HIV Community Clinical Nurse Specialist for Re-engagement

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and motivated Clinical Nurse Specialist (Band 7) to join an innovative South London HIV re-engagement programme hosted by St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, contributing to the ending of HIV transmissions in London by 2030.

This programme aims to identify and support people living with HIV who are currently out of care to re-engage with services, improve their health outcomes, and reduce health inequalities across South west London. This pilot has the ambition of re-engaging at least 80 people living with HIV across southwest London within 12 months.

You will work leading a multidisciplinary team together with HIV Peer Support Case Workers, administrative support and allied professionals, delivering a flexible, person-centred model of care, providing in-clinic presence one day per week across the four clinics in South-West London and undertake outreach to people living with HIV within community settings.

This role offers the opportunity to lead on complex case management, influence service development, and contribute to a high-impact public health initiative and create a create a flexible, community-based pathway that reduces barriers, builds trust, and supports long-term engagement in treatment.

Main duties of the job

• Advanced, autonomous HIV nursing care to individuals re-engaging with services, with clinical assessment, advice and treatment for people living with HIV, including blood monitoring and medication support.
• Lead on complex case management for patients with significant clinical and psychosocial needs.
• Sensitive, flexible and person-centred support which takes due account of feelings of stigma, experiences of deprivation, financial/housing insecurity and challenges presented by mental health and alcohol/drug use.
• Outreach care in community settings, including home visits to those living with HIV who are finding it difficult to engage with HIV clinical services, and develop strategies to support people to transition back into care.
• Support for service development, quality improvement, and evaluation activities through developing and delivering a model that identifies the barriers to people living with HIV engaging in care and finding successful ways of overcoming these.
• Education and support to staff and promote anti-stigma practice.
• Nurse led re-engagement clinics within southwest London HIV clinical services.
• Support for GP surgeries to identify strategies to re-engage their patients who are out of HIV care.
• Referrals into trauma-informed mental health, psychological specialist drug/alcohol services, including our Chemsex in-reach worker.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Functions

1: PROFESSIONAL/CLINICAL

• Initiates and contributes to a multi-professional approach to HIV care provision working jointly with other professionals, carers and patients to provide individualized care to people living with HIV.
• Always act in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) Code of Professional Conduct and Scope of Professional Practice.
• Maintains and ensure accurate record keeping according to NMC and Trust guidelines and provide activity information for statistical, management and research purposes.
• Always practices in accordance with Trust policies and procedures.
• Acts as a role model and provides expert clinical advice to professionals inside and outside the trust. Facilitates care through joint visits and case conferences.
• Demonstrates advanced practice skills by undertaking complex assessments, development of management plans and evaluations.
• Support initiation and monitoring of antiretroviral therapy.
• Lead care coordination and act as a key worker.
• Demonstrates and maintain highly specialist knowledge and skills within the field of HIV.
• Supervises and assists other team members in fulfilling the clinical component of their role.
• Anticipates and identifies clinical issues and incidents that compromise the quality of care provided to people living with HIV. Devises strategies and interventions to counter these and to ensure the delivery of safe and effective care.
• Is directly responsible for the management of their patient caseload.
• Delivers advanced specialist nursing practice and supports practice development projects that will enhance patient care. This includes the development, monitoring and evaluation of clinical protocols and shared care pathways for the provision of community support in the management of complex community patients; including those who are lost to follow-up, non-adherent and those with mental health needs.
• Contributes to clinical practice development projects. This reflects the changing needs within HIV prevalence, treatment and policy development.
• Supports effective discharge planning from acute and other care providers.
• Ensures risk assessment strategies are followed for the management of patients in the community setting.

2: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

• Acts as an advocate for the needs of service users, developing appropriate models of care to meet changing HIV health needs individually and locally in the context of national/local HIV and generic health policy frameworks.
• Contributes to the review and provision of services to ensure they meet the service specification, reflect the needs of the local community and are sensitive to individual patients’ needs.
• Provide clinical leadership within the MDT
• Contribute to complex case discussions and service planning
• Provides highly specialist advice to others, across professional and organizational boundaries on matters related to HIV treatment and care.
• Manages referrals for the CNS service and the clinical caseload and ensures that referrals are monitored and managed effectively.
• Ensures effective systems for data collection and activity reporting are in place, to inform performance management and on-going service development.
• Ensures all adverse incidents and near misses are reported through the correct trust frameworks.

3: EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

• Identifies areas for and contributes to the development of nursing research projects, which investigate issues relating to HIV care and service provision and supports evidence-based practice. Disseminate research findings trust wide, sector wide and to wider audiences as appropriate.
• Utilizes clinical audit tools and shows awareness of quality improvement methodology to ensure the provision of high-quality HIV care within the trust, referenced to the clinical governance framework.
• Provides audit reports and service reports as requested to enable the continued monitoring of standards set within service specifications.
• To be responsible for personal and professional development and practice, recognizing own limitations and the need for continuing education
• Promote health education and provide appropriate information and advice to patients and their carer's.
• To take a lead in initiating, implementing and evaluating audit and research, ensuring that changes in clinical practice are evidence based.
• Participate in and lead quality initiatives to promote and ensure that nursing care is evidence and research based.
• Facilitates the provision of training at the request of external agencies and teaching on HIV specific study days and programmes.
• Ensures the evaluation of training provided on service and care provision.
• Continues to develop their professional practice and updates personal knowledge by attending specialist study days, workshops and conferences to support working as an expert practitioner. This includes engaging in annual appraisal to support the development of a personal development plan.
• Improves clinical practice through reflection with self or others and clinical supervision.
• Evaluate effectiveness of learning activities, ascertaining how learning and development may be improved in the future.

4: GENERAL

• To act in accordance with the NMC Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors and to be accountable for own clinical practice and professional actions at all times.
• Ensure continued and effective registration with the NMC.
• To adhere to the Trust’s Lone Worker Policy.
• To have responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of self and others and to comply at all times with the requirements of the Health and Safety Regulations.
• To ensure confidentiality at all times, only releasing confidential information obtained during the course of employment to those acting in an official capacity in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act and its amendments.
• To work in accordance with the Trust’s Equal Opportunities policy to eliminate unlawful discrimination in relation to employment and service delivery.
• To ensure skills are up-to-date and relevant to the role, to follow relevant Trust policies and professional codes and to maintain registration where there is a requirement of the role.
• To be trained in and demonstrate fair employment practices, in line with Trust policies.
• To comply with St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust No Smoking Policies.
• To undertake such duties as may be required from time to time as are consistent with the responsibilities of the grade and the needs of the service.

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.