Dental Nurse

Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a caring, dedicated, adaptable, and self-motivated Qualified Dental Nurse who has excellent personal, communication, and clinical skills and works well within a team environment to join our team across the Greater Manchester area of the Dental Network.

We are seeking candidates who are experienced and hardworking. The successful candidate should be a qualified Registered Dental Nurse and will possess excellent communication, organisational, and interpersonal skills.

This interesting and varied role involves a range of clinical and admin duties.

Continued Professional Development will be provided to support you in this role and to meet your enhanced GDC/CPD requirements.

Main duties of the job

• To provide assistance and support in a broad range of clinical procedures to dentists, dental therapists/hygienists, dental students, and patients whilst maintaining high standards of care and infection prevention and control.
• To work flexibly within the clinical specialism areas to meet the needs of the network that provides specialised dental care on referral to people of all ages, disabilities, and special needs which make it impossible for them to access treatment from an NHS general dental practitioner.
• To ensure the best possible dental nursing care and practice is delivered to all patients including those with complex medical conditions, physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, mental ill health, dementia, learning disabilities, autistic spectrum, and behaviour which may present a challenge to those caring for them, and may include patients at end of life. This list is not exhaustive.
• To work as part of the dental team to provide an efficient and effective dental service.

To practice within the scope of a General Dental Council (GDC) registered dental nurse, and maintain compliance with the GDC professional standards.

About us

Flexible working will be considered for all roles.

Unfortunately, we do not hold a sponsor licence for working Visas.

At Bridgewater, our PEOPLE values shape how we deliver our NHS services in your local community.

They help us deliver our mission to improve local health and promote wellbeing in the communities we serve.

After all, values are about people and they were created in partnership with our staff to reflect what they felt was important to them.

Here at Bridgewater our shared values flow through the organisation:

P- Person-centred: We are passionate about individual needs and promote independence in the healthcare we provide.

E- Empowered: We empower our people and encourage new ideas to deliver and create improvements in community care.

O- Open and Honest: We behave in a way that develops relationships based on trust, openness, honesty, and respect.

P- Professional: We support our people, so everyone has the right skills and training to deliver outstanding patient care.

L- Locally Lead: We are always learning about our communities and show great pride in being a local provider of health and care.

E- Efficient: We use our resources wisely to provide sustainable and value-for-money healthcare for our patients.

Job responsibilities

• Provide chair side support to clinicians during clinical assisting in the care and management of the patient throughout the patient's treatment journey, including preoperative and post-operative care of patients during Conscious Sedation (inhalation sedation or intravenous sedation) procedures following appropriate training. To always act as a chaperone.
• Routine involvement with children and adult patients, challenging patient groups, including patients with complex medical histories, mental health problems, and learning difficulties, with frequent exposure to blood and saliva, possible exposure to verbal and physical aggression, and on occasion other bodily fluids e.g., vomit, urine, and faeces.
• Responsible for preparation and organisation of clinical environments where clinical procedures will be undertaken, clinical environments may also include hospital operating theatres and recovery areas, and secure mental health units.
• Always demonstrate and maintain a high standard of infection prevention and control in accordance with Department of Health, Health Technical Memorandum 01-05 Decontamination in primary care dental service.
• To ensure accurate preparation and presentation of dental materials, dressings, medicaments, instruments, and equipment as requested by the clinician.
• Following appropriate accredited training, provide support in Conscious Sedation (inhalation sedation/ I.V sedation) procedures under the supervision and direction of the clinician. Provide verbal and written pre- and post-operative advice/instructions for patients and carers which complement the actions of other team members.
• Perform monitoring of the patient's physical signs prior to, during, and post treatment, enabling early recognition of condition changes and ensuring appropriate action is taken where appropriate e.g., recovery after sedation or difficult procedures.
• Check haemostasis is achieved prior to patient discharge.
• Recognise and participate in the management of medical emergencies when required. Ensuring competence is maintained on an annual basis, e.g., Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Basic Life Support (BLS), Immediate Life Support (ILS), Paediatric Life Support (PILS) training.
• Decontaminate, prepare, and store dental equipment and instruments following local and national decontamination policies and procedures ensuring re-usable devices are maintained to a high standard in accordance with HTM 01-05 Decontamination in primary care dental service.
• Perform and record validation test procedures for decontamination and sterilisation equipment on a daily and weekly basis, acting on and reporting faults to the appropriate person or agency.
• Prepare and decontaminate equipment and pre/post prosthetic laboratory work ready for transportation when necessary.
• Processing and storage of digital dental radiographs and assisting in the correct procedure for dental radiography, and where applicable process and develop non-digital radiographs, complying with current Ionising Radiation Regulations (IRR), Ionising Radiation Medical Exposure Regulations (IRMER), and Health & Safety regulations.
• Responsible for the control and ordering of stock including all dental supplies, medical gases, and associated drugs as required. This may include where applicable the stock control, monitoring, and receipt of Controlled Drugs in accordance with Trust policies. Ensuring effective and efficient use of physical and financial resources.
• Where necessary following appropriate training, provide support to clinicians undertaking epidemiological surveys within schools and other establishments, including associated administration duties, for example, the planning, organising and preparation of the surveys and data inputting survey results following surveys.
• Be able in the case of clinical enquiries to determine the nature and urgency and deal with or direct to the appropriate person.
• Provide and receive patient identifiable information which may be complex and sensitive ensuring patient confidentiality is not compromised.
• Communicate effectively with clinicians, staff, other healthcare professionals, professional bodies, and external organisations/agencies.
• Foster an environment of mutual support and respect for all team members, promoting teamwork and high morale.
• Relieve/provide cover/assist at other clinics and activities within reasonable distance from the base clinic when required to meet the needs of the Service.
• To always practice in accordance with the GDC Standards for the Dental Team in order that a safe and quality service is provided, and to be accountable for own actions when delivering dental nursing care.
• Maintain GDC professional registration on an annual basis.
• Be responsible for maintaining own continuing professional development in accordance with GDC CPD requirements, contributing to the formation of own objectives and personal development plan.
• Demonstrate awareness of legislation, for example safeguarding children, safeguarding vulnerable adults, mental health issues and act appropriately when required.
• To participate in in-service training as appropriate.
• To assist/support in the induction and training of new staff, and on occasion work experience visitors. May also include familiarisation support/locality inductions for less experienced staff or staff that are covering clinic they do not normally work at.
• To exercise good personal time management, punctuality, and consistent and reliable attendance.
• To be appropriately dressed within the clinical environment in adherence to the Trusts Uniform and Dress Code policy and to act in accordance with the Trusts Employee Code of Conduct.

Person Specification

Experience

• Relevant experience as a dental nurse.
• Experience and knowledge of a wide range of dental procedures.
• Evidence of professional development/ updated/current knowledge and learning.
• Proven experience of ability to work within a team and to work using own initiative.
• Previous experience working within an NHS organisation.
• Conscious sedation experience and/or General Anaesthetic experience, Minor Oral Surgery experience.
• Care of patients with a range of disabilities including medical, physical or learning disabilities, mental health, dental phobia/anxiety.

Job Specific Requirements

• The ability to travel independently across the Trust.
• The ability to work flexibly in accordance with service needs.
• Working Conditions:
• Frequent exposure to bodily fluids e.g., blood, saliva.
• Frequent contact with patients with significant physical and mental disabilities.
• Contact with patients with challenging behaviours.
• Dealing with staff and patient conflicts.
• Exposure to secondary smoking when visiting patient homes.
• Physical Effort:
• Frequent requirement for sitting/standing in restricted position.
• Manual handling skills required when moving patients, heavy bags, bulky equipment, moving stock orders.
• Mental Effort:
• Ability to maintain concentration during periods of assistance to Dental Clinicians and patients.
• Problem solving.
• Emotional Effort:
• Ability to remain calm & reassuring during difficult situations in the dental surgery, and other sites.
• Non-judgemental, good listening skills when handling staff problems.
• Confidentiality.
• Diplomacy.
• Freedom to Act:
• Able to act independently within scope of responsibility.
• Ability to manage own work; work is managed rather than supervised.

Sponsorship

• Do you have the right to stay and work in the UK without sponsorship (share-codes will be checked if applicable).

Relationships

• If you are related to a director, or have a relationship with a director or employee of an appointing organisation, please state the relationship:

Qualifications

• Current professional registration with the General Dental Council.
• General Dental Council recognised qualification, e.g., NEBDN National Diploma in Dental Nursing, or City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma in Dental Nursing, or Higher Education Certificate in Dental Nursing, or Foundation Degree in Dental Nursing.
• Willing to work towards Conscious Sedation qualification.
• NEBDN post-qualification in the following areas of practice: Special Care Dental Nursing, Conscious Sedation, Oral Health or Dental Radiography.

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.

Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust