Community Hospice Specialist Nurse (Junior)
Are you a compassionate and experienced Registered Nurse with a passion for palliative care? Do you thrive in managing complex caseloads and delivering high-quality care in patients homes? St Nicholas Hospice Care is seeking a Community Hospice Specialist Nurse to join our dedicated team supporting patients across West Suffolk and Thetford.
The role covers the core hours 9-5pm, with a rotational weekend/BH day cover.
Main duties of the job
As a Community Hospice Specialist Nurse, you will:
Manage a complex caseload of patients with life-limiting conditions, providing expert assessment, symptom management, and care planning.
Deliver person-centred care in community settings, including patients homes, care homes, and clinics.
Work autonomously while collaborating with Clinical Nurse Specialists, GPs, and other healthcare professionals.
Provide clinical leadership, mentoring, and support to junior staff and Health Care Assistants.
Offer emotional and psychological support to patients and families, ensuring dignity and choice at every stage.
About us
At St Nicholas Hospice Care, we believe everyone should matter in life and death. Our community team plays a vital role in ensuring patients receive compassionate, expert care wherever they call home.
Continuation of NHS pension (subject to eligibility).
25 days annual leave (rising to 29 with service).
Enhanced occupational sick pay.
Health cash plan and wellbeing programme.
Life assurance and free on-site parking.
Access to Blue Light Card discounts.
Supportive line management and career development opportunities.
Job responsibilities
Clinical
Assess, plan, implement and evaluate nursing interventions for patients with palliativecare needs
Begin to integrate theory with practice to develop plans of treatment and care
Work autonomously and within own scope of practice to manage a caseload of patients,escalating non-routine matters to senior colleagues
Demonstrate some knowledge and understanding of the clinical presentation of diseaseprocesses and integrate this knowledge into the assessment and management ofpatients
Increasingly demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the psychological responsesto terminal illness and develop skills to assess and manage these in practice, referring tospecialist services, as required
Assess pain and other symptoms with the use of appropriate tools, ensuring anunderstanding of clinical history and physical examination
Demonstrate knowledge of therapeutic treatment methods and uses of medications totreat patients
Demonstrate understanding of the range of therapeutic options, which may be availableto support the management of symptoms, including medication and non-pharmacologicalmeasures such as complementary therapies
In partnership with MDT members, review assessments in response to changing needs
Support the autonomy and independence of patients, ensuring the provision of holisticand person centred care, with awareness of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act(2005)
Demonstrate advancing communication skills to respond to the needs of patient andfamilies and to enable open discussion, including facilitating discussion around advancecare plans and difficult conversations
Assess and support the need for additional information required by patients and families,ensuring that this is person centred
Demonstrate an ability to problem-solve, to enable patients and families to find resolutionto their concerns, signposting to other professionals or services, as appropriate
Work closely as part of the multi-disciplinary team by engaging in regular clinicalmeetings
Act as a resource for junior colleagues
Facilitate support for carers, recognising their value in the care of patients facingpalliative and end of life care
Demonstrate understanding of clinical risk and safeguarding
Maintain accurate and contemporaneous patient records
Develop understanding of the medications used in palliative care, to support practice
Actively participate in clinical supervision
Leadership and management
Act as a role model demonstrating high standards of care and clinical leadership at alltimes
Provide a clinical triage telephone service, as required
Act as line manager for Senior Hospice Nurses
Work collaboratively with other services to support the continuum of care for patientsacross West Suffolk and Thetford
Work closely with senior colleagues to deliver palliative out-patient clinics session insettings across West Suffolk and Thetford
Identify and participate in service improvement initiatives and processes
Support a one clinical team approach, developing own skills to deliver care acrosssettings to support business continuity
Provide clinical support and advice during out of hours periods for junior colleagues inthe absence of senior colleagues, escalating concerns outside role and responsibilities,as appropriate
Manage own caseload with regular support from the senior colleagues
Participate in work which demonstrates clinical quality outcomes eg: clinical audit
Seek patient feedback proactively and collate responses as per organisational guidancein order to develop services
Education and Research
Review own training and education needs based on feedback from appraisal, audit andchanges to national guidance
Actively maintain current knowledge across specialist palliative care by reading andinformal learning opportunities
Participate in the development and delivery of educational programmes to enhance thelearning of others, including professionals, patients and carers
Provision of formal and informal training to internal and external colleagues
Work with learners, acting as Practice Assessor, as appropriate
Engage in regular Continued Professional Development opportunities to ensure that ownclinical practice remains current
Work towards achievement of additional Level 6 and Level 7 modules to supportdevelopment into a Senior CNS post
Engage with opportunities for clinical supervision
Where possible, participate in research opportunities across palliative care
Person Specification
Experience
* Evidence of continued professional development
* Significant post registration experience in palliative care or oncology
* Knowledge and experience of palliative care caseload management
* Significant experience of working autonomously
Qualifications
* Relevant diploma or degree in Nursing
* Post-registration qualification in cancer/palliative care, long term conditions, or a relevant subject (eg: Advanced Communication Skills, Clinical Assessment) at BSc level
Skills and Abilities
* Understanding of the value of multi-disciplinary team working
* Robust understanding of own professional and clinical boundaries
* Awareness of own emotional responses and ability to respond to these appropriately
* Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance
* Ability to motivate self and others and to lead by example
* Able to recognise and consider professional and ethical issues, seeking support as appropriate
* Driving license, use of own car, business insurance
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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