Kentown Children's Palliative Care Community Specialist Nurse

Job overview

The post holder will be a registered children’s nurse utilising knowledge and expertise in the care and management for a defined caseload of children with palliative care needs. They will deliver safe, personal, effective and compassionate care to children, young people and their families, ensuring empathy and quality is everyone’s prime objective.

They will be part of a team of Kentown palliative care nurses working across Lancashire and South Cumbria leading, developing and coordinating children’s palliative care, promoting a holistic approach to care and acting as a resource for multi-agency teams.

As a senior nurse there is an expectation that the post holder will fully participate in clinical and professional leadership, the post holder should inspire, motivate and empower others; this will require them to be highly visible and to have an accessible approach for the children, young people and their families. The post holder will play a significant role in the education and training of staff, empowering them to care for children and young people and their families when life is limited or bereavement has occurred; liaising between community services, hospital and hospices.

Main duties of the job

• To work as a Kentown nurse for Children’s Palliative Care within East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust, supporting and advising children, young people and their families requiring palliative care, including those families facing the end of their child’s life; at the time of death and following death.
• Support children, young people and their families in order to prevent inappropriate hospital admissions and enable children with palliative care needs to be cared for in the place of their choice.
• To assess and develop plans of care to meet the needs of the child, young person and their families so that appropriate care and support is established and maintained as they move between hospital and community settings. This may include attendances at clinic appointments for individual patients.
• Provide support at home for children and their families, through the mobilisation and coordination of local services to support the patient and family during palliation and bereavement and signposting them to the most appropriate professional to act as a key worker.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As above plus

• Work with children and families to ensure that all families are offered the choice of an advance care plan.
• Provide verbal and written information for families which is age appropriate and culturally sensitive.
• Be responsible for ensuring that the environment and Trust processes are responsive to the needs of the bereaved parents and family, recognising the importance of maintaining privacy and dignity.
• To develop and strengthen links with local and regional palliative care networks and be a key player/support within the multidisciplinary team to provide safe, appropriate and effective management of children with palliative care needs.
• Have a commitment to collaborative working and support the transition process for young people with palliative care needs into adult services.

Leadership

• Act as a good role model, providing effective palliative and end of life care advice, guidance and support to the children’s community nursing team and advise paediatric teams as needed.
• To advise, encourage and share knowledge utilising the latest research and practice development.
• Lead on the development of guidelines, protocols, pathways, policies in relation to palliative and end of life care for children and young people.
• Be the source of contact following the death of a child, participating in child death review meetings, sharing good practice and any lessons learnt.
• Contribute to service evaluations and reviews to assess the workload and make plans for service development.
• Participate in the research and audit process ensuring that children‘s palliative and end of life care is endorsed.
• Provide up to date education and expert advice for other health care professionals including GP’s, Health visitors, social workers, school staff and others to ensure they are able to support children and families with palliative care needs.

Communication and networking

• Represent East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust at all times, demonstrating core values and behaviours whilst promoting collaboration and teamwork.
• Champion advance care planning and palliative care, promoting effective communication, across all community settings and reaching into acute environments.
• Advocate for children, young people and their families during palliation and raise awareness of the service.
• Be able to demonstrate empathy and communicate effectively in difficult situation.
• To develop and maintain expertise in working across organisational boundaries
• Support professionals to have end of life/preferred place of care conversations with families, supporting families who wish to transition their care from hospital to home or to a hospice setting.
• Support clinical decision making, supporting clinicians in having difficult conversations, supporting families when there is uncertainty and offering clinical review and symptom management.
• Using advanced communication skills communicate effectively with the children, young person and their families to understand their condition and the impact it may have. To give sensitive, emotive information in regard to prognosis and outcomes.
• To work closely with the child, young person and their families’ developing and reviewing their Advance Care Plan, supporting them to ensure their hopes and wishes are explored and documented. Involving children, young people and their families encouraging them to make informed choices concerning their health and wellbeing.
• To have an awareness of the barriers to effective communication and methods that can be used to reduce those barriers.
• Effectively communicate with colleagues, peers, senior managers and clinical leads within the Trust.
• Maintain accurate, contemporaneous professional records in accordance with the NMC guidelines and standards for Record Keeping Policy.

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.