Clinical Nurse Specialist Non-specific symptom pathway
The Clinical Nurse Specialist will help deliver the Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) Non-Specific Symptom pathways (NSS) clinical pathway.
The post holder will work within the clinical team, collaborating with the Lead Consultant and the Nursing team to develop and embed the NSS pathway on behalf of the Trust and system.
This post is funded by the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance (SSCA) for a two-year fixed term period. QVH will be the designated hub for Sussex for this pathway.
Main duties of the job
1. The post holder will be the senior practitioner for the NSS pathway, ensuring the safe and effective running of this Nurse Led Service in delivering Nurse Led assessment of patients referred.
2. Work alongside the existing nursing team, providing specialist advice, education, and support for patients and other health care professionals.
3. Practice clinically within agreed care protocols, monitored by the Designated Medical Lead / Practitioner.
4. Skilled in Telephone and video assessment of patients where there is suspicion of an underlying malignant cause for the patients' symptoms. Following assessment, appropriate investigations will be requested, and patients will be notified of the outcome according to National guidelines and Cancer performance targets, working within trust policies and the NMC code of conduct.
5. Work with the Care group and Divisional management teams to ensure smooth delivery of service and proactively reduce delays in patient pathways and breaches of national waiting time guidance.
6. Provide expert knowledge and support to patients and their family/carers during investigations, ensuring they are notified of the outcomes and treated by the appropriate team or discharged back to the care of the GP.
About us
Rated GOOD overall with outstanding care by the CQC. A specialist NHS hospital providing life-changing reconstructive surgery, burns care, and rehabilitation services across the South of England and beyond.
We specialise in conditions of the eyes (corneoplastics), hands, head and neck cancer and skin cancer, reconstructive breast surgery, maxillofacial surgery and prosthetics, providing regional and national services in these areas of clinical expertise. Our world-leading clinical teams also treat more common conditions of the eyes, hands, skin, and teeth for the people of East Grinstead and the surrounding areas. In addition, QVH provides a minor injuries unit, expert therapies, a sleep service, and a growing portfolio of community-based services. Patients consistently rate QVH amongst the top hospitals in the country for quality of care.
Our success is underpinned by the skills and enthusiasm of our staff and a strong culture of partnership. We are fully committed to the training and development of the workforce with support for continuing education and learning.
Job responsibilities
Clinical Practice
1. Practice at an advanced level to provide in-depth knowledge on the care pathway and complex needs of the patient group.
2. Take responsibility for the initial contact with patients/carers from the time of referral to provide specialist nursing advice and practical and psychosocial support.
3. Holistically assess and identify complex health and psychosocial needs of individual patients, planning programmes of care to meet these needs, in partnership with patients/carers and colleagues.
4. Manage a patient caseload, to agreed referral/discharge criteria, and act as key worker, effectively working in partnership with other professionals and referring patients to other practitioners as required.
5. Deliver knowledgeable nursing care to patients in agreed practice settings, working as part of nursing teams and in partnership with ward and departmental clinical leaders.
6. Communicate with patients in ways that empower them to make informed choices about their health and health care, acting as advocate for individual patients and the client group.
7. Provide appropriate information and education to patients and their families to promote health and encourage self-care and participation in the planned programme of treatment and care.
8. Use advanced communication skills to impart sensitive, complex, and potentially distressing information to patients and carers, providing them with advice and emotional support in hospital/at home as appropriate.
9. Maintain adequate patient documentation to NMC requirements for all patients seen and advice given in any practice setting and collate and record clinical activity/data collection as required.
10. If registered as an independent prescriber, prescribe medication as appropriate according to your code of practice, legislation, and Trust Policy.
11. Demonstrates leadership through clinical expertise, delivering high standards of personalised care by acting as a key worker identifying needs through a holistic needs assessment and co-creating a care and support plan with people living with cancer.
12. Work collaboratively with services across the cancer pathway, implementing plans and monitoring their effectiveness in improving service delivery and meeting the needs of people living with cancer.
13. Lead by example, contributing to the delivery of specialist education and training to other professionals involved in patient care; promoting best practice; supporting and coaching less experienced colleagues and non-cancer specialists to achieve high quality, personalised care for people living with cancer.
14. Synthesise coherently and effectively, knowledge and expertise related to the specific area of practice, leading on the development and updating of local policies and procedures.
15. Manage the service, in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team, Care Group management teams and in support of Trust objectives.
16. Work collaboratively and in partnership with other health care professionals, offering appropriate guidance and supervision to colleagues.
17. Be involved in planning and implementing standards of care, practice guidelines and where appropriate Integrated Care Pathways, and continually evaluate the quality of patient care.
18. Lead and develop nurse-led initiatives for the benefit of the identified client group in relevant care settings, in conjunction with medical and nursing/AHP colleagues.
19. Demonstrate and disseminate clinical practice developments, utilising research in the specialist area of practice to develop and deliver evidence-based care.
20. Facilitate change to promote practice development and service improvement/modernisation activities, in accordance with local and national service policy or guidance.
21. Contribute appropriately to clinical governance activities that relate to own area of practice and patient/client group.
22. Participate in delivering the UHS corporate nursing agenda.
Working across professional and organisational boundaries
1. Challenge professional and organisational boundaries in the interest of patients and clients to improve health outcomes.
2. Develop protocols, documentation systems, standards, policies and clinical guidelines for others to use in practice.
3. Work in collaboration with health and social care colleagues within the Trust and external primary and acute care providers to develop patient-centered pathways of care for smooth and timely referral, minimising delays and supporting shared care.
Evaluation and Research
1. Take an active lead in evaluating the service and patient care, including patient satisfaction, selecting, and applying a range of valid and reliable methods that are appropriate to needs and context.
2. Critically appraise and synthesise the outcomes of relevant research, evaluations and audits and act on this information in collaboration with colleagues to continually develop the service.
3. Identify gaps in evidence and/or practice knowledge that require resolution through research and initiate or assist in research activities as appropriate.
4. Evaluate the role and the service and produce an annual report and written strategy for the development of the service for the following year.
Developing self and others
1. Provide education and training opportunities for health care professionals at pre and post qualification levels through classroom and clinical placements.
2. Assess the training and development needs of colleagues and use appropriate strategies to share specialist knowledge to influence the practice of others.
3. Continually develop and improve knowledge, skills, and attitudes in structured ways, including accessing clinical supervision and participating in Trust Individual Performance Review.
4. Share good practice through creating positive opportunities to network locally, regionally, and nationally and contribute to the wider development of the specialist area of practice through publication and dissemination.
Personal and Professional Development
1. Participate in the Trust's annual appraisal system designed to identify objectives and personal development opportunities.
2. Participate in the Trust's annual pay progression review (if applicable).
3. Ensure that all mandatory training is up to date.
4. The post holder will be responsible for continually maintaining their working knowledge of local practices, policies and procedures and highlighting ongoing training and development needs to their manager.
Person Specification
* Registered nurse on relevant part of the register. Educated to degree level or an equivalent level of work-based experience. Evidence of ongoing personal and professional development. Physical assessment and History taking course.
* Clinical experience in Nurse led assessment of suspected cancer patients following 2ww referral. Experience in management of patients with cancer/surveillance. Experience at Band 6 level in a CNS role or equivalent. Experience in requesting investigations, interpreting results, and planning care in a Nurse Led setting. Post registration experience with evidence of leadership or change management. Broad awareness of wider Trust initiatives/pressures. Evidence of ability to change or initiate practice.
* Aware of the National 6Cs campaign. Aware of national nursing agendas. Aware of how risk management impacts on role as a nurse. Understands that safeguarding is everyone's business.
* Leadership skills, ability to work well within a team, motivated, assertive, dynamic, enthusiastic. Basic keyboard skills with knowledge of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
* Able to use initiative and give rationale for own decisions. Ability to work autonomously undertaking expanded roles. Able to prioritise and delegate appropriately and able to deal with stressful situations.
* Ability to initiate self-learning and development. Commitment to ongoing career development. Health and physical abilities sufficient for the post (if necessary, with reasonable adjustments with respect to the Equality Act/Disability Discrimination Act).
* Advanced communication skills. Teaching and presentation aptitude or courses.
* Experience in setting up a new service.
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.
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