Oxleas NHS Trust Job Description
JOB TITLE: Consultant Nurse learning Disabilities
GRADE: 8B
DIRECTORATE: Complex Adult Mental Health and Learning Disabilities
HOURS OF WORK: 37.5 HOURS
RESPONSIBLE TO: Director complex adult mental health and learning disabilities.
Clinical Director and Associate service director ALD
ACCOUNTABLE TO: Director of Nursing and Clinical Governance
RESPONSIBLE FOR: ALL NURSES WORKING IN ALD
LIAISES WITH: SERVICE DIRECTOR
CLINICAL DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR OF NURSING
HEADS OF NURSING
ALL RELEVANT HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
MANAGERS AND TEAM LEADERS ACROSS
OXLEAS TRUST
PROFESSIONAL HEADS OF SERVICE
OTHER OXLEAS NURSE CONSULTANTS
EXTERNALLY: Forms effective networks with other Consultant Nurses. Regional and national professional networks, professional organisations and others as appropriate. Establishes links and forums with nurses across all specialities in local areas as well as healthcare delivery to care of service users. University of Greenwich Team and other University pre and post education providers.
BASE: Bexley LDT, Stuart House, Sidcup
OVERVIEW OF THE POST:
To provide expert professional advice and clinical leadership to ALD nurses across the directorate and to lead on the development of nursing within ALD.
The specific focus of this role will include expert clinical practice within the Bexley community team, this will involve acting as the clinical lead for complex physical health. Secondly the postholder will have a visible leadership presence within the inpatient service at Atlas House.
The postholder will be responsible for the supervision, management and coordination of the rotation nurse post.
The Consultant Nurse will act as a consultant in learning disability nursing providing advice to colleagues, service users and carers with four main areas of responsibility which include expert practice, professional leadership, service development, research and education. In order to meet the requirements of expert clinical practice the postholder will be expected to carry a small complex caseload of adults with complex physical health needs.
The post holder will consult with colleagues both internally and externally with regard to the development and function of nursing and of clinical practice in ALD. They will initiate change, provide effective leadership and support towards the delivery of the highest level of complex clinical practice within the directorate and across the Trust. They will ensure the interpretation of national, regional and local policies in the development of professional, interdisciplinary and inter-agency strategic plans. The post holder will work to provide better health outcomes for people with learning disabilities by improving the quality of local services. This post will play a crucial role in developing excellence in nursing practice through the development and implementation of strategies and service development in 3 key areas;
§ Complex Physical Health Needs
§ Mental Health and Challenging Behaviour – specific focus on inpatient care.
§ Support and engagement with mainstream services and clinical commissioning groups.
The role will create an interface between these three areas of practice creating a common culture and sense of shared philosophy between the teams, ensuring clinical excellence, agreeing shared outcomes and ways of working. The Consultant Nurse will establish a strong clinical evidence base, academically underpinned across service areas to support the development and dissemination of expert nursing practice across the directorate as a whole and to other nurses as appropriate. This will be achieved through consultancy and providing the training opportunities for nursing staff.
The Consultant Nurse will work across the range of health and social care settings provided locally by statutory, private and voluntary sector agencies in order to provide expert nursing practice. The post will provide expert nursing advice to support and inform evidence based approach within ethical frameworks when contributing to commissioning and planning new services. The Consultant Nurse will also develop innovative new approaches to collaborative working alongside medical, clinical and social care practitioners.
The post holder will maintain strong links with the local Higher Education Institutes with regard to nurse education and will participate in the delivery of education in partnership with all local HEI’s as appropriate. These links with higher education will focus on the development of local research agendas which reflect the unique clinical priority areas, thus increasing the relevancy of research activity for local service delivery. The Consultant Nurse will lead on the development of research and audit in ALD nursing and across the directorate with other senior multi-professional colleagues. The Consultant Nurse will actively engage in funded research projects as appropriate and manage research funding.
KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
§ The Consultant Nurse post has four key areas of responsibility / components as identified by the Department of Health which include Expert Practice, Professional Leadership and Consultancy, Education Training and Development and practice and Service development, Research and Evaluation.
1.0 Expert Practice (Clinical)
§ To deliver expert clinical practice through direct care, consultancy and clinical supervision of practitioners.
§ Leads in delivering clinics/groups within which referred service users are seen, assessed and courses of treatment agreed with user, carers and multi-disciplinary professionals as appropriate across a range of needs including challenging behaviour/mental health and complex physical health issues.
§ Utilises and advises on the use of a range of specialist assessments for effective care planning.
§ To be able to communicate complicated and sensitive information to service users, their carers and other professionals and to manage complex issues around consent.
§ Provides expert knowledge of health care needs of people with learning disabilities and utilises this in the development of strategies/protocols.
§ Provides advice on therapeutic interventions for individuals with complex presentations.
§ Ensures the development of care programme approach in ALD nursing applying this to those with Complex Health Needs as well as mental health and challenging behaviour.
§ To provide consultancy to nurses and other health professionals as appropriate, in order to cascade clinical expertise, enable the development of a skill base in order to ensure best practice and clinical quality.
§ Provides expert clinical and professional supervision and mentorship to nurses working with complex service user presentations.
§ To develop, implement and monitor standards of care / clinical quality in ALD nursing in line with Trust and national requirements.
§ Responsible for ALD nursing procedural development.
§ To provide specialist assessment, risk assessment, treatment and evaluation of care to service users with complex needs as required, demonstrating problem solving skills, managing high risk service users and consulting with junior staff on issues with regard to the above.
§ Utilises and promotes highly specialised nursing interventions and care plans that are evidence based.
§ Makes critical complex, sensitive judgements of the highest order to satisfy the expectation and demands of the post.
§ Provides highly specialised professional and clinical advice and support to colleagues where standard protocols do not apply.
§ To act as a strategic link / establish networks with acute hospitals, mental health and primary healthcare in order to develop joint protocols / care pathways.
§ Develops nurse prescribing within the directorate.
§ Exercises high degree of professional autonomy.
§ Maintains professional registration and works within NMC standards and guidance at all times.
2.0 Professional Leadership and Consultancy (leadership)
§ To work closely with the lead nurse for ALD leading on the professional and clinical development of nurses within the directorate and other health professionals in the learning disability field of practice.
§ To lead on the development of nursing skills specific to ALD nurses in line with national development such as the Knowledge and Skills framework and the national reviews of specific skills for LD nurses and impart and model these skills to nurses within the service and also in training situations by providing teaching sessions.
§ To provide robust and highly visible leadership to Atlas house the directorates inpatient unit.
§ To provide Visible leadership within day services and community teams across the three boroughs.
§ Articulate and promote the distinctive contribution of Learning Disability Nurses at local, regional and national level. Contribute to the national learning disability nursing agenda, and the development of the role of nurses in this area of care.
§ Form networks with other Trusts and agencies at a regional and national level in order to identify developments in practice and variations and gaps in service provision. To develop links with National Institute of Clinical Excellence (CHAI) and NIMHE.
§ Plan, initiate and evaluate innovations in nursing practice which are evidenced / research based.
§ Take a lead role and shape the development of joint working arrangements with social services and other agencies at a local level.
§ To actively participate in the development and delivery of the Trust nursing strategy and lead on the Trust nursing strategy with regard to the development of ALD nursing.
§ To represent the Directorate at Trust level meetings.
§ To represent the Trust at national and regional meetings, for example, the National Network for Consultant Nurses and participate in review of national health and government initiatives in order to influence change at national level.
§ Chair of LD Nursing Council and executive member of Trust Nursing Executive Council.
§ To deliver expert clinical opinions in area of specialism to Director and Trust and other agencies.
§ Demonstrates a high level of leadership and change management skills.
§ Improves standards and quality to deliver professional practice which is underpinned by up to date research and contemporary evidence.
§ Identifies service opportunities and developments for the area of speciality and actively contributes / leads on implementation.
§ Takes a lead in clinical governance within the directorate, providing expert input and working to secure quality improvements.
§ To review and lead on the development of new areas of clinical specialism within learning disability nursing.
§ Publishes work relating to expert practice and innovations in practice of LD nursing within the Trust.
§ To lead on the development of nursing skills specific to LD nurses in line with national development such as the Knowledge and Skills frameworks.
§ To use development of wider skills in relation to ALD to consider different approaches to service user care with colleagues.
§ To contribute to the Trust debate on the Nurse Consultant role and to the development of further Nurse Consultant roles throughout the Trust.
§ Actively promote networking opportunities for all nurses and take the lead in specific networking groups.
3.0 Education and Development
§ To represent the Trust and Sub Directorate at meetings with the local HEI’s with regard to the development of appropriate nurse training opportunities and to develop teaching plans and deliver training / lecturing on these courses as appropriate.
§ Take responsibility for identifying the practice education and development needs of learning disability nurses and other health professionals within the learning disability field of practice. Encourage shared learning between the three aspects of care.
§ Offer supervision and mentoring opportunities to both pre and post registration nurses within the directorate.
§ Create a learning environment in each aspect of care. Teach in the practice setting, observations, peer review, case conferences and multi-agency meetings as appropriate to the context.
§ Work with colleagues within the School of Health and Social Care, other Universities, local NHS and other organisations to design and deliver specialist training programmes integrating theory and practice.
§ Contributes to workforce development plans.
§ Liaise with appropriate personnel to develop a training needs analysis, ensuring an appropriate response to these needs.
§ Contribute to and influence the development of nurse education programmes at the University of Greenwich and other providers.
§ Co-ordinates the input of other nurses into the education programmes.
§ Sustains productive partnerships with local and national learning institutes.
§ Through modelling mentorship and clinical supervision plays a key role in leadership and professional development.
§ Identifies own training needs through undertaking development reviews.
§ Maintains and effective and valid NMC registration through fulfilling PREP requirements.
§ Applies expert knowledge and works with professional guidelines.
§ Develops and supports the implementation of clinical practice guidelines and the care programme approach within the directorate supporting local need and the clinical governance agenda and the development of nursing governance.
§ Contribute to national conferences and workshops.
§ Involves service users in directorate education and training programmes.
4.0 Practice and Service Development, Research and Evaluation (Research)
§ Contribute to the growing research community within the Trust.
§ Initiate and undertake research independently and in collaboration with others in order to contribute to the growing evidence base for interventions, clinical effectiveness and to raise the profile of the Trusts research portfolio.
§ To initiate and develop own research to Masters and Doctorate level in line with service and national requirements.
§ Actively seek research funding opportunities and establish research proposals and manage research grants as appropriate.
§ Develop user involvement in ALD research.
§ Lead with others the research agenda in ALD through clinical governance and ALD specialist Interest Research Group.
§ Identify and influence health care research priorities for the service user group at local level and facilitate and support projects undertaken by others.
§ Develop valid and reliable outcome measures in order to monitor and continually improve the quality of clinical effectiveness.
§ Raise the profile of nursing research within the Trust and externally.
§ Ensure effective dissemination of any work undertaken at a local and national level.
§ Encourage and foster research networks in conjunction with the Head of Research and Development.
§ Ensure appropriate training and development opportunities in research audit and clinical effectiveness for ALD nursing.
§ Can utilise and establish research databases.
§ Promotes and demonstrates through own practice, research based and clinically effective interventions.
§ Actively contributes to ALD clinical audit and promotes this in ALD nursing.
§ Contributes to service development of Functional teams and care pathways for ALD.
MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES: