Staff Nurse

The Staff Nurse reports into the Inpatient Unit Sister/Charge Nurse and is responsible for providing care to patients within our Inpatient Unit (IPU).

The Staff Nurse will deliver expert, compassionate, and individualised nursing care to patients with life‑limiting illnesses. The role involves managing and coordinating the clinical care of patients, ensuring their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are met with dignity and respect. Assess, develop and implement care plans, administer medications, and provide symptom management.

Additionally, the Staff Nurse offers support and guidance to patients' families, helping them navigate the complexities of end‑of‑life care. Working collaboratively with the multi‑disciplinary team ensures the highest standard of care and enhances the quality of life for patients and those important to them.

St Giles Hospice is a registered charity founded in 1983 to improve the care of local people dying with cancer. We now support patients and their loved ones living with a terminal illness, offering individually‑tailored care free of charge in the hospice or in patients' own homes across our communities.

We spend close to £10 million a year providing specialist services. With less than a quarter of this funded by the Government, we rely heavily on donations and local income generation.

The role entails but is not limited to:

• Establish and maintain effective communication with patients, relatives, and multidisciplinary team members.
• Provide active listening, counsel, and information about the dying process in a highly challenging and emotive atmosphere.
• Coordinate with healthcare and allied professionals across acute, primary care, social services, nursing homes, and residential facilities to streamline admission and discharge.
• Refer patients to dieticians, occupational therapists, family support, physiotherapists, and other hospice services as required.
• Maintain professional relationships with primary care colleagues to facilitate community care.
• Manage patient admission and discharge, assess and advise in crisis situations, and present complex, sensitive information to patients, clients, and staff.
• Offer emotional/spiritual support throughout the disease and dying trajectory, and provide out‑of‑hours telephone support on symptom control and psychological care.

• Provide total physical, emotional, and spiritual care to patients, relatives, and carers throughout admission.
• Competently use syringe pumps, infusions, and IT systems (Systm One, Microsoft suite).
• Attend and present at case conferences and multi‑disciplinary team meetings as patient advocate.
• Assess needs and develop, implement, and evaluate specialized palliative nursing care, ensuring high‑quality specialist care.
• Supervise and monitor assisted care delivered by healthcare assistants, ensuring safe practice.
• Conduct nurse‑led holistic assessments, communicate treatment plans, and focus on patients' perceived quality of life.
• Plan safe discharge, provide community instructions, and advise on emergency out‑of‑hours service contact.
• Verify death, perform post‑death care, provide bereavement support, and transfer deceased patients to the mortuary respectfully.
• Complete accurate and legible nursing records in compliance with policy, legislation, and professional standards.
• Maintain custody and safe handling of controlled drugs per SOPs.
• Act as role model, educator, and mentor for junior staff, upholding professional standards and codes of conduct.
• Adhere to hospice policies and procedures, and pursue continuous professional development.

• Coordinate, supervise, and motivate a team of nurses as shift team leader; provide training and support to staff with less palliative care experience.
• Plan, implement, and evaluate specialist palliative patient care independently, advising patients and relatives.
• Collect, collate, evaluate, and report information to maintain accurate records aligned with legislation.
• Apply and uphold nursing care standards in partnership with the senior nursing team.
• Accountable…