Senior Staff Nurse

We are seeking to appoint a committed, highly motivated, enthusiastic, and skilled Band 6 Senior Staff Nurse to join our dynamic, integrated multi-disciplinary Rapid Response Team.

In this exciting role you will be an integral part of the team developing new pathways to provide Same Day Emergency Care in the community alongside other Adult Community Services, Social Care, Acute Trusts and Primary Care colleagues.

The Rapid Response Team are part of the SE London Accelerator Programme. The Rapid Response Team are delivering the essential elements of the Urgent Community Response pathways. The Rapid Response Team has been operational since 2013 and is a multi-professional team consisting of Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Social Workers and support staff. The team provide holistic health and social care assessments for people over the age of 18 years, who are registered with a Bexley GP and live in the Borough of Bexley. The Team treats/manages/cares for patients in their usual place of residence with an urgent health or social care need.

The team are based at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich and operates 7 days a week, on an 8am-8pm basis, focusing on rapid 2-hour assessments to patients with potential short-term intervention(s) typically lasting up to 5 days.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work as a part of the multi-disciplinary Rapid Response Team including Consultant Geriatrician, Senior Nurses, Occupational Therapists and Social Services colleagues to meet the needs of patients referred to the team, ensuring the highest possible standards of practice with a strong emphasis on falls and frailty.

The post holder will conduct comprehensive nursing assessments for patients within acute and community settings. They will need to demonstrate sound clinical reasoning and risk assessment skills to guide appropriate nursing intervention and when appropriate avoid unnecessary ED presentation. The post holder will also be skilled in the management of breast drains, wound care and intravenous antibiotic therapy.

The post holder will be required to work across hospitals sites on a planned basis and in community when responding to urgent community referrals. The post holder will undertake delegated line management of junior staff, both informal and formal basis.

The team act as a liaison between acute and community settings, by identifying the most appropriate onward referrals and initiating integrated care pathways, ensuring seamless provision of care and ongoing case management. Referrals are received from Health and Social Care professionals, Medical Teams, General Practitioners and Ambulance Services.

About us

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes. We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people. Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We're Kind
• We Listen
• We Care

Job responsibilities

The Team work directly with (LAS) and act as a liaison between Emergency Departments, Community and Care home settings, by identifying the most appropriate onward referrals and initiating integrated care pathways, ensuring seamless provision of care and the instigation of ongoing case management of long-term condition management. The Rapid Response Team provides community follow up and support and review.

The post holder will assist with and directly triage urgent patient referrals with varied and complex needs in acute hospital and community setting acting as an expert nursing clinical resource to Rapid Response Team members by facilitating high quality evidence-based practice.

The post holder will also have the opportunity to work closely with our Community Consultant.

Rapid Response aims to:

Avoid unnecessary Presentations to Emergency Departments.

Avoid unnecessary Hospital Admissions

Improve patient wellbeing through timely responsive interventions

Reduce admissions to residential care

Increase the number of people who feel safe in their home

Main Responsibilities:

Be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all professional activities

Demonstrate theoretical knowledge of acute, multiple, complex, and long-term pathologies and impairments in the assessment of clients

Work closely with other health professionals and social services and provide nursing advice in meeting the needs of the clients

Conduct a thorough assessment of clients, obtaining consent in accordance with professional guidelines and local team procedures

Recommend appropriate interventions to promote independence and safety, utilising effective clinical reasoning skills and evidence-based practice

Complete a care plan for clients who require input from integrated community services (bed-based or home-based input)

Maintain effective multidisciplinary communication with other members of the team and the wider clinical network to ensure that clients needs are met

Provide specialist advice to client, carers and relatives based on clinical evidence when required

Participate in MDT meetings and family conferences as required

Maintain up-to-date clinical written records and computerised records in accordance with local and professional standards; and also writing comprehensive reports on clients as required and inputting onto RiO

Ensure management of clinical risk with clients under their care

Be able to identify when and how to terminate involvement or refer onwards to appropriate teams/services and complete input in a timely, seamless manner

Seek guidance from more experienced colleagues when required

Be professionally curious in terms of safeguarding adults and children and promote professional curiosity

Training and Education:

Utilise communication and teaching skills to educate the diverse and multicultural population in a range of disease specific techniques, principles and guidelines when required

Provide support and take a proactive role in the education and training of undergraduate and graduate AHP students, nurses and rehabilitation assistants

Maintain continuing professional development by participating in regular in-service training, supervision, reflective practice and attending study days and training, giving feedback to the team where appropriate to disseminate learning

Maintain competency in manually handling people

Maintain up-to-date mandatory and statutory training

Management:

Maintain high level of efficiency and effectiveness in work area to utilise resources to the full and report defects in equipment in a timely manner

The ability to deputise in the absence of the Manager if required

Coordinate staff activity to meet demands of service

Ensure risk is managed for self, clients, colleagues and the work environment

Participate in the development of the team by working proactively within the MDT

Maintain throughput of casework and organise and prioritise own work tasks and activities, being flexible to the needs of the service

Ensure all patient information is input onto RiO

Ensure new team members are adequately introduced to the team during induction and providing peer support

Undertake a proactive role in the ongoing in-service training programme

Maintain efficient day-to-day running of the service

Organisational:

Flexibly plan and organise own time

Achieve the effective daily management of a caseload of clients, including prioritising clinical work and balancing other client related and professional duties

Provide statistical information as required in a timely manner

Keep up-to-date statistics in accordance with team requirements

Be responsible for any organisational tasks related to the post

Be flexible in the undertaking of any other duties as requested by line managers to meet the changing needs of the service

Attend Team and trust meetings and case conferences as required

Professional:

Participate in regular supervision and reflective practice

Participate in regular supervision and PDR

Comply with professional guidelines, codes of conduct of practice, trust and departmental policies

Maintain links with the department, organisation and wider sector by attending meetings, seminars/case conferences etc as deemed appropriate

Research:

Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate current research and apply it to practice

Broaden research and development skills through participation in local audit and research projects

Instigate/Participate in Quality Improvement Projects

Communication and Key Working Relationships:

Communicate relevant medical/social information, assessment details, advice and recommendations across agencies following local and professional guidelines for sharing information and consent. This would include Consultants, GPs, Social Services, other health care professionals and voluntary agencies

Work in a co-ordinated, multi-disciplinary manner, communicating effectively with other team members and the wider clinical network involved in client care

Convey complex and sensitive information relating to clients using skill in situations where there may be barriers to communication i.e. use of interpreters, receptive/cognitive pathologies or excess noise

Be able to adapt complicated and sensitive information into a simplified form to clients who may be seriously ill or have complex or long-term conditions

Clearly convey complex information to small and large groups during training and education sessions

Promote and encourage the ethos of rehabilitation/enabling with therapy assistants/support workers/carers/relatives through demonstration, example, and support

Promote an awareness of the nurse role within the team, negotiating priorities where appropriate

Actively contribute to service & policy review and implementation

Participate in the operational planning, implementation, evaluation and audit of practice, clinical care pathways and protocols within own clinical area

Person Specification

Community Experience

• Three years post registration experience / working in the community
• NMP Qualification V300
• Community Practitioner Prescribing V160

Multidisciplinary experience

• Experience of multidisciplinary working

Driving Licence

• Car Driver with access to own car

Qualifications

• Registered Adult Nurse
• Enhanced Clinical Assessment Skills
• Mentorship or Equivalent
• Intravenous Additive Qualification
• Long Term Conditions Management or equivalent
• Cannulation Skills
• Community Specialist Practitioner

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.