Bladder and Bowel Nurse

Job overview

We are pleased to be able to offer a permanent job opportunity within the Bladder and Bowel Team.  We are therefore looking for Adult Nurses with an interest in improving bladder and bowel care to join the team.

The post holder will be based in the Bladder and Bowel Service, a small, friendly specialist team who are based at Bensham Hospital and cover the whole of the Gateshead area.

The team work  Monday – Friday between the hours of 8am and 5pm.

The aim of this Band 5 post is to improve patient outcomes by providing continence assessments and treatment following NICE guidelines.

The post involves working alongside the specialist nursing team and may include:

• Delivering training in care homes for care staff, including general continence care and continence assessments.
• Undertaking TWOCs and supporting patients discharged from hospital with catheters in situ with a view to TWOC.
• Case review of complex catheter patients, aiming to reduce issues such as recurrent blockage etc.

• Undertaking continence assessments and giving evidence-based advice to treat bladder and bowel problems in patient homes (including residential care), face to face clinics and via telephone consultations.
• Reviewing requests from residential homes and making decisions upon the most appropriate continence products to provide.

Main duties of the job

• To ensure the development and maintenance of a learning environment within the multi-disciplinary team that is appropriate for the development needs of all members.
• To facilitate an environment where health promotion and informed patient choice is encouraged and developed to its maximum potential, within the available resources.
• To contribute to the evaluation of clinical practice within the area of community nursing by monitoring standards of care and ensuring that nursing practice is audited and research based and supports the clinical governance framework.
• Works in partnership and an integrated approach to quality issues so that every member of the team contributes and is aware of their responsibility in this area.
• To facilitate and ensure a safe, efficient, and effective pathway for patients using the service.

• Work as part of the Bladder and Bowel team to deliver the best outcomes for patients and their families.
• Assesses, plans, implements and evaluates care.
• Deliver hands on clinical care to patients registered with a Gateshead GP.
• To motivate and support the team approach to delivering new innovative models of care for patients across pathways and across providers as defined by the business unit.
• Ensure systems and processes are in place to maintain patient safety

To contribute and participate in teaching packages for new staff members and students.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Essential

• Diploma/Degree in Adult Nursing
• NMC Registered Nurse
• 2 years post registration experience
• Portfolio of evidence of on-going professional development post registration and willing to undertake further study and specialist training to develop safe effective practice.
• Excellent IT skills
• Interest in bladder and bowel dysfunction and continence promotion
• Experience of working in an NHS provider Service as part of a team
• Excellent communication and organisational skills
• Displays Gateshead Health Trust values and beliefs
• Car Owner/Driver- capable of independent travel across Gateshead

Desirable

• Experience of working in the community
• Experience of working in a multi-professional team
• Experience within the area of continence, bladder and bowel, urology or colorectal
• Leadership and/or management experience
• Experience of working with the frail elderly
• Experience of involvement of change management and service improvements
• Experience of supporting clinical audit
• Experience of clinical supervision
• Excellent team player
• Flexible approach to service delivery
• Evidence of proactive multidisciplinary agency working and/or collaboration
• Demonstrates leadership skills
• Completion of practice supervisor and assessor programme.