Experienced General Practice Nurse

Job responsibilities

JOB DESCRIPTION

Post: General Practice Nurse

Responsible to: GP Partner and Practice Manager

Professionally accountable to: Senior Partner

Job Summary

The post holder is responsible for ensuring the delivery of safe and effective nursing care to the whole practice population. As the team leader for the nursing team, the post holder is accountable for nursing service delivery. They will lead and manage all the nursing resource, working closely with the practice management and GPs to deliver the practice priorities. Clinically, the focus of the role is the delivery of evidence-based practice for patients with long-term conditions and management and preventative nursing interventions to all patients. As an autonomous practitioner the nurse is responsible for the care delivered, demonstrating critical thinking and skills in clinical decision-making. They will work collaboratively with the whole general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing leadership and direction for the nursing team.

Key responsibilities

Clinical practice

Assess, plan, develop, implement, provide and evaluate treatment programmes including, but not limited to:

To provide expert clinical care, including triaging, diagnosis, treatment and management of patients with acute presentation / minor illnesses

Manage and treat long-term conditions, in line with national and local policies and practice needs

Review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, in accordance with evidence based practice and national/practice protocols, and work with patients to support adherence to prescribed treatments

Prioritise health problems, intervening appropriately, to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care

Support and manage health needs of women presenting for family planning and cervical cytology consultations

Lead, implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children including patients travelling abroad

Meet the needs of patients presenting for opportunistic wound care

Refer patients to other clinicians including secondary care on the direction of a GP.

Wound care providing assessments, and management

Providing routine ear-care

Provide assessment of patients presenting with common mental-health problems; stress/anxiety/depression.

Provide the NHS Health-check to the practice population

Communication

Demonstrate sensitive communication styles to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment

Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating, including those receiving bad news

Act as an advocate when representing patients and colleagues

Participate in practice team meetings, delivering the nursing agenda and run nurse department meetings

Produce written documents that evidence the contribution of the nursing team to the practice priorities

Delivering a quality service

Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the NMC

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

Prioritise, organise and manage own and others workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality

Deliver care as an individual and team according to NSF, NICE guidelines and evidence-based care, assessing effectiveness of care delivery through peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation and leading on the maintenance of quality governance systems for the nursing team

Implement and review the application of evidence-based practice in nursing

Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required

Evaluate patients response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care

Lead and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation and assess the impact of policy implementation on care delivery

Monitor the performance of the GPN team in accordance with local policies

Work within policies regarding family violence, vulnerable children and adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour, and refer as appropriate

Interpret national strategies and policies into local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice

Leadership personal and people development

Take responsibility for own development, learning and performance including participating in clinical supervision and acting as a positive role model

Support the development of others in order to maximise staff potential

Lead others to make realistic self-assessment of their knowledge and skills, challenging any complacency and actions that are not in the in the interest of the public and/or users of service

Act as a clinical leader in the delivery of practice nursing services to patients, ensuring that the needs of the patient are the priority

Lead the nursing team in the planning and implementation of local guidelines, protocols and standards, and of local projects or initiatives

Promote the role of the nursing team in the provision of care

Team working

Work as an effective and responsible team leader, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working

Delegate appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence of nurses

Ensure clear nurse referral mechanisms are in place to meet patient needs

Prioritise own and others workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team

Lead nursing team activities that create opportunities to improve patient care

Participate in research programmes

Contribute nursing view to practice management

Set specification and quality required from nursing admin support

Management of risk

Practice lead for infection control. Manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients

Monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines

Practice lead for immunisation and controlled drugs. Ensure safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs

Act as a role model to support members of the nursing team to undertake mandatory and statutory training requirements

Apply infection-control measures with in the practice according to local and national guidelines

Participate in the local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice

• Recognising issues and gathering sufficient information to refer (e.g. drugs; domestic violence; child protection; vulnerable adults; senior patients; social problems)

Utilising information

Use technology and appropriate software packages as an aid to day to day operations

Review and process data using accurate read codes in order to ensure easy accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes

Adhere to statutory and practice requirements such as confidentiality and Freedom of Information Act

Collate, analyse and present clinical data and information to the team using appropriate charts and/or graphs to enhance care

Learning and Development

Act as mentor for more junior ...