Community Staff Nurse- Health Visiting

Job overview

The post holder of Community Staff Nurse in Health Visiting works as a member of the Health  Visiting Service to deliver the Health Visitor Service Specification and Healthy Child Programme to resident of Harrow. Work is delegated to Community Staff Nurses by Health Visitors; the skills and knowledge of Community Staff Nurses enhance and complement the team and help in the early intervention and prevention work of the service and the support of families. Community Staff Nurses are required to work in partnership the families, health care professionals and professionals from  other agencies.  The Band 5 Community Staff Nurse will work closely with the people who use our services, their families, friends, and carers and play an important contribution in how people experience our services. Nurses are expected to be kind and responsive but professional and informative and contribute to the quality of the services we provide.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Main duties of the job

Key Responsibilities

• To contribute to the delivery of the Health Visitor Service Specification, Healthy Child Programme,
• To support the Health Visiting Team and Service to provide a range of services across the borough, including public health, mental health and parenting initiatives.
• To undertake group working within the Trust and in partnership with other organisation
• To work in partnership with Health Visitors in the identification and safeguarding of vulnerable children by contributing to case conferences, core groups, team around family meetings, working to develop and deliver plan of care in accordance with local and national guidelines.
• To work with partner agencies, liaising and delivering care as identified.
• To follow Trust policies and procedures with reference to issues such as confidentiality, record keeping and health and safety.
• To plan and manage workload as designated by a Health Visitor and report any untoward findings to a Health Visitor as soon as possible.
• To support the service to deliver a five day a week service to the families of Harrow.
• To participate in the induction and support of new staff members and students.
• To participate in clinical, safeguarding and management supervision, appraisal and personal development process.
• To develop and build skills of team leadership and management and caseload management

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Outcomes Community Staff Nurses contribute to the effectiveness of services by:

• Providing skilled, evidence-based nursing care which adheres to agreed policies and procedures.
• Working with clients and families in all stages of the care planning process including assessing risks and needs
• Acting as client advocates in the multi-disciplinary team and overseeing the work of others to ensure that they are also responding to the needs of clients and providing clinically effective care
• Working as autonomous practitioners and taking responsibility for the care they give to clients but within their own limits of competency and confidence
• Contributing to creating and maintaining high performing teams by:- communicating well with all members of the team- understanding their role in the team and how they help the team achieve its’ objectives-  reflecting on their own practice regularly and encouraging the whole team to reflect on their practices in handovers and team meetings - identifying how care can be improved

Patient Experience  Community Staff Nurses contribute to those using our services ensuring they feel respected and empowered to make decisions about their health and wellbeing by:

• Working in partnership with clients and their families and carers
• Gaining consent and, as far as possible, involving people in all decision making
• Signposting clients and carers to supportive services e.g. services provided by the local authority or the voluntary sector
• Reassuring people by being professional, responsive, knowledgeable and confident
• Responding to complaints or concerns effectively and quickly in line with the Trust’s policy

Supporting yourself and others  Engaged staff are more productive and Community Staff Nurses play a role in engaging in other staff members in the Trust and the work we do by:

• Providing supervision and annual appraisals to other staff which helps those staff reflect on their work, understand their objectives and monitors their progress towards achieving them
• Participating constructively in their own supervision and annual appraisal processes
• Using continuing professional development funds to consolidate or improve clinical skills and to gain mentorship skills so they can support student nurses.

Service Specific Responsibilities Further responsibilities attached to this particular Community Staff Nurse post are explained in the Service Specific Section attached to this Job Description and Person Specification.