Job overview
The pharmacy department is seeking to recruit a Band 5 to 6 Progressional Specialist Nurse to the Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) team. This is an exciting opportunity to join this well-established and successful service supporting the delivery of specialised nursing care to patients who require outpatient or domiciliary intravenous antimicrobial therapy.
You will assist the Lead OPAT Nurse and work collaboratively with the multi-disciplinary teams in providing expert advice to ensure safe and effective administration and supply of intravenous antimicrobials to facilitate positive patient outcomes.
You will assess, evaluate and actively support patients starting from referral to discharge from the service to reduce length of hospital stay, avoid admission and improve patient flow.
You must be energetic, motivated and assertive with highly developed communication and interpersonal abilities. You will also need to work autonomously and be confident to work under your own initiative but also work well within a small but dynamic team.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will:
* Support the Lead OPAT Nurse to facilitate and provide high quality specialist nursing care to all patients who require outpatient or domiciliary intravenous antimicrobial therapy.
* Assist in the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of patient care within the OPAT service.
* In the absence of the Lead OPAT Nurse, ensure day to day organisation, management, review and evaluation of the OPAT service, ensuring systems are in place to secure comprehensive service delivery for the local population.
* Work in collaboration with the Medicines Optimisation Team and Antimicrobial Stewardship Team to provide a consistently high level of safe and effective management of antimicrobials in line with corporate objectives and government initiatives.
* Provide expert information and advice about OPAT services to medical, nursing and allied healthcare professionals in the Trust and local area to ensure safe and effective administration and/or supply of medications to facilitate positive patient outcomes.
* Represent the Trust alongside the Lead OPAT Nurse to participate in relevant local, regional and national sector wide forums related to OPAT services.
Working for our organisation
Established in 2003 East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) is a large integrated health care organisation providing high quality acute secondary healthcare for the people of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.
Our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We provide high quality services and treat over 700,000 patients a year from serious emergencies to planned operations and procedures. We employ over 8,000 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work and achievements.
We are a large and forward-thinking department, always looking to develop new pathways to improve patient outcomes and experiences to ensure patients are safely discharged.
In June 2023 a new electronic patient record (EPR) and electronic prescribing and administration of medicines (EPMA) system was implemented, enabling the OPAT team to improve clinical screening and prescribing of appropriate intravenous antibiotics through the use of an electronic care plan. Over 120 patients are safely discharged onto the OPAT service each year from the Medical, Surgical and Ambulatory Care wards across the Trust.
You may be interested to know that East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust provides onsite parking and is well connected to the motorway network, making it an easy commuting distance from Manchester and Liverpool, with many of our team hailing from these locations. The Lake District is a short drive away for leisure activities.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
See attached documents for full detailed job description.
You will need to be a motivated individual with excellent communication skills and the ability to work under pressure, maintaining a pivotal link between inpatient and domiciliary teams in order to provide excellent safe, personal and effective patient care.
Additional contact information:
* Victoria Thackeray-Scott (Lead OPAT Nurse): Victoria.Thackeray-Scott@elht.nhs.uk (01254 734505)
* Kerri Robinson (Lead Pharmacist - Antimicrobial Therapy): Kerri.Robinson@elht.nhs.uk (01254 734505)
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
* Current professional registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council
* Degree in Nursing/health related subject or working towards this
* Completion of IV therapy course
Desirable criteria
* Teaching qualification
* Leadership qualification
* Independent/supplementary prescriber qualification or willingness to work towards
Experience
Essential criteria
* Experience of working within at least two specialities
* Understanding of antimicrobial stewardship
* Computer literacy
* Evidence of competence to work within policies and procedures
Desirable criteria
* Experience of community issues/needs
* Experience of developing and delivering educational programmes
* Experience of developing and implementing policies and procedures
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
* Proficient in the preparation and administration of IV medicines
* Competent in cannulation and venepuncture
* Excellent understanding of infection prevention and control procedures
* Adaptable and able to work in different clinical environments
Desirable criteria
* Research participation/understanding of clinical trials
Personal Attributes
Essential criteria
* Ability to organise and manage time
* Ability to work independently as well as within the team
* Work flexibly