Junior Urology Sister/Charge Nurse in Bedford

This is an exciting permanent opportunity to work as a Urology Nurse Specialist within the Urology Department working alongside both medical and nursing teams. The post holder must be able to actively demonstrate and proactively deliver effective and personal care, which is safe for the patients, in a calm and compassionate manner to every patient, every time. This should be at the core of all planning which actively involves the patient and where appropriate, their relatives/carers. With the ability to escalate areas of interprofessional and multiagency care concerns to the lead nurse, manager, Matron or Deputy/Chief Nurse in a timely manner. The successful candidate will be expected to undertake training and education to be able to deliver this role. This team will cover patients by working on the wards and outpatients based providing a comprehensive service. The successful candidate will need to demonstrate excellent communication skills and the ability to balance an acute workload as an advanced practitioner.

Main duties of the job

• Working alongside Consultant Urology Surgeons the post holder will work towards becoming an autonomous independent Urology Nurse Specialist by providing information, support, advice and specialist knowledge to patients, their families and carers, and to act as a resource to the multi-professional team.
• To assess, plan, implement and evaluate expert patient care to ensure continuity throughout the patient’s care pathway.
• To be pivotal in review and development of the service, and to reflect the needs of the patient group including working alongside external stakeholders in the provision of this service.
• To liaise closely with the health care teams of the in-patient ward, out-patient department and primary care, including consultant surgeons and GPs.
• To demonstrate wide and in-depth experience of all aspects of the specialty, exercising clinical leadership and effective education within their sphere of practice.
• To monitor and improve standards of care through clinical audit, assisting with leading the development of practice through research.
• To provide a clinical practice facilitation role for all levels of related ward staff.
• To support nurse led clinics under the supervision of the Urology Consultants managing patient care and providing support to the attending doctor.
• To hold a case load of patients ensuring that follow up plans and procedures are in place.

About us

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarise yourself with all requirements of the job.

Job responsibilities

Urology is a key specialty in our hospital and a major element of the workload associated with this post is co-ordinating and ensuring efficient running of our dynamic Urology one stop clinic. The post-holder will work towards providing high quality specialist nursing care to patients with urological conditions in outpatients department and provide specialist input on wards as needed. They will also provide support and advice to patients and their families as well as acting as a resource to other professionals.

Key Responsibilities

• Clinical: To sustain a high-quality service within the urology multi-disciplinary team.
• To assess and advise patients on the treatment and management of urological disease. This will involve taking a clinical history and physical examination.
• To be knowledgeable about all urology procedures and be fully aware of medical treatments relevant to work area.
• To provide information, education and psychological support to patients with benign and malignant conditions.
• Competent in undertaking urodynamic studies, including Video urodynamic video studies.
• Assist with teaching and supervising junior nursing staff when carrying out urological nursing procedures.
• Support and work towards facilitating independent nurse led clinics including prostate assessment and post-operative follow up.
• Assess, analyse and plan to provide written and verbal information about treatment options.
• Make recommendations to GPs.
• Provide patient information on urological procedures enabling them to make informed consent.
• Perform designated procedures including catheterisation and intravesical therapy, phlebotomy and cannulation.
• Teach intermittent self-catheterisation and dilatation.
• Make appropriate referrals to other health professionals.
• Provide a telephone resource for patients, GPs and District Nurses.
• Assist with flexible Cystoscopy procedures and Prostate biopsy clinics.

Supervisory Duties

• To support the senior Urology Nurse Specialist in the efficient day to day running of the one stop Urology clinic.
• To attend and actively participate in the multidisciplinary team meeting and treatment planning/referral decisions.
• To assess the quality of care given by the evaluation of patient service, effecting change where necessary and demonstrating patient involvement when appropriate.
• To liaise closely with the Senior Urology Nurse and Service Manager, maximising the use of available resources to benefit patient care and ensuring that any changes in practice that impacts budgetary resources are considered fully.
• To promote/manage the efficient and effective use of supplies, provisions and equipment within the designated budget.

Teaching and Audit

• Establish and evaluate programmes of education and training for junior nurses, HCAs and other members of the multi-disciplinary team in the area of urology.
• To work collaboratively with relevant educational staff to provide teaching programmes to meet those needs.
• To identify the specific education needs of individual patients and carers and facilitate meeting those needs.
• Prepare and provide learning materials for use within the clinical areas.
• Participate in clinical supervision programme as supervisee and supervisor.
• In collaboration with other nurses, identify and encourage research-based practice in relation to urological care within the Trust.
• Participate in nursing and collaborative research in urological care.
• To initiate and or participate in clinical audit in collaboration with the Multidisciplinary team.

Management

• To play a key role in the operational and strategic development of the urology service.
• To develop clinical policies and protocols relevant to the patient group.
• Liaise effectively with all other disciplines within the Trust and at local/community level.
• Participate in the review and develop written policies, protocols and guidance relevant to this patient group, in conjunction with the Multidisciplinary team. These should be updated where necessary.
• Initiate and participate in the management of change to improve standards and communication links across primary and secondary care.
• To act as an effective role model.
• To work with and support managers and clinical staff to identify areas where changes in practice are required.
• Provide reports as required by the Trust.
• To introduce measures to actively manage and reduce risk to patients.
• Ensure the formal reporting and recording of adverse incidents in line with Trust policy.
• Network with other clinical nurse specialists to evaluate, develop and promote the specialist-nursing role.
• To utilise and maintain information systems to aid audit and to provide regular active analysis reports.
• Ensures compliance with the Trust Equality and Diversity Policy, supporting the delivery of the Race Equality Scheme and duty to positively promote race equality and equality of opportunity for disabled people ensuring services are responsive to the needs of equality groups.

Personal Professional Development

• To keep up to date with developments in Urological care by regularly reviewing the literature and attending the relevant study days.
• To fulfil PREP requirements.
• To achieve a range of clinical competencies as required.
• To keep up to date with current literature and research in nursing and the speciality.
• To maintain your own personal and professional development, attending mandatory study sessions as required whilst maintaining own professional portfolio, in preparation for 3 yearly NMC revalidation.
• To undergo and actively participate in your own performance appraisals.
• To adhere to the NMC Code of Professional conduct working within and accepting responsibility for maintaining agreed levels of competence.

Person Specification

• Qualifications: NMC Level 1 Registered Nurse, willingness to undertake a post graduate qualification, a clinical expert either through formal qualification (Degree/Masters) and/or extensive clinical experience pertinent to the area of specialism, relevant post-registration qualification and teaching qualification.
• Experience: The relevant nursing experience, relevant, demonstrable experience in specialty area, proven experience of service development.
• Skills: Advanced clinical assessment skills or willingness to develop these.

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.