Hospital Clinical Nurse Specialist - Palliative Care

The post holder will be a Palliative Care expert practitioner based within the hospital who will take a key role in strengthening the nursing contribution to patients and service users within the speciality across the organisation.

In partnership with the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) the post holder will develop, implement and evaluate a seamless Specialist Palliative Care Service. The role is vital in delivering the highest standards of clinical care and supporting efficiency to drive improvements in health outcomes.

Using advanced nursing practice; takes personal responsibility for shared management of a caseload of patients referred for Specialist Palliative Care and support.

The post holder will demonstrate highly developed and specialist knowledge and expertise and will be responsible for contributing to the ongoing development of innovative practice, research and standards of care.

The post holder will develop strategies to ensure practice development and education for other professionals caring for patients with Specialist Palliative Care needs.

Deliver evidence-based personalised and compassionate care which places quality at the heart of Specialist Palliative Care practice. Care will be responsive to individual needs and reflect current local protocols and national guidelines.

Act as the key accessible professional for the MDT proactively managing a clinical caseload for at least 70% of the role. This will necessitate high levels of autonomy and advocacy, using analytical and judgemental skills in undertaking differential diagnosis to ensure the delivery of appropriate care.

Work as an autonomous practitioner providing an expert level of care, developing own and others knowledge within Specialist Palliative Care.

Manage a caseload of patients and prioritise workload to meet patient and service need.

Use and apply technical knowledge of the Specialist Palliative Care to define, oversee and personalise care pathways for individuals through holistic needs assessment, planning and evaluation of care and all care interventions.

Effectively manages pathways of care, adapting to patients emerging needs by ensuring a planned and co-ordinated approach to care, supporting enhanced recovery and reducing inappropriate admissions to improve patient experience and safety.

Receive and act upon referrals directly from health care professionals and makes referrals to other team members and specialist departments as necessary to ensure optimal quality of care.

Act as a patient advocate to facilitate the process of shared decision making in respect to health, choice of treatment and care. Use interpersonal and communication skills where there may be significant barriers in order to build confidence. Ensure that patients individual needs are expressed and valued and individual care plans are understood.

Advise on the complex disease and symptom management for Specialist Palliative Care patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Evaluate response to interventions and advise on the adaptation of management.

Work autonomously in the development and delivery of nurse led or parallel clinics in line with National guidance and local service need.

Act as a resource providing clinical expertise, specialist advice and support across service boundaries to ensure optimum liaison and co-ordination of care.

Undertake clinical competencies relevant to this specialist service to demonstrate expertise in extended nursing roles.

Actively integrates theory and practice.

Be prepared to work as part of a hospital 7 day service when this is established.

Act as a role model demonstrating high standards of holistic care and provide expert clinical leadership to others across the organisation.

Supervise the patient caseloads of more junior members of the nursing team assuming overall responsibility where applicable.

Lead and line manage junior members of the team of specialist nurses including responsibility for annual appraisal where applicable.

Embed public and patient involvement within the sphere of practice.

Determine measurable outcomes for the service and demonstrate continuous evaluation of practice making changes where necessary.

Contribute to lead on elements of the clinical governance agenda.

Participate in operational and strategic planning for the development and delivery of Specialist Palliative Care Services. Implement service improvements and efficiencies.

Attend Trust senior nurse meetings and contribute to the agenda and the strategic nursing vision.

Represent the Trust by contributing to and participating in meetings locally, regional and nationally relating to the speciality.

Lead or contribute to annual service review and write annual report to reflect service activity and development.

Take personal responsibility for ensuring effective communication between all service providers.

Act as a role model for excellent advanced communication skills and expertise. Demonstrate advanced empathetic interpersonal and communication skills. This will involve frequently imparting significant news or supporting patients and carers during and following such consultations.

Effectively and sensitively communicate highly complex and sensitive information to emotionally distressed patients and family/carers at key points along the care pathway on a frequent basis.

Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further.

We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity.

Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are 'Trusted to provide safe, effective and compassionate care'. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn't matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.

Qualifications

Desirable: - Advanced communication skills training; - Leadership or management course

Experience

Desirable: - Managing projects; - Managing a budget

Skills

Personal Qualities

Essential: - Creative thinker; - Diplomatic

Other

Desirable: - Flexible and positive approach to work