Specialist Palliative Care Nurse

The post will be part of the integrated Specialist palliative care nursing team working across acute and community settings.

Gateshead community teams work into 5 localities and each specialist nurse will be aligned and linked to a defined locality however will be expected to work flexibly across all areas when service demand dictates. This involves closely working with GP practices and the multidisciplinary teams which are made up of Locality Team Leads, District Nurses, Community Nurse Practitioners, Community Staff Nurses, Healthcare Assistants, phlebotomists and Admin Assistants. Each locality will work with defined GP Practices and Care Homes within the locality.

The acute team of Specialist palliative care nurses support all the wards and departments in the acute trust and work closely with St Bede's and hospital consultants and other specialist nurses throughout the trust.

Main duties of the job

The post will be part of the integrated Specialist palliative care nursing team working across acute and community settings. The post involves leading and participating in the planning, development and evaluation of clinical services using advanced clinical skills and knowledge for palliative and end of life care patients. To provide specialist advice on the assessment, care planning and interventions of patient's needs.

The post holder will spend time on Single Point of Contact (SPOC) whereby referrals are triaged and allocated to the appropriate caseload holder depending on need.

As a band 7 Specialist Palliative Care Nurse there will be managerial and leadership responsibilities particularly to students, and junior staff. Leadership roles such as undertaking appraisals, managing sickness absence, undertaking investigations and managing risk within their sphere of excellence, as part of the MDT.

There is an expectation the post holder will support the End of Life facilitator to deliver palliative and end of life care training and education.

About us

Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead.

Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.

We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.

Our values should be the 'golden thread' which runs through everything we do - they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronym ICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.

We have a number of staff networks including the Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women's Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our Armed Forces network is one of our emerging networks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our 'Balance' programme to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.

Job responsibilities

Specific dimensions

• To lead and participate in the planning, development and evaluation of clinical services using advanced clinical skills and knowledge for palliative and patient at the end of life.
• To provide specialist advice on the assessment, care planning and interventions of patients' needs.
• To further develop knowledge and skills through undertaking regular audit, research and development activities.
• A key part of the role will be cross agency liaison, training, research and development, and being a clinical resource for the local Health Community
• Clinical responsibility for a defined complex caseload with accountability for the health outcomes for the individuals within their care
• To be the accountable clinician in the development, delivery and provision of complex case management within the community setting for patients with palliative and end of life care needs.
• To ensure safe systems and processes are in place to support multidisciplinary team working
• To ensure all professional standards and codes of conduct are adhered to
• Facilitate the development of clinical expertise and advanced practice within the team to support the right person, right place right time agenda
• To provide senior leadership and clinical expertise in palliative and end of life care for a variety of multidisciplinary staff
• Be responsible for, provide and monitor the standard of assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of care ensuring the quality of care provided is of a high standard
• Act as a Caseload holder to oversee all aspects of clinical care planning and delivery to ensure maximum positive outcomes for patients and delegate to other members of the team as appropriate
• Work as an autonomous practitioner, clinically, professionally and practically with an expert knowledge in palliative and end of life care
• To lead clinically and professionally ensuring compliance with all statutory and mandatory professional requirements
• Continually develop own clinical expertise, knowledge and clinical skills to enhance effective care and support. Ensure this expertise is shared with other clinical staff
• Champion the development of leadership competencies within the team
• To ensure continuity and co-ordination of care across the health and social care community
• To develop protocols relating to advanced practice and work in an extended clinical role specifically for palliative and end of life care.
• Facilitates the development of self-awareness of self and others in the team through reflection, and clinical supervision
• Through effective role modelling develop positive behaviour, encourage an open and non-threatening environment that

  o Rewards decision making and creativity

  o Facilitates change and the implementation of new ideas

  o Promotes staff retention

  o Empowers employees

  o Encourages the reporting of patient safety incidents and uses reflection to learn from as a result

  o Identifies risk and develops mitigation to minimise it

Person Specification Qualifications

• Palliative/Cancer Care Qualification
• RGN (adult)
• Advanced clinical skills course
• MSc/MA in health related topic
• Sage and Thyme Facilitator
• Advanced Communication Skills Facilitator
• Counselling qualification

Experience

• Experience in acute/community/primary care setting with Palliative patients
• Experience of leading services and people management
• Teaching experience

Knowledge and skills

• Experience of using EMIS web/Community

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.

Palliative Care Nursing Operations Manager