Tissue Viability Specialist Nurse

To deliver specialist complex wound care services, including initial assessments, treatments and follow-ups in Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust locations working as part of a small, specialised team.

To deliver evidence-based tissue viability and complex wound management and practice advice to clients.

To promote the prevention of chronic wounds and cellulitis of the lower limb.

To co-ordinate all aspects of wound care with specific focus on chronic wound management and lower limb treatment.

To contribute to the managing demand programme of the Primary Care Trust so that the local health economy is reducing the number of emergency attendances through Accident and Emergency.

To work in partnership in a changing environment, to maintain and improve health outcomes.

The post requires an autonomous practitioner who can provide holistic packages of safe and effective, high quality, evidenced based care to patients within a community setting.

The post holder will provide clinical and professional leadership for the team providing care and will ensure the quality and standards of care are in line with evidenced based practice.

The post holder is an autonomous practitioner and will assess, plan, implement and evaluate patient care and participate in the training of patients, relatives, carers, students and other health care professionals.

Main duties of the job

The clinical responsibilities will include the provision of evidenced based wound care, utilising holistic assessment, care planning, implementation and by defining, monitoring outcomes of care and service provision. This will include complex packages of care and complex clinical decision making where appropriate.

Close working, co-ordination and liaison with other service providers is required to ensure that patients are able to remain within their own homes.

Work in partnership to ensure all treatments and wound care strategies are evidence-based and cost effective.

This position will require regular travel throughout the Borough of Bexley.

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

To identify, assess and signpost patients with complex wounds within the allocated caseload, working with GPs and the wider multi-disciplinary team.

To undertake and ensure that all patients within the caseload have a full, comprehensive and holistic clinical assessment at the time of their admission visit and that this is carried out and documented.

To develop evidenced based wound care plans to meet the individual patients complex health and social needs ensuring that they are regularly reviewed and updated.

Support the introduction and use of technical nursing treatments utilising a robust evidenced based approach to ensure the most effective care.

Prescribe products to meet the needs of the patients within the allocated caseload utilising your nonmedical prescribing qualification and own prescribing skills, ensuring that you prescribe within your sphere of competence.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

• Registered first/second level nurse or allied health professional.
• Tissue viability/leg ulcer qualification or equivalent course.
• Experience of teaching health care.
• Able to work flexibly to meet the needs of the service.
• Regular moderate physical exertion and manual dexterity required to carry out all aspects of complex wound care management including compression bandaging.

Skills/Abilities/Knowledge

• Specialist knowledge of complex wound care.
• Experience of teaching health care professionals.
• Ability to plan and implement their own workload.
• Able to work in a demanding environment.

Emotional skills required for frequently dealing with:

• Breaking difficult news to patients regarding chronic incurable conditions.
• Dealing with distress and anxiety.
• Supporting patients with advancing or palliative diseases.
• Dealing with distress and anxiety.

Skills/Abilities/Knowledge

• Evidence of ongoing continuous development.
• Ability to undertake own learning and challenge new learning.
• Experience and knowledge of complex wound management.
• Experience of supervising junior staff and/or students.
• Evidence of CPD including the provision of patient education.

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.