Vacancy: Practice Nurse

Responsible to:

• Partners/ GP’s (for clinical matters)
• Practice Manager / Assistant Manager (for all other matters)

Accountable to:

• Practice Partnership

Job Summary

The post holder must work as part of a team, have the ability to organise and prioritise their own workload on a day to day basis, and observe strict rules about confidentiality at all times. They must also know the limits of their own capabilities and seek direction from a GP, or Manager.

Working strictly in accordance with specific practice or national guidelines, the Practice Nurse will assist the practice clinical team in the provision and delivery of prescribed programmes of patient care.

The post holder must maintain registration with NMC, maintaining its Code of Conduct to protect the public through professional standards.  Fulfil its learning requirements.

Main Duties

The following are the core responsibilities of the Practice Nurse.  There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks. This will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:

• Provide efficient, professional nursing care to patients
• Be proficient in managing long term chronic diseases e.g. Diabetes, COPD, Hypertension, Asthma, Thyroid disease, etc.  Developing an integrated approach to chronic diseases within the Primary Health Care Team and being actively involved in their clinical management
• Undertake preventative and treatment clinics for the general nursing care of patients including dressings, removal of sutures, ECGs, blood pressures
• Carry out immunisation clinics and associated admin
• Undertake wound management (e.g. leg ulcers)
• Provide a comprehensive vaccination service 
• Provide nursing care in minor injuries
• Provide a cervical smear service, family planning information and advice 
• Provide catheter care, changing urethral and suprapubic catheters
• Carry out travel immunisation clinics and associated admin
• Maintain clinical areas and equipment, sterilisation of instruments and stock control and drugs and sundry items 
• Assist with providing a triage service, including telephone advice and assessing patients in the surgery, and liaising with nurses, doctors and outside agencies as appropriate
• Keep accurate, contemporaneous records, both written and electronic
• Establish diagnoses to set protocols (e.g. BP, blood tests, ECG recordings etc)
• Participate in clinical call and recall systems and record results 
• Undertake clinical audits and assist with administration of recalls
• Assist in teaching and assessing Health Care Assistants and other members of staff
• Perform other clinical tasks as trained and agreed to meet the needs of the practice
• Be involved in identifying practice clinical needs
• Perform any other tasks within the skills of the post holder.

Confidentiality 

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters.   They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
• In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers.  They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation.  All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data

Health & Safety

The post-holder will implement and lead on a full range of promotion and management of their own and others’ health and safety and infection control as defined in the practice Health & Safety an Infection Control policies. This will include (but will not be limited to):

• Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness and regulatory / contractual / professional requirements, and good practice guidelines
• Responsible for the correct and safe management of the specimens process, including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct and clean containers, storage and transport arrangements
• Management and maintenance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the practice, including provision, ordering, availability and ongoing correct usage by staff
• Knowledge of hand hygiene
• Active observation of current working practices across the practice in relation to infection control, cleanliness and related activities, ensuring that procedures are followed.
• Safe management of sharps procedures including training, use, storage and disposal 
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile, and safe way, free from hazards. Initiation of remedial / corrective action where needed or escalation to responsible management
• Actively identifying, reporting, and correction of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
• Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, sterile, identifying issues and hazards / risks in relation to other work areas within the business, and assuming responsibility in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness across the business in consultation (where appropriate) with other sector managers 
• Undertaking periodic infection control training
• Spillage control procedures, management and training
• Decontamination control procedures, management and training, and equipment maintenance
• Maintenance of sterile environments

Equality and Diversity:

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

• Acting in a way that recognises the importance of people’s rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation
• Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
• Behaving in a manner that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Personal / Professional Development:

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development and revalidation.
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work

Quality

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the team’s performance
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients’ needs
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources

Communication

The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Recognise people’s needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly

Person Specification

Classification	Essential attributes	Desirable attributes
Qualifications	Registered Nurse NMC Registration	Post graduate diploma or degree (Primary Care)
Experience	Experience of working in a primary care environment Experience of working as a practice nurse or community nurse Experience of chronic disease management, especially Diabetes and COPD Experience of infection prevention and control measures
Clinical knowledge and skills	Wound care/removal of sutures and staples ECGs Venepuncture New patient medicals Chaperone procedure Requesting pathology tests and processing the results, advising patients accordingly Travel medicine Diabetes CCOPD Hypertension Asthma Spirometry CHD Immunisations (routine, childhood and travel) Women’s health (cervical cytology, contraception, etc.) Understanding the importance of evidence based practice Broad knowledge of clinical governance Ability to record accurate clinical notes Ability to work within own scope of practice and understand when to refer to GPs Understanding of infection prevention and control measures Knowledge of health promotion strategies Understand the requirement for PGDs and associated policy	Knowledge of public health issues in the local area Awareness of issues within the wider health arena
Skills	Excellent communication skills (written and oral) Strong IT skills Clear, polite telephone manner Competent in the use of Office and Outlook EMIS/Systmone/Vision user skills Effective time management (planning and organising) Ability to work as a team member and autonomously Good interpersonal skills Problem solving and analytical skills Ability to follow clinical policy and procedure	Experience with audit and able to lead audit programmes Experience with clinical risk management
Personal Qualities	Polite and confident Flexible and co-operative Motivated, forward thinker Problem solver with the ability to process information accurately and effectively, interpreting data as required High levels of integrity and loyalty Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations Ability to work under pressure/in stressful situations Effectively able to communicate and understand the needs of the patient Commitment to ongoing professional development Effectively utilises resources Punctual and committed to supporting the team effort
Other Requirements	Flexibility to work outside of core office hours Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check Occupational health clearance