Nurse Practitioner

We are looking to recruit 2 Nurse Practitioners to join our VAWAS (Vulnerable Adult Wrap Around Service) team.

The aim of the Vawas service is to provide a high level of personalised care to the elderly population within care homes and those patients living in their own homes. Their needs can be very complex and it is essential that the Vawas nurses, both ANP's and Nurse Practitioners work in conjunction with the aligned GP practice to provide and support the multi-disciplinary team as a whole.

You will be required to work alongside GP's, Pharmacists, District Nurses and Care co-ordinators to carry out the Enhanced Health in Care Homes Specification.

The VAWAS team currently comprises of 12 Advanced Nurse Practitioners and 1 Nurse Practitioner looking after elderly patients in approximately 60 care homes across Sedgefield and Easington.

HOURS:

1 post 30 hours per week and 1 post 23 hours per week

Job Summary

The Nurse Practitioner (NP) will act autonomously within their professional scopeof practice providing care for patients face to face, telephone consultationsand visits to local care homes as part of the bigger Vawas (Vulnerable Adult Wrap Around Service) team.

Thepostholder will operate within their own sphere of competence and agreedacceptable limits of practice to provide expert professional clinical advice to patients, carers and colleagues, ensuring clinical safety and excellence in conjunction with the Advanced Nurse Practitioners within the team.

The Nurse Practitioner will need to prioritise and triage the needs of patients,accordingly, making any necessary referrals for investigations in the appropriate manner.

The postholder will use skills, knowledge and competencies as aqualified Nurse Practitioner in order to be responsible and accountable for managing patient caseloads for treatments, referral, admission and dischargingpatients as appropriate.

Job responsibilities:

Clinical Nursing Practice

• Workas part of a multi-disciplinary team to deliver safe and high quality care.
• Carries out clinical nursing practice at a nurse practitioner level using expert clinical skills, critical judgements & knowledge to deliver appropriate andsafe care.

Delivery of carein line with NSF, NICE guidelines and evidence-based care

• Triageand treat patients, performing specialist assessment of their needs andmake referrals as necessary to other members of the primary and secondaryhealth care teams as appropriate.

Co-ordinate the planning and delivery of care ensuring patients and carers/relatives areinvolved.

• Prescribing and reviewing medication that is appropriate to patient needs and in accordance with latest evidence-based practice, national and practiceprotocols and within the scope of qualified practice.
• Diagnose and manage acute and chronic conditions, including drug and non-drug based treatment methods into a management plan.

Requestdiagnostic investigations and interpret within agreed protocols e.g. x-ray,blood tests, scans, etc.

• Assess,diagnose and treat patients in care homes and their own home who requiremedical attention and/or refer to appropriate agency.
• Referspatients to other members of the multi-disciplinary practice teams, secondary care organisations and other organisations as necessary.

Care Management

Communicates confidential and sensitiveinformation to patients, relatives and carers in relation to their condition.

Provide highly specialised care advicebeyond the scope of normal Nursing practice e.g. care treatment plans, making referrals as appropriate (including fast track referrals).

Contribute to local targets as set outin the Vawas contract.

To monitor and meet care outcomesagainst standards and recommend or initiate changes as necessary.

Health Improvement

Management of health screeningprogrammes and ensures other team members are aware of health priorities andscreening objectives and programmes.

Improve health outcomes for patients byintroducing new developments and can demonstrate them as reports and presentations where appropriate.

Supports practitioners in reporting the service population to promote health improvement and disease prevention.

Makes referrals to appropriate agencies(statutory and voluntary) where necessary

These may include (but notrestricted to);

• Urinalysis
• Routine immunisations and vaccinations
• Removal of sutures / clips
• General health advice
• Organise and plan the provision of nursing services for the Vawas service as appropriate

Administration and professional responsibilities

Produceaccurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient consultation,consistent with legislation, policies and procedures

• Participate in the administrative and professional responsibilities of the service team
• Accurate and legiblenotes of all consultations and treatments are recorded in the patients notes
• Ensure clinical systems keptup to date, recording and/or amending accurate details
• Ensure accurate completion of all necessary documentation associated with patient healthcare and registration…