Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity to join an innovative integrated care model that is redefining the delivery of palliative care. CNWL NHS Foundation Trust, a leading community healthcare provider, partners with University College London Hospitals, one of the UK's most prestigious hospital networks, to deliver seamless, high-quality palliative care across hospital and community settings.

As Nurse Consultant in Symptom Control and Palliative Care, you will join a multidisciplinary team of clinical experts — working alongside medical consultants, clinical nurse specialists (CNSs), a psychologist and social worker in the hospital. The team is integrated with the community team which has a nurse consultant and medical consultants, CNSs and AHPs . You will help shape care across hospital and community boundaries, with your impact being felt across a wide range of specialisms, including oncology, haematology, teenage and young adult services, and neurology.

Why You'll Love This Role

• Play a pioneering role in a unique integrated care model that bridges hospital and community services.
• Work at UCLH, an internationally renowned teaching hospital with access to leading-edge treatments and research.
• Help shape the future of palliative care alongside innovative multidisciplinary teams in one of London's most dynamic healthcare environments.
• Join a supportive team looking forward to welcoming a further nurse consultant into their hospital service.

Main duties of the job

What You'll Do

• Provide senior nursing leadership for hospital palliative care services, in line with CNWL and UCLH strategies.
• Deliver expert clinical care for patients with complex needs, managing your own caseload.
• Lead service development and quality improvement projects, driving innovation across the system.
• Champion education and training, inspiring staff and students to achieve excellence.
• Contribute to research, audit, and policy development, raising the profile of palliative care nationally and internationally.
• Act as a clinical consultant and advisor, supporting complex case management and safeguarding practice.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY

The Palliative Care Nurse Consultant role primarily supports the ongoing development of the UCLH Palliative Care Service. The post holder may also be expected to support the Camden and Islington ELiPSe Palliative Care Service.

The service has two teams in the inpatient setting across UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and community settings across the boroughs of South Camden and Islington. It is commissioned to provide expert advice and guidance, support and leadership in the care of people with specialist palliative care needs. Whilst this role leads nursing across the service, the post holder will undertake their clinical sessions as part of the UCLH palliative care team and will act as the expert and is expected to support work and projects across Trusts as appropriate.

The nursing clinical and leadership expertise of the post holder will facilitate a whole systems approach closely involved with strategic development and service improvement, as well as the advancement of relationships with key colleagues. In addition, quality improvement in the palliative care service across CNWL NHS FT will be a key aspect of the role, using a patient-focused and evidence-based approach. Co-production with experts by experience will be central to the role.

Responsibility for non-clinical work, i.e. service improvement, clinical governance, peer review, audit, education and research, is also done collaboratively with the other Nurse Consultant for Palliative Care, medical consultants and with the Operations Lead; and named individuals taking responsibility for different elements of the clinical governance portfolio and the education programme delivered by the service.

The postholder will have four main areas of responsibility:

• expert practice
• professional leadership
• service development
• research and education

The post holder will provide strategic clinical leadership for palliative nursing and work with the operational management (in conjunction with the other Nurse Consultant, clinical leads, consultants, team leaders and the Head of Service) of the palliative care service and other Goodall services. The post will support the development of palliative and end of life nursing, linking closely with relevant ICB’S as well as educational commissioners and providers when required. This will include promoting improved health outcomes and quality of life.

The postholder will take an active part in supporting the governance arrangements across palliative care to ensure the highest possible clinical standards are delivered and that the care is proactive, innovative and progressive.

They are also expected to collaborate with the other nurse consultants and have an overview of competencies, and to deliver specialist training to ensure that nursing staff are clinically competent. We are therefore looking for a very strong leader who is visible, with a high level of emotional intelligence and an expert-level of palliative care knowledge, extensive drive and focus to be able to quickly deliver innovative solutions to the ambitious outcomes expected across the division.