Community Support Worker

Job overview

Moor to Sea Community Nurse team covers Ashburton, Buckfastleigh,  Dartmouth and Totnes and the surrounding areas. We are a busy, friendly, and  supportive team, committed to staff development through education and  training.  • Helping staff realise their potential in topics of interest to them and encouraging  career pathways in Community Nursing is important to us. We are keenly aware  of the pressures on nursing staff and how this can impact on the overall  wellbeing of our staff, and we will listen to reasonable adjustments to improve  the working experience.  • We pride ourselves on delivering high standards of care and building  relationships within the communities we are part of. We are actively working to  a more integrated approach to care delivery and work closely with our  Intermediate Care, Social care, and Voluntary care sector colleagues to achieve

Main duties of the job

Continual direct contact with patients, providing personal care, performing clinical interventions, and supporting the health and wellbeing of the patient,  the frequency and level of contact will be determined for each patient based  upon their individual needs, as set out in the patients care plan

To ensure that Trust and Department Policies are followed according to Health &  Safety guidelines. To report to the nurse in charge anything that is an actual or  potential risk to patients, staff, or the Trust.  To demonstrate awareness of the need to assess all aspects of risk, to aid in its  management or contribute to the prevention or reduction of that risk.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Undertake training in order to perform high quality  clinical interventions effectively and remain competent to practice these  interventions, such as clinical observations, blood glucose monitoring,  urinalysis, venepuncture, removal or urinary catheter, insertion and removal of  peripheral cannulas, perform ECG, calculation of BMI, all following assessment  and completion of clinical competency. This is not an exhaustive list, and other  clinical interventions may be required dependant on the area of practice.  • Assess a person’s clinical condition, within the individual’s scope of competence  using tools such as, NEWS2 parameters, pain assessment tool, non-verbal  signs of deterioration and know how to urgently escalate concerns  appropriately.  • Work independently or as part of a team to plan your own workload, prioritising  the clinical needs of the patients in your care.  • Undertake a range of clinical interventions and to demonstrate accurate  physical skills, with the use of relevant equipment, obtained through training  and practice, physiological observation monitoring, venepuncture, removal of  urethral catheters, peripheral cannulation insertion and removal, urinalysis,  blood glucose monitoring, swab taking inclusive of MRSA, Covid, wound  swabbing, simple wound dressings, ECG, placing cardiac monitoring,  spirometry, bladder scanning  • Assist a patient at risk of harm, such as pressure damage, and risk of falls by  following the risk assessment and individualised care plan, they will also be  expected to report any changes in condition that may impact the patient, via our  Trust incident reporting system.  • Adhere to trust policies and standard operating procedures in relation to all  aspects of practice. To know how to access the most up to date policies and  adhere to them in line with Trust requirements.  • Promote independence with mobility and to maintain current function and  support individuals to return to baseline function when there has been a change.  • Act on own initiative delivering patient care and demonstrate Trust values in all  areas of work and to conduct yourself in a professional and appropriate manner.  • Prevention of adverse effects on health and wellbeing. Support patients with  activities to keep them active and mentally engaged and stimulated, such as  the role of an activities co-ordinator.  • Work within your own capabilities and demonstrate a personal duty of care,  using any resources, valuables, ordering clinical supplies, when using any  equipment such as hoists, examination trollies and wheelchairs  • Provide support and supervision to new or less experienced staff by  demonstrating and teaching safe practice and explaining supplementary tasks  which need completing in the clinical areas, such as daily cleaning of  environment and equipment, quality control checks on equipment, audits or  other works to maintain standards, stocking of equipment, organising the  clinical environment  • Accurately record information, such as physiological observations and  understand the importance of accurate and complete documentation, recording  clearly and accurately all aspects of care given to the individual in relevant  documents, such as risk assessments, care plans,  comfort rounds, fluid and food charts, blood glucose monitoring  • Promote nutritional intake of food and fluids, this may require assisting with  feeding or completion of menus, preparing for mealtimes, such as positioning  and hand washing and maintaining clear and accurate records of intake, such  as Food and Fluid charts.  • Act as the patient’s advocate in safeguarding patients from harm using the  patient’s information, such as falls prevention and pressure damage prevention.  • Act accordingly if concerned or made aware of any incidents/concerns or harm  such as safeguarding concerns, reporting incidents using the incident reporting  system.