Senior Appliance Nurse
Job Description
Job summary
Fixed Term / Secondment until July 2026.
The Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (SNEE ICB) is seeking an enthusiastic, self-motivated Appliance Nurse to join our friendly and innovative multidisciplinary Medicines Optimisation Team.
Working in a team of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, appliance nurses and dietitians, you will jointly lead the safe, high quality and cost-effective use of appliances. You will have excellent interpersonal skills and will build trusted relationships with GP practices, care homes, acute trusts, and community nursing teams, providing support, education, and training to improve quality of care for our local population.
Prior experience in a commissioning environment is not essential as you will be provided with close peer support and the training required to help you succeed in this varied and challenging role.
This is a full-time post, although applications for part-time working will be considered. We offer a mix of remote, office, and practice-based working, with no evenings, weekends or bank holidays. Salary is in accordance with the NHS AfC pay scale, and we offer NHS pension.
To find out more about this opportunity, please contact [email protected] (Senior Appliance Nurses) or [email protected] (Chief Pharmacist).
Main duties of the job
Lead on the development of evidence-based guidelines and policies in response to NICE or NHS England publications and directives as they relate to the use of appliances.
Lead on the review of all relevant therapeutic areas to include (but not limited to) wound care, continence, and stoma.
Have joint, overarching responsibility at a strategic level for identifying and shaping all medicines optimisation work in areas relating to the prescribing and/or use of appliances.
Lead on the development and maintenance of clinical guidance, formularies, and protocols as they relate to the safe and appropriate prescribing and use of appliances in primary care settings.
Have joint responsibility for identifying areas for improvement and developing protocols for pharmacy technicians to follow when recommending/implementing changes in general practice or care homes.
Actively participate in the development of an ICB Cost Improvement Programme (CIP) plan as it pertains to the provision and use of appliances and support its implementation at place and system levels.
Consider the whole patient pathway to identify the potential for additional savings to be achieved through admission avoidance, reduction in healthcare professional time etc.
About us
The NHS Suffolk and North-East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) plans and buys healthcare services for our population. This function is commonly referred to as commissioning. To do this, we work within a budget of around £1.5 billion, which is set by NHS England, and work closely with local government and the NHS providers in our area. Our performance is judged by how well our local health and care system as a whole is working, including the health outcomes of our communities. The ICB has delegated some authority to the three health and wellbeing alliances that operate in Suffolk and North-East Essex to act on its behalf. This is to ensure that the needs of smaller, local areas are addressed. The ICB remains accountable for all of its functions, including those it has delegated. Local residents have a big role to play in the operation of the ICB. We rely on the experiences and perspectives of our communities to help shape our decision-making.
Job responsibilities
To support SNEE ICBs commitment to commissioning services that are both safe and effective in meeting the needs of the local population, ensuring that pathways in which appliances are used deliver cost-effective use of resources and improved patient outcomes and experience.
To support system wide integration, working with wider health and care professionals to ensure that use of appliances in health and care settings is joined up.
To develop and support the implementation of appliance related strategies across the three Alliances to:
- improve health outcomes
- reduce avoidable harm
- avoid waste
To improve the health of the population by optimising the use of appliances through:
- promoting the safe, evidence-based, and cost-effective use of appliances
- providing up to date, unbiased information about treatments and care pathways
- supporting practitioners and patients to make the best use of appliances
- developing local guidelines and care pathways to optimise the use of appliances
- supporting other health and care providers to deliver medicines optimisation in a way that is high quality, efficient, safe, well led, timely and responsive, effective, and equitable.
The job description and person specification are an outline of the tasks, responsibilities and outcomes required of the role. The job holder will carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required by their line manager.
The job description and person specification may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the Department and the Organisation.
Person Specification
Other
Essential
- Ability to work on own initiative and organise own workload without supervision.
- Understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships.
- An ability to maintain confidentiality and trust
- Able to use Visual Display Unit equipment for prolonged periods of time and on most working days.
- Able to concentrate for prolonged periods of time.
- Able to work in a variety of environments, to include own home, office, GP practices and care homes.
- Able to travel routinely and independently across Suffolk and North East Essex (and occasionally further afield) as required.
Knowledge, Training & Experience
Essential
- Professional knowledge acquired through degree in adult nursing.
- Registered with the NMC as a nurse.
- Additional specialist knowledge to masters level (in the relevant area) acquired via formal training and/or other forms of training and/or experience.
- Leadership qualification or equivalent experience.
- Evidence of continuing professional development.
- Significant post registration experience.
- Experience of working in health or social care.
- Experience of using critical appraisal skills to aid decision making.
- Experience of planning, developing, and implementing change impacting beyond own area of work.
- Experience of delivering contentious information in a hostile environment.
- Experience of using recognised behaviour change techniques to influence a wide range of stakeholders.
- Experience of training/presenting.
- Experience of analysing complex data.
- Highly developed specialist knowledge in all clinical areas relating to the use of appliances in primary care.
- Robust knowledge of the NHS structure and commissioning arrangements.
- Knowledge and understanding of the prescribing and medicines optimisation challenges facing primary and secondary care.
- Knowledge of GP funding mechanisms, including those relating to Dispensing Doctors.
Desirable
- Experience of working in a GP practice.
- Experience of working with care homes.
- Experience of writing reports for clinicians and/or non-clinical staff.
- Experience of training/presenting to large groups of people.
- Experience in using sources of prescribing data e.g. ePACT2, OpenPrescribing.
- Knowledge of CQC and inspection process
- Knowledge of the Network Contract DES and IIF metrics.
- Knowledge of the social care sector and funding mechanisms - to include care homes and home care services.
- Knowledge of community pharmacy funding mechanisms as they relate to appliances.
- Knowledge acquired through non-medical prescribing qualification.
Skills
Essential
- Excellent communication skills including verbal, non-verbal and written.
- Able to work autonomously as well as part of a team.
- Self-motivated and able to motivate others.
- The ability to influence.
- Able to present information to a variety of people from professional and non-professional backgrounds.
- Able to disseminate information accurately and to facilitate collaborative working across organisational barriers.
- Able to resolve conflict and overcome barriers in order to have difficult conversations and/or challenge unwanted behaviours.
- Able to use a keyboard to enter clinical, prescribing, or financial data with a very high degree of accuracy.
- Able to apply highly developed specialist knowledge when undertaking the review of patient records and complex prescribing patterns. ...
