage and promote excellent standards of care, staff morale and a positive environment.
• An understanding and empathy for the work of the Hospice.
• High level of motivation.
• Ability to stay calm at a time of crisis.
• Appreciates diversity, non-judgemental in approach.
• Willing to work within the Hospice values, policies and procedures.
• Committed to Continued Professional Development and sharing of good ideas of best practice.
• Driving license and own transport or means of getting to your workplace in time for your shift.

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.