Job summary
An exciting opportunity is available for a fixed-term /secondment to the Community Homeless Street Outreach Team (SOT), with the potential for ongoing funding extension.
The Street Outreach Team are looking for 1 enthusiastic and motivated Band 7 Clinical Nurse or AHP to work in the South localities (Startford-Upon-Avon, Warwick, Royal Leamington Spa) 22.5 hours a week as a Homeless Health Clinical Nurse Specialist.
This dynamic role will involve being closely aligned with the other Homeless Health Clinical Nurse/AHP Specialists, and Mental Health Specialist for the service area in collaboration with Warwickshire County Council, and alongside local voluntary and statutory organisations to support the health needs of homeless individuals.
The team perform a vital role in supporting a wide variety of health needs, and is committed to engaging with vulnerable individuals to improve their lifestyle and well-being, reducing crisis needs for emergency care and signposting to wider specialisms.
The service currently covers the core periods of 8-8 Monday - Friday but there may be times when out-of-hours working may be required on an occasional basis, and the requirement to cover other locations.
The team operate from a variety of community premises and street environments to interact with patients, and this may expose the post holder to negative behaviours and distressing environments that require the post holder to demonstrate professionalism and strong character with compassion.
Main duties of the job
The team operate from a variety of community premises and street environments to interact with patients, and this may expose the post holder to negative behaviours and distressing environments that require the post holder to demonstrate professionalism and strong character with compassion.
The Band 7 Homeless Health Clinical Nurse/AHP Specialist will provide high-quality, compassionate and caring clinical care along with associated duties. They will use their advanced clinical expertise, judgment, and discretion to independently make decisions in clinical care, as well as assist the team in collaborative decision-making.
As a Band 7 Homeless Health Clinical Nurse/AHP Specialist you make a valuable and important contribution to the delivery of high-quality healthcare, supporting the registered professional in the delivery of safe, effective, compassionate patient care.
This job description is to be read in conjunction with the person specification for this particular job.
About us
Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further.
We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity.
Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are 'Trusted to provide safe, effective and compassionate care'. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn't matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Expertise & Excellence in Clinical Practice
Deliver evidence-based personalised and compassionate care which places quality at the heart of specialist homeless health practice. Care will be responsive to individual needs and reflect current local protocols and national guidelines.
Act as the key accessible professional for the MDT proactively managing a clinical caseload for at least 70% of the role. This will necessitate high levels of autonomy and advocacy, using analytical and judgemental skills in undertaking differential diagnosis to ensure the delivery of appropriate care.
Work as an autonomous practitioner providing an expert level of care, developing own and others knowledge within the speciality.
Manage a caseload of homeless patients within speciality and prioritise workload to meet patient and service need.
Use and apply technical knowledge of the speciality and treatment to define, oversee and personalise care pathways for individuals through holistic needs assessment, planning and evaluation of care and all care interventions.
Effectively manages pathways of care, adapting to patients emerging needs by ensuring a planned and co-ordinated approach to care, supporting enhanced recovery and reducing inappropriate admissions to improve patient experience and safety.
Receive and act upon referrals directly from health care professionals (& other stakeholders involved with the homeless population) and make referrals to other team members and specialist departments as necessary to ensure optimal quality of care.
Act as a patient advocate to facilitate the process of shared decision making in respect to health, choice of treatment and care. Use interpersonal and communication skills where there may be significant barriers in order to build confidence. Ensure that patients individual needs are expressed and valued and individual care plans are understood.
Advise on the complex disease and symptom management for patients within the speciality in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Evaluate response to interventions and advise on the adaptation of management.
Empower patients to self-manage their condition, undertaking risk stratification to determine those who can self-manage following education, those who will need guided support to self-manage and those who will need ongoing face-to-face support.
Work autonomously in the development and delivery of nurse-led or parallel clinics in line with National guidance and local service needs.
Act as a resource providing clinical expertise, specialist advice and support across service boundaries to ensure optimum liaison and co-ordination of care.
Undertake clinical competencies relevant to this specialist service to demonstrate expertise in extended nursing roles. Assess and effectively manage individual psychological reactions to diagnosis, treatment and associated side effects of including Homeless Health.
Actively integrates theory and practice.
Management & Leadership
Act as a role model demonstrating high standards of holistic care and provide expert clinical leadership to others across the organisation.
Supervise the patient caseloads of more junior members of the nursing team assuming overall responsibility where applicable.
Lead and line manage junior members (Homeless Health CSWs) of the team of specialist nurses including responsibility for annual appraisal where applicable.
Manage budgets as necessary.
Embed public and patient involvement within the sphere of practice.
Determine measurable outcomes for the service and demonstrate continuous evaluation of practice making changes where necessary.
Contribute to lead on elements of the clinical governance agenda.
Participate in operational and strategic planning for the development and delivery of the specialist service. Implement service improvements and efficiencies.
Attend Trust senior nurse meetings and contribute to the agenda and the strategic nursing vision.
Represent the Trust by contributing to and participating in meetings locally, regional and nationally relating to the speciality.
Lead or contribute to annual service review and write annual report to reflect service activity and development.
Communication
Take personal responsibility for ensuring effective communication between all service providers.
Act as a role model for excellent advanced communication skills and expertise. Demonstrate advanced empathetic interpersonal and communication skills in supporting, informing and advising patients and carers through diagnosis, treatment, disease progression, prognosis and supportive and palliative care where applicable. This will involve frequently imparting significant news or supporting patients and carers during and following such consultations.
Effectively and sensitively communicate highly complex and sensitive information to emotionally distressed patients and family/carers at key points along the care pathway on a frequent basis.
As a core member of the MDT provide professional advice to All partner agencies during weekly MDT meetings, including relevant council charities and statutory bodies complying with consent, GDPR and confidentiality and liaise with Street outreach team members
Refer to other health professionals and outside agencies to ensure optimum care and ongoing support for individual patients/carers, and to ensure the seamless transition from primary to secondary care appropriate to patients individual needs and circumstance.
Maintain links with local and national organisations, which support the care of patients within this speciality.
Education
Identify and use advanced educational strategies to deliver complex information to patients and carers.
Lead the development of patient-focused education including training to support self-management and health promotion activities.
Influence the development of other professionals by leading or contributing to Trust-wide specialist education and training.
Deliver formal and informal teaching initiatives as part of the Trusts education strategy as agreed with the appropriate senior nurse to ensure practice development, staff empowerment and improved care for patients.
Act as a mentor/clinical supervisor as appropriate.
Take personal responsibility for life-long learning and personal development through clinical supervision and appraisal. Actively engages with learning and development opportunities needed to work as an advanced practitioner and take appropriate action to ensure these needs are met.
Contribute to promoting educational links with local providers of higher education and deliver lectures on a range of courses.
Quality, Audit, Innovation & Research
Develop written patient information and use existing appropriate resources to inform users, according to individually assessed need.
Work within the NMC code of professional conduct.
Influence and develop policy and clinical guidelines to support the specialist service.
Collaborate with other MDT members to develop and update multi-professional Trust operational policies and guidelines.
Maintain patient records and ensure an effective documentation system to reflect the activity and delivery of specialist nursing care.
Promote the service and clinical excellence by publishing and presenting innovations, audit and research locally and nationally.
Use creative reasoning, experience and vision to advance care.
Develop new skills in response to emerging knowledge and techniques.
Instigate and manage change within a complex environment.
Maintain membership and attendance at national and local forums to network and debate issues to inform the specialist nursing role and service delivery.
Collate and record quantitative and qualitative data to provide evidence of productivity, outcomes and quality through audit and research.
Identify and conduct clinical audit in own specialist area.
Participate in clinical research relevant to practice area.
Demonstrate knowledge of current clinical trials available to patients within the speciality. Work in collaboration with the Trust Research and Development Team to support clinical trials for patients.
Contribute to the identification of patients eligible for trial entry. Provide support to patients considering entry to clinical trials in relation to informed consent and advocacy.
Develop links and system to seek the views of patient and carers to ensure service development is in line with user need.
Additional Responsibilities
Need to access locations where patients may reside or visit, i.e charity/local authority led initiatives where patients may congregate.
Will participate in Audits and liaise with public health staff
Participate in public health initiatives including vaccination clinics, BBV screening, general health assessments, wellbeing clinics.
To maintain strong desire to develop service and to be resilient to negative attitudes within this patient cohort
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- NMC Registered first-level Nurse or recognised AHP/Healthcare professional registered with HCPC
- Evidence of completed Masters level learning
- Advanced Health Assessment
- Independent Prescribing ( or currently undertaking)
- Evidence of continued professional development
- Relevant Nursing/AHP/Health subject degree
Desirable
- Leadership qualification
- Recognised teaching qualification (ENB 998, C&G 730 or equivalent)
- Advanced communication skills training
- Masters degree
Experience
Essential
- Significant post registration experience within the speciality or related area including at Band 6
- Experience of student supervision and teaching
- Proven leadership skills
- Experience of working autonomously within a specialist area
- Experience of delivering complex personalised care and patient advocacy
- Experience of research, audit and evidence-based care
- Experience of delivering service improvement and change management
Desirable
- Managing projects
- Membership of specialist interest groups related to Homeless Health
- Managing a budget
Skills
Essential
- Advanced clinical, managerial and leadership skills
- Proven listening and counselling skills with the ability to manage complex situations and appropriately deliver sensitive and difficult outcomes
- Ability to clinically lead and influence others. Up to date knowledge of current clinical and professional issues. Excellent verbal, written, interpersonal and communication skills
- Managing a caseload
- Able to use skills of history taking and physical assessment to direct patient care
- Excellent prioritisation and time keeping skills
- Must be computer literate and have standard keyboard skills
- Teaching, presentation and facilitation skills to support promotion of the service and to support education
Personal
Essential
- Creative thinker
- Diplomatic
- Excellent role model
- Self-motivated
- Flexible and positive approach to work
Other
Essential
- Able to work unsociable hours and in challenging environments as required.
- Must have means on own transport and be able to drive in variable weather conditions.
- Must be a non-smoker during working hours
- Must be willing to undertake Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure to Enhanced level
- Must be legally entitled to work in this country
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website .
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants .
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website .
Employer details
Employer name
South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Leamington Spa Hospital - SWFT NHS
Heathcote Lane
Royal Leamington Spa, Warwick
CV34 6SR