Community Registered Nurse

Job overview

Band 5 Community Registered Nurse – Camden, Full-time

An exciting opportunity has become available in the East Integrated Neighbourhood Team for a Band 5 nurse to join our Camden Integrated Community Healthcare (CICH) team. We are looking for a Registered Nurse to work in a skill-mixed, seven-day-a-week nursing team. The team is supported by an overall Operational Lead in one of our five Integrated Locality Teams.

As a Community Nurse, you will provide nursing interventions to a range of housebound patients and help to manage their care supported by a skilled team of nurses. We are proactive in looking for enthusiastic and skilled nurses who will facilitate the delivery of excellent community nursing care, enjoy our new ways of working and who want to learn and excel in their career.

Following the NHS long term plan, CICH is proud to lead on putting neighbourhoods at the heart of integrated care. The service is set up to deliver health interventions within the framework of the neighbourhood model, working in partnership with other key primary care providers and the local voluntary care sector organisations. This role will be based at East Integrated Neighbourhood team based at Kentish Town Health Centre, however the post holder would be expected to work across Camden DN service according to the needs of the service.

Main duties of the job

Your role will include providing high-quality care for patients in a community setting. You will work closely with other nursing and therapy staff to care for a designated caseload of patients. This will include undertaking holistic assessments, reviewing patient nursing care needs and supporting junior staff and students as needed.  We have a range of Practice Development and Professional Leads who are on hand for supervision and support. You will work alongside Complex Care Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Rehabilitation assistants, Pharmacy technicians, students, and colleagues within Social Care, Mental Health, the Voluntary Sector, and General Practice.

You will work with our specialist teams i.e. Evening and Overnight Nursing team, Rapid Response, Palliative Care, Tissue Viability, Bladder & Bowel, Community Stroke and Neurology, Respiratory, Heart Failure and Diabetes teams and in-patient wards.

You will need NMC registration and have passion for learning and delivering the best nursing care. Community experience is not essential, but you will need to demonstrate an understanding of autonomous working in the community, with evidence of transferable skills.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Band 5 nurses work closely with patients, their families, friends and carers and play an important contribution in how people experience our services. Band 5 nurses are expected to be kind and responsive but professional and informative and contribute to the quality of the services we provide by:

• keeping the people who use our services as safe as possible through the use of sound clinical skills and effective clinical assessments
• Safeguarding people by recognising and responding when an adult or child might be at risk from abuse but also recognising their own limits and asking for help and escalating concerns when necessary
• Escalating safety concerns and, by doing so, acting as effective advocates for those who use our service.
• Being open and transparent about their own practice
• Supervising the work of others
• Reflecting on everyday practice to identify areas where improvements in safety or quality can be made.
• Working with others to create a culture of continuous improvement.
• Maintaining accurate, legible, comprehensive records.
• Maintaining compliance with their mandatory training requirements.

As per national policies, there is a growing need to deliver more complex care in the community to ensure local hospital beds are free for patients who are acutely unwell. Every day is different in community nursing and you will be supported to obtain a comprehensive set of skills to care for patients with a variety of needs.

Skills include but are not limited to:

• The ability to work as an autonomous practitioner
• Diabetes management - monitoring of blood sugars and insulin administration. Access to a specialist diabetic nursing team.
• Tissue viability/Wound care- Leg ulcer, compression therapy, doppler assessments, Vac dressings, pressure ulcers, surgical wounds and many more. Access to a specialist tissue viability team.
• Bladder and Bowel skills- Male, female and suprapubic catheterisation, bowel care, continence assessments. Access to a specialist bladder and bowel team.
• IV medication administration: Care of picc/mid line, preparation and administration of intravenous medications.
• Palliative care: Support visits, symptom control, administration of anticipatory medications (stat doses and syringe drivers). Access to a specialist community palliative care team.
• Drain care: Rocket drains, nephrostomies, chest drains etc

Band 5 nurses work as part of a team and you will contribute to the success of the team, drawing support from more experienced nurses and other health professionals but also by supervising junior staff and students to ensure they are working to the standards which the people using our services deserve.

CNWL provides a robust preceptorship program that focuses on progression and development of skills which includes regular supervision and a first-class learning experience in all aspects of community nursing. We have an extensive in-house training program that will equip you with all the theoretical knowledge required to ensure you are a confident, competent practitioner. In addition, our Nurse Development Lead will be available to guide and support new starters within the district nursing service to ensure you feel supported and you have an enhanced learning and development experience.