Clinical Nurse Specialist

As an End of Life and Bereavement Clinical Nurse Specialist, you will provide expert assessment, advice and support to patients with advanced cancer and those important to them, ensuring high-quality, individualised care throughout the end of life pathway.

You will work closely with inpatient and outpatient teams, specialist palliative care services, community providers and hospices to coordinate care, facilitate advance care planning and support complex clinical decision-making. The role includes providing specialist symptom management advice, emotional support, bereavement support and guidance for patients, relatives and carers.

You will act as an expert resource for healthcare professionals across the Trust, delivering education, supporting service development and promoting best practice in end of life and bereavement care. The post holder will also contribute to audit, quality improvement and implementation of national guidance, helping to ensure services continue to provide compassionate, evidence-based care for patients and families.

Clinical Responsibilities

To undertake and demonstrate expert clinical knowledge and advanced skills for the management of patients with complex and intractable problems through direct clinical input.

To provide clinical advice regarding end of life care to clinical staff, patients and their families/carers.

Discuss and agree with colleagues end of life and bereavement assessment and care delivery processes incorporating current practice, evidence base, future trends and developments in care, timeliness of interventions and their related risks.

To undertake and evaluate the effectiveness of generic and specialist end of life and bereavement care interventions which are consistent with evidence based practice, whilst transferring and applying knowledge and skills to meet the patients needs.

To monitor the effectiveness of the end of life and bereavement care programs and renegotiate/redesign where indicated to meet patient and carer needs.

To explain clearly to staff the benefits and risks of different end of life and bereavement care interventions, the alternative approaches available and the role of the multi-professional team.

To discuss and agree short, medium or long term goals for bereavement care, prioritise and develop plans with the multi-professional team.

To utilise specialist knowledge to enable colleagues to develop their competence in using different interventions in end of life and bereavement care.

Independently assess, implement, and evaluate patients with complex and intractable problems using holistic needs assessment.

To refer to other specialists when needs and risks are beyond ones own scope of practice.

To educate the multidisciplinary team in co-ordinating and participating in end of life & bereavement discussions, and recommending best course of action as necessary.

To practice as a non-medical prescriber.

Independently deliver significant news to patients with complex psychological needs and support both patients and their carers.

Demonstrate advanced communication skills when dealing with difficult or challenging situations.

Manage clinical caseload, prioritising patient need across in-patient and out-patient settings to enable rapid response to referrals for urgent advice.

Lead multi-disciplinary discussions on current caseload within the Trust to ensure continuity and co-ordination of optimum patient care.

Establish and maintain effective communication with patients and patients and carers/relatives within the clinical setting using effective strategies to overcome barriers to communication.

Utilise and respond to sensitive information appropriately.

Work collaboratively with the multi professional team to ensure patients needs are met.

Maintain accurate legible and timely written/verbal/electronic reports which inform other members of the team, patients and their carers/relatives.

Act as a patient advocate in promoting and delivering the highest standard of nursing care.

Participate in the provision of out-of-hours specialist palliative care advice and 7 day working as per rota and operational policy.

Work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies across Greater Manchester to ensure patient needs are met, especially in relation to on-going supportive & palliative care needs and discharge arrangements.

To promote multi-disciplinary working across professional boundaries, to ensure seamless delivery of patient care and best practice.

To be flexible to the changes within the Supportive Care Team and within the organisation.

To maintain advanced communication skills.

Training & Education

To evaluate palliative care & end of life teaching currently being carried out by the supportive care team, and to assess if any areas of palliative & end of life care are not being addressed.

To audit current palliative and end of life care teaching, to help identify areas for improvement.

The Christie is one of Europe's leading cancer centres, looking after more than 64,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 25% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country.

We are the largest radiotherapy provider in the NHS with one in 20 treatments delivered at The Christie. We have up to 15 linear accelerators operating across our network of sites. We operate the largest chemotherapy unit in the UK on our main site and treatments are also provided at 13 other networked sites, and in patients homes. And as a specialist tertiary surgical centre, we focus on rare cancers, complex procedures, and multidisciplinary approaches to cancer surgery, specialising in colorectal, peritoneal, gynaecological, urological and plastic surgery.

We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We have been named by the UK's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), as one of the best hospitals providing opportunities for patients to participate in clinical research studies, with more than 800 studies open at any time, caring for over 3,000 patients.

Qualifications

Experience

Skills

Knowledge

Values

Other