Job summary
Employer heading
Registered Nursing Associate Palliative and End of Life Care
Band 4
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
1 x Band 4 Registered Nursing Associate
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 4 Registered Nursing Associate to join our nursing team within our Specialist Palliative and End of Life service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and dynamic individual with the drive to care for patients with Palliative and End of Life needs. The candidates will have to be able to prioritise their workload without supervision, and use their initiative whilst working within the multidisciplinary team. They must have excellent communication skills and will ensure that patient care is at the absolute core of every decision. This is a new post for the Palliative and End of Life Care Team, so the post holder will have a unique opportunity to develop and ensure this role is effective within the team.
Closing Date: Tuesday 7th May 2024 at midnight
Interview Date: Thursday 16th May 2024
Main duties of the job
The role of the Nursing Associate is to work with the multi professional team and the Registered Nurse to assess, plan, implement and evaluate the clinical care of patients who are being supported by the specialist palliative and end of life team.
This will include monitoring of vital signs, bladder scanning and catheter care (including insertion and removal), administration of medications, and offering exemplary end of life care and care after death. Your role will also be to work with the nursing team to assist in the delivery of a rapid response overnight community service to patients living in the Boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth.
Working for our organisation
The band 4 Registered Nursing Associate within the Palliative and end of life care virtual ward will work alongside the Pal@home team to support overnight service provision.
Pal@home is an innovative response community based night service offering nursing support to patients with palliative care needs in their own home within the Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. The team will most commonly support patients overnight with uncontrolled symptoms, personal care, telephone advice, patient/carer distress, verifying expected deaths and performing care after death. Pal@home support reduces the need for unnecessary hospital admissions or emergency department attendances, and can play a vital role in expediting rapid discharges home from hospital to a patient’s preferred place of care.
Pal@home operates between the hours of 20:00 and 08:00 7 days per week work in collaboration with Specialist Palliative care teams, the Community End of Life Team, Lambeth and Southwark District Nursing Services, SELDOC and LAS and the @Home team.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The role of the Registered Nursing Associate is to work with the multi professional team and the Registered Nurse to provide ongoing assessment (excluding initial assessment), plan, implement and evaluate clinical care in line with service and patient needs, as agreed with supervising clinicians. The Nursing Associate works independently under the leadership of registered nurses, working within the sphere of nursing care and all aspects of the nursing process. The post holder will act professionally at all times to deliver safe and compassionate care and use their knowledge and experience to make evidence based decisions to solve challenges and problems. They will recognise and work within the limits of their competencies and are responsible and accountable for their actions. The post holder will support and facilitate the training and supervision of nursing assistants, pre-registration nurses and nursing associates. They will be expected to actively contribute to quality assurance processes and service development.
*Please see the attached Job description and Person specification for more in-depth details of responsibilities*
Person specification
Education & Qualifications
Essential criteria
- RNA Registered Nurse Associate on the NMC register
- Evidence of literacy and numeracy to GCSE level
- Committed to own personal development
Desirable criteria
- Recent experience relevent to speciality
- Previous experience working as a Registered Nursing Associate
Skills / Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of the individual’s responsibility towards health & safety
- Basic Computer Skills including ability to use Microsoft Word and Electronic Patient Records (EPR)
- Uses own initiative and is able to take decisions
- Self-motivated
- Able to maintain clear and legible documentation
- An understanding of Audit and Research/Evidence Based Nursing Practice
- Ability to work effectively within a team
- Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills
- Ability to delegate to others
Desirable criteria
- Experience in medication administration
- Experience in intravenous medication administration
- Experience in caring for patients at the end of their lives
Personal Attributes
Essential criteria
- Caring and compassionate nature
- Motivated and enthusiastic.
- Flexible and positive approach to work
- Confident to speak up and raise concerns
- Ability to form relationships with others
Experience
Essential criteria
- Recent experience relevant to the specialty
- Supervision of Junior Staff
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Lucinda Inglis / Louise Gunn
- Job title
- Matron
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 02071884754
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