Practice Nurse Level 5

This role requires consolidation of registrant standards of competence and developing confidence to work alone without direct supervision, undertaking and reporting on autonomous decisions made in practice. It is expected that all newly registered staff or those moving to a general practice setting will have a period of preceptorship. This role requires a developing knowledge of practice nursing in the broadest sense, and excellent interpersonal and communication skills to support patients with a wide range of conditions to understand and, where possible, take on self-management of their condition. The role requires resilience and the ability to be flexible and adaptable whilst working in general practice or peoples homes and other community settings. Level 5 nurses will be working as part of a primary/community nursing team and will have some responsibility for supervising less experienced or qualified staff and students in community placements. They will be expected to actively contribute to quality assurance processes and service development.

MAIN DUTIES

Principal Responsibilities

Demonstrate developing competence and clinical skills in the assessment of patients in community and general practice settings, ensuring care plans are developed in partnership and all information is clearly and objectively recorded as required by local policies. This requires the following:

Carry out nursing procedures to practice protocol such as wound care and removal of clips or sutures; Immunisation / vaccination / other injections; Childhood immunisations.

Ability to assess patients, taking into account their physical, mental and social states alongside the impact of their environment and social support available to them and negotiating care plans that are person centred and focused on self- care with clear objectives.

Using a range of assessment tools pertinent to the patients needs to inform the assessment and assess risk for both patients and staff.

Articulation of risk and strategy for risk management.

Knowledge of a broad range of conditions, local care pathways and evidence- based management experienced by patients in community and general practice settings. This will

include LTCs, for example diabetes, coronary heart disease, heart failure, hypertension and stroke, COPD, arthritis, dementia and other common mental illnesses, frailty, and palliative and end of life care.

An understanding of the presentations of multiple pathology, depression and anxiety states and frailty predominantly in older people.

Knowledge of the management of uncomplicated symptoms in those patients with palliative or terminal care needs and enhanced communication skills to confidently manage uncertainty.

Role model the values expected in Compassion in Practice (2014), ensuring that patient, family and carer feedback supports that care received was compassionate.

Ensuring information is recorded objectively and reported back to the community or general practice nursing team.

Facilitation of Learning

Able to recognise personal development needs and also facilitate learning for patients, carers, other staff and students. This requires:

Ability to reflect on practice and utilise clinical supervision and other development opportunities and support.

Emotional intelligence and the ability to support staff in levels 2, 3 and 4, to debrief and reflect on difficult situations experienced to improve learning and enhance self-awareness.

Engagement with appraisal and the development and activation of a personal development plan.

Providing effective mentorship for nursing students and the maintenance of a supportive learning environment with a range of learning opportunities.

Creativity in developing learning materials for patients and adapting care to support individual needs in patients.

Leadership & Management

Is part of a general practice nursing team with delegated accountability and responsibility for patient care, being accountable to the General Practice Nurse team leader. This requires:

Ability to prioritise a delegated caseload/workload and effectively manage time and work effectively within the team.

Knowledge of resource management to ensure care is clinically effective and signposted to the patient and family ensuring principles of confidentiality and disclosure are maintained.

Recognition of personal accountability and responsibility to monitor and evaluate care to ensure optimal practice.

Using opportunities to suggest improvements to services or introduction of other innovations or evidence.

Engage actively in data collection for quality assurance and take responsibility for on-going evaluation of delegated care.

Participation in personal development, appraisal and development of other team members and the links between organisation and team goals.

Ability to recognise poor performance and take appropriate measures.

Assist in undertaking and reviewing needs assessments and other data in general practice that reflect the demographics and case management within the caseload and the broader public health issues within the local community and practice populations.

Have an awareness of and participate in public health campaigns aimed at addressing public health issues both locally and nationally.

Collaborate effectively with a range of other healthcare professionals and agencies that may be involved in patients interdependent care, ensuring awareness of their scope of practice, roles and responsibilities to ensure correct referral and on-going relationships.

Participate in educational audit.

Evidence, Research & Development

Has an enquiring approach to practice to ensure best quality care is offered within any constraints of the service. This requires:

Ability to articulate the evidence underpinning patients care plans and interventions.

Ability to source evidence and to appraise it to underpin practice. Recognise any ethical implications of audit, research, clinical trial or service user involvement strategies.

Clinical Practice

Demonstrate specialist competence, innovation and clinical leadership in the assessment, intervention in and delivery of general practice nursing in all contexts appropriate to individuals needs across the whole age range for the general practice population. This requires:

Ability to assess and manage the range of conditions encountered in general practice using a variety of assessment tools and consultation models appropriate to the patient and situation using physical and clinical examination skills to inform the assessment and decision-making for the on-going management of the patient.

Advanced communication skills that include skills of influencing and negotiation to enable information to be delivered in understandable formats for patients and behaviour change supported where necessary.

Effective multidisciplinary and multi-agency team working, alongside the ability to work independently and accept professional accountability and responsibility for the delivery of whole episodes of care, and supporting and developing others in the general practice nursing team to collaborate effectively, ensuring nursing care is guided by precedent and clearly defined policies, procedures and protocols.

Delivery and co-ordination of evidence-informed, person-centred and negotiated care across the age spectrum.

Use of technology to support independence and patient self-care at home to improve self-care and reduce exacerbations

Role modelling and embodiment of non-judgmental, value-based care encompassing the 6Cs in practice and expectation and promotion of these values in other team members.

Competence in delivering evidence-informed care across a wide range of minor acute and LTCs, ensuring effective evaluation of therapeutic and other approaches to condition management alongside ability to assess patient concordance.

OTHER DUTIES

The responsibilities set out in this document may change from time to time through discussion with the post holder. In addition, the post holder might, at the discretion of the Senior Leadership Team, be required to take on other tasks in the wider interest of Bay Medical Group.

Bay Medical Group is a single, at scale provider of general practice services to the population of Morecambe and Heysham. We have 5 sites across the town and have a patient population of c54,000. We have an established Bay Primary Care Network (PCN) and work closely with other service providers and voluntary sector to improve the health and wellbeing of our local population.

For further information about the benefits of working for us visit https://www.baymedicalgroup.co.uk/benefits.

Bay Medical Group - for happier, healthier people

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role.

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