Viral Hepatitis Clinical Nurse Specialist

Viral Hepatitis Clinical Nurse Specialist

The post-holder will deliver high-quality care across Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust as part of a specialist multidisciplinary team supporting patients with viral hepatitis. They will play a key role in ensuring coordinated, timely, and seamless care for this patient group.

The Division is committed to fostering staff development and service excellence through robust training, education, and clinical practice across both acute and community settings.

Working under the guidance of the Lead Hepatology Clinical Nurse Specialists and senior colleagues, the post-holder will exercise clinical judgment in assessing, planning, and implementing treatment, ensuring patients and carers receive appropriate support and advice.

• To effectively deliver an evidence based expert nursing service within an integrated specialist team
• To autonomously run nurse-led clinics, subject to achieving required competencies, across secondary care and in the community setting to provide care for patients enrolled on the antiviral therapy care pathway, including antenatal viral hepatitis referrals
• To provide co-ordinated care, in conjunction with senior members of the multi-disciplinary team, for complex patients with viral hepatitis and risk factors for HCC
• To provide appropriate monitoring of patients living with Hepatitis B and/or Hepatitis C Virus on or off antiviral therapy, inclusive of HCC screening
• To collect appropriate data against NICE guidance. To use audit as a tool to improve practice and evaluate services

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

• Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
• Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
• Improving the experience of staff with disability
• Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
• Making equalities mainstream

Performance

• To provide a specialist nursing service for patients with viral hepatitis internal and external to the trust within an integrated team structure
• To work within the CNS team structure to provide adequate cross cover for nurse led and multi-disciplinary clinics
• To accept responsibility for ensuring that new and follow up patients undergo clinical assessment and have an accurate plan of care in line with team protocols and guidelines; this should reflect individual co-morbidities and lifestyle issues and any recommendations made
• To co-ordinate nurse-led assessments for patients requiring antiviral therapy
• Initiate, monitor and adjust antiviral treatment (AVT) regimes as necessary, according to protocols, in conjunction with and under the supervision of the MDT
• To identify and initiate appropriate steps for effective care, including:
  • Requesting appropriate investigations to inform diagnosis or disease staging
  • Ensuring all patients who are new to the service are offered HIV test
  • Performing Fibroscan to contribute to clinical decision making
  • Sequential monitoring of patients with HBV and HCV to identify patients with active disease
  • Requesting and interpreting relevant blood tests
  • Making and receiving referrals relating to antiviral treatment, including in antenatal care
  • To monitor patients at high risk of developing complications of viral hepatitis including HCC
  • To work closely within the Operation Delivery Network including weekly attendance at the KCH-led viral hepatitis MDM
• Act as patients advocate and counsel, maintain a support network and contact link for patients and/or families/carers during and following treatment
• Maintain patient and carer confidentiality and preserve their dignity and privacy, at all times and in all situations
• To participate in local and regional Multi-Disciplinary Meetings (MDM) for patients with viral hepatitis to ensure adequate supervision and adherence to clinical governance
• Deliver safe, effective, evidence-based health care by working within guidelines and using protocols developed for viral hepatitis and, in line with Trust policies and guidelines

Work force

• To attend meetings relevant to the role and represent views of others in formal surroundings

To contribute both formally and informally to the education, training and development of clinical staff across the integrated pathway of care.

To contribute to the implementation of NICE guidance to ensure the continuous education of staff in appropriate clinical areas in relation to their understanding and utilisation of evidence-based…