Band 6 Sister/Charge Nurse

Job overview

The post holder is designated deputy for the Senior Sister and is expected to support the Senior Sister in achieving the directorate’s aim and objectives.

The post holder will have excellent clinical skills and knowledge of intensive care, high dependency and special care of the newborn

The post holder will be responsible for the appropriate deployment and teaching of staff and/or students, liaising with other agencies and ensuring that trust polices and procedures are adhered to.

The post holder is responsible for the assessments of the care needs, the development, implementation and evaluation of care without supervision and is required to supervise and teach other nursing and non-nursing staff, acting as a clinical role model.

The post holder will also regularly take charge of the clinical area.

Main duties of the job

To take responsibility for the assessment of care needs, development, implementation and evaluation of programmes of care within a family centred partnership, from admission through to discharge, to ensure smooth transition from hospital to home.

To support the Senior Nurse and take a leading role in developing with staff a mechanism for setting goals and benchmarking standards of care. To help and participate in developing tools to improve the quality of clinical services across the department through evidenced based practice.

Disseminate knowledge, experience and expertise to all within the work place in order to create a culture of sharing best practice.

Support systems for sharing good practice within the Unit, Trust and wider region

To maintain accountability and comply with the NMC Guidelines, local and trust policies e.g. medical equipment policy, medicine policy etc

To be able to work and understand the equipment used on the Unit, including the cleaning of medical equipment and correct reporting of faulty equipment according to the Trust Medical Equipment Policy

To provide professional advice regarding the development and provision of Client care within the Unit to qualified and unqualified staff

Please see JD and PS for more information.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To lead by example and act as a role model to motivate and maintain moral and good team working.

To organize staff to meet the workload within the department with an appropriate skill mix to ensure 24 hour cover, and manage unexpected staffing issues effectively.

To be aware of the Unit’s resources, ensuring safe and economical use required meeting patient needs and evaluation of their effectiveness

To assist the Senior Nurse, set goals to manage and minimise risk in the investigating patient complaints, accidents and incidents reporting and to take corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

Accurately obtain and analyse statistical data and information for the area of practice, and ensure its storage onto IT systems where appropriate.

Ensure compliance with trust policies and procedures amongst the multi disciplinary team.

To assist the Senior Sister in monitoring sickness absence levels, e.g. Sickness reporting and Return to work interview

Take effective measures for the safe use and storage of medical equipment and its maintenance

Attend and actively contribute to relevant meetings.

To be actively involved in sharing good practice and promoting these across the multi disciplinary team.

Communication

To work cohesively as a team in providing a smooth transition from hospital to

home for infants and their families, adopting effective and efficient discharge planning at all times.

To maintain clear, accurate, legible contemporaneous patient documentation at all times.

To ensure and maintain an effective communication within the multi-disciplinary team to achieve an optimum level of service to the patients and families.

To attend IT training in order to be able to use the hospital patient information management system, email, intranet and the internet for work-related resources.

Professional Development and Education Responsibilities:

To attend in-house educational sessions, including updates on breast feeding initiatives, safeguarding, safe equipment use, resuscitation and life-long learning sessions. Keep up-dated by utilising the available educational resources on the Unit and within the Trust.

To take responsibility for your own personal and professional development.

To attend and contribute to unit and Trust meetings and keep updated on new changes of practice

Maintain annual statutory training requirements, including safeguarding children and Resuscitation.

To facilitate ongoing learning and professional development of junior staff, in conjunction with the sister/charge nurse.

To participate in maintaining and supporting a stimulating unit learning environment

To teach and act as a facilitator / mentor / preceptor and be a learning resource to less experienced staff, including pre and post registration nursing students.

To participate in annual Individual Performance Reviews (IPR) and be appraised annually

To be responsible for own learning needs and ensure that professional development is planned.

To maintain a professional profile as a record of own development and experience/qualification.

To contribute to research and development programmes within the unit in order to promote good practice

Professional and legal Responsibilities

To maintain confidentiality at all times.

To promote awareness and compliance amongst colleagues regarding trust policies, procedures, guidelines and standards, taking active steps to keep informed and updated.

To update own knowledge and skills in order to develop professionally and to

contribute to the improvement of the service.

Uphold the principles of the NMC code of professional conduct.

Comply at all times with the regulations issued by the trust especially those governing health and safety at work and to ensure that any defects which may affect safety at work are brought to the attention of the appropriate manager.

For more details please see attached JD and PS.

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.