An Band 8A Job Description

JOB DESCRIPTION

CONSULTANT ADMIRAL NURSE

Summary of Responsibilities:

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will provide strategic, professional, clinical leadership and consultancy in nursing practice throughout Prestige Nursing + Care. The post holder will be expected to contribute to and influence training and education programs to increase awareness and promote best practice in dementia care throughout Prestige Nursing + Care.

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will work collaboratively across boundaries with partner providers of health and social care to provide a seamless approach to care for both people living with dementia and their family carers.

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will have a high profile role as clinical leader in dementia service with a focus on both strategic and clinical issues.

The post holder will be an exceptional individual who can influence, lead and motivate staff at all levels.

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will take a lead role in maximising the contribution that values and evidence based nursing makes to Prestige Nursing’s:

• Expert clinical practice
• Professional leadership and consultancy
• Education, training and research
• Practice and service development and evaluation

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will exercise a high degree of personal and professional autonomy, have an ability to reach complex and critical judgements and have decision making skills to satisfy the expectations and demands of the job.

The post holder will be required to spend a minimum of 25% of his/her time in clinical practice.
Prestige Nursing + Care 5%
This post holder will have a discreet case load focusing on people with dementia and their family carers with complex needs within Prestige Nursing + Care.
Community Setting 20%
This post holder will run one-to-one clinics in a community setting for people with dementia and their family carers.
The Consultant Admiral Nurse will have a key function in developing and evaluating the Consultant Admiral Nurse role.

He/she will provide up-to-date clinical advice, support, liaison, education and training to other staff/agencies and use the Admiral Nurse Competency Framework to support the development and articulation of their expert practice.

Finally, the Consultant Admiral Nurse will participate in and make effective use of monthly clinical supervision as provided by Dementia UK.

Main Duties:

Expert clinical practice function is up to 25% of time delivering direct care to people living with dementia and their family carers, the three remaining functions are collectively 75% of time.

There are four main functions of the Consultant Admiral Nurse Role:

• Professional leadership and consultancy
• Practice and service development and evaluation
• Education, teaching and research
• Expert clinical practice

1. Professional leadership and consultancy

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will provide professional leadership; communicate and support the delivery of a vision for high quality nursing care for service users and their families. He/she will be a member of the senior nursing team within the organisation and will adhere to and influence professional nursing practice developments within Prestige Nursing + Care. The post holder will:

• Act as an expert resource and provide advice on nursing care in relation to clinical interventions, policies, service development and delivery for people with dementia and their carers.

• Demonstrate competency in applying relevant areas of nursing expertise strategically within a multi professional arena. This will include the use of analytical thinking, decision making, leadership and other specialist skills to work with others towards the goal of improving the quality of the experience of people with dementia and their carers.

• Provide consultancy to developing services locally and nationally, as well as within Prestige Nursing + Care.

• Demonstrate the ability to provide highly complex or sensitive information, where developed persuasive, motivational, negotiating, empathetic and/or reassuring skills are required.

• Be acknowledged as an expert professional leader, act as a role model and provide clinical supervision as deemed appropriate to staff groups within Prestige Nursing + Care and across organisational boundaries.

• Develop and sustain clinical networks to support the specialism locally and engage with networks nationally to share knowledge and expertise.

• Contribute to maintaining and development of Admiral Nursing standards.

• Provide motivation and encouragement to all staff to review their practice and support innovation and change.

• Identify and disseminate legal and ethical implications for practice.

• Actively participate in Prestige Nursing’s and Dementia UKs clinical governance arrangements.

• Support, contribute to and/or lead the implementation of relevant strategies, policies and performance measures

2. Practice and Service Development and Evaluation

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will have a significant role in clinical practice and service development to affect improved outcomes and health gain for people with dementia and their families. He/she will create an atmosphere in which people living with dementia and their family carers, nursing staff, and professional carers feel empowered to identify and evaluate quality improvements in care, treatment and service delivery. The post holder will:

• Ensure the service delivery and future development is implemented in accordance with best practice and Prestige Nursing + Care’s policies

• Lead on the identification of an agreed service model and work in partnership with the senior management team and relevant clinicians to further develop nurse led services within Prestige Nursing + Care

• Contribute to the identification of clinical governance standards and objectives and support their implementation

• Be responsible for the professional development of nursing and support staff

• Identify evidence based models of care relevant to dementia services in order to plan, monitor and evaluate the implementation of agreed models and continually demonstrate through own practice the integration of nursing theory and practice

• Ensure there are systems in place to ensure that all staff within Prestige Nursing’s dementia services participate in clinical supervision and clinical support

• Provide clinical supervision and clinical support to other clinicians internal and external as required on an individual and or group basis.

• Demonstrate a high degree of knowledge and experience around the implementation of project management and change management.

3. Education, training and research

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will make a significant contribution to the development of education and training in the field of dementia and to the evidence base within this field of practice. The post holder will:

• Develop and deliver teaching and training programmes to Prestige Nursing’s staff

• Identify skills, competencies and training needs of nursing and support staff working within Prestige Nursing + Care

• Organise and participate in conferences both for Prestige Nursing and Dementia UK.

• Critically appraise the outcomes of research in dementia services, using findings to inform the strategic direction of services and advise colleagues of relevant findings

• Disseminate new and innovative practice and quality care initiatives with colleagues

• Develop and demonstrate skills in research methodologies and analysis

• Lead the development of a nursing research agenda within the area of dementia

• Participate in collaborative research activity at local and national levels in areas relevant to dementia

• Endeavour to develop the nursing research capacity of nurses and support staff, promoting the opportunity for new clinical researchers in the area of dementia

• Provide support and supervision of nursing staff in the development and participation in research programmes specific to dementia

• Ensure that the nurses and support staff within dementia services have opportunities to develop skills in literature searching and critical appraisal

• Create a positive learning environment where skills and knowledge can be shared using a variety of media thereby developing a culture of continuous improvement and development in clinical practice.

4. Expert Practice – at least 25% of time spent in direct delivery of clinical care

The Consultant Admiral Nurse will function at an expert level of clinical theory and practice, having a breadth of knowledge and skills in areas relevant to dementia. The post holder will:

• Act as an expert practitioner demonstrating specialist knowledge and skill including the integration of research evidence into practice by expert clinical reasoning and decision making.

• Utilise advance clinical reasoning skills and evidence based knowledge in the assessment, treatment and management of people with dementia and their family carers with highly complex presentations.

• Make complex clinical judgements in relation to patient care, risk identification and management and provide support and guidance to their family carers.

• Provide direct expert and high quality nursing care, using a range of evidence based interventions in the assessment, planning, delivery and evaluation of care to service users and families.

• Liaise closely with multidisciplinary/multi agency teams in relation to individualised care of people with dementia and their families in order to interpret and analyse complex clinical and non-clinical facts. From this the post holder will regularly provide expert advice and second opinion to health care professionals, including when views may differ or conflict.

• Access relevant clinical supervision and provide supervision for less experienced practitioners of all professions.

• Practice within the legal and ethical framework set out by the NMC code of professional conduct and other relevant legislation such as the Mental Capacity Act, Mental Health Act and Safeguarding procedures.

• To uphold high professional standards at all times.

Communication

The post holder will be expected to:

• Produce written communication of highly complex and sensitive information including patient reports, project reports, policy documents, written critiques of literature and consultation documents.

• Carry out public speaking at conferences, reporting of research and audit findings of a complex nature, teaching and dissemination of knowledge and information.

• Chair meetings and work groups.

• Be frequently involved in negotiating with various disciplines, various levels of management, clinicians and with people with dementia and their families.

• Deliver complex therapeutic interventions to people with dementia and their family carers in a manner which they will understand and relate to.

• Manage and diffuse distressing and emotional situations in a sensitive manner with service users, often at times when they have difficulty communicating or understanding.

• Lead and participate in a range of committees, steering groups, reference groups and meetings at local, regional and national levels.

Health & Safety at Work Act

The post holder must be aware of the responsibilities placed upon them under the Health and Safety Act 1974 to ensure that agreed procedures are carried out and that a safe working environment is maintained for patients, visitors and employees.

Professional Conduct

The post holder must comply with their appropriate professional body and code of conduct e.g. NMC Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors, Code of Conduct for NHS Managers.

Responsibility for data quality

All Admiral Nurses that record information have a responsibility to ensure that the data is relevant, accurate, and complete and captured in a contemporaneous manner so that it is fit for purpose. A data subject e.g. an employee/a patient, has a right to expect this under the Data Protection Act’s fourth principle – Personal data shall be accurate and where necessary kept up to date

Safeguarding

All Admiral Nurses have a responsibility to themselves, patients, service users and other staff in ensuring the effective Safeguarding of Children and Adults. Admiral Nurses must follow the agreed local policies and procedures in both these domains

Please note that this job description serves to provide an illustrative example of the duties and responsibilities the post holder may be expected to undertake during the course of their normal duties. It is not therefore an exhaustive list; the post holder will therefore be required to undertake other responsibilities and duties that are considered to be commensurate with the band.
Please note that this job description serves to provide an illustrative example of the duties and responsibilities the post holder may be expected to undertake during the course of their normal duties. It is not therefore an exhaustive list; the post holder will therefore be required to undertake other responsibilities and duties that are considered to be commensurate with the band.

Person specification:

Admiral Nurse Consultant/Strategic Lead Band 8 Job Description

CONSULTANT ADMIRAL NURSE JOB DESCRIPTION – BAND 8a

©Dementia UK 2014