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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

JOB PROFILE 

The Specialist Nurse will contribute to the care of a patient group by leading on defined aspects of care.   

Specialist Nurses will:

• Accept patient referrals to agreed criteria and be identified as the key worker for an agreed patient/client caseload.
• Provide advice, education and support to patients, their carers and other health care professionals.
• Practice clinically in agreed care settings according to approved protocols or guidance.
• Contribute to the smooth running of the designated service.
• Work across departmental boundaries.
• Liaise with other hospital and community teams along an agreed pathway to support the delivery of patient and family centred seamless care.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the designated service.

Clinical Practice:  

Specialist Nurses will. 

• Be a defined point of contact for patients/carers for defined episodes/pathways of care and provide clinical care, specialist nursing advice and psychosocial support.
• Work collaboratively and in partnership with other health care professionals, offering advice to colleagues.
• Assess health and psychosocial needs of individual patients, and provide care to meet these needs, through a process of shared decision making.  Accept referrals to agreed criteria, and work in partnership with other professionals to deliver co-ordinated programmes of care effectively and referring patients to other practitioners as required. 
• Deliver expert nursing care to patients in agreed practice settings, working as part of nursing/multidisciplinary teams.
• Communicate with patients in ways that empower them to make informed choices about their health and health care.
• Act as advocate for individual patients and the client group.
• Use effective conflict management strategies.
• Provide appropriate education to patients and their families to promote health and encourage self-care.
• Use communication skills to impart information to patients and carers and provide them with advice and emotional support in hospital/at home as appropriate.
• Maintain adequate patient documentation to NMC requirements for all patients seen and advice given in any practice setting and contribute to clinical activity/data collection as required.
• Evaluate the efficacy of care in partnership with the patient /family and the multidisciplinary team.
• Contribute to effective discharge of patients. 

Leadership:

Specialist Nurses will be able to: 

• Be involved in developing standards of care, practice guidelines and where appropriate Care Pathways for the patient/client group.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of nurse-led initiatives for the benefit of the identified client group, in conjunction with medical and nursing/AHP colleagues.
• Demonstrate and share clinical practice developments to provide evidence-based care and contribute to service improvement in accordance with local policy initiatives.
• Contribute appropriately to clinical governance activities that relate to own area of practice and patient/client group.
• Support clinical and management teams in the delivery of Trust and Directorate objectives.
• Effective prioritisation of workload and time management when lone working or as part of the team 

Education/Training:  

Specialist Nurses will be able to: 

• Maintain, advance and develop personal theoretical knowledge, high standards of clinical competence and professional development through self education and attendance at relevant courses of study.
• Maintain own professional portfolio.

• Contribute to the development of specialist nursing knowledge and skills to enhance and extend the practice of other nurses and health care professionals within the service.
• Identify and address the educational needs of patients, families, carers and staff involved in the delivery of this service.
• Provide specialist nursing support, information and education for patients, families and carers who use the service.
• Contribute to the teaching and support of students from the multi professional team within relevant educational programmes.
• Organise and contribute to relevant educational programmes and in house study days.
• Develop and maintain a peer network of support, information and learning with other specialist practitioners at a local and National level. 

Improving quality and developing practice: 

Specialist Nurses will be able to: 

• Assist in the evaluation of the service and patient care, including monitoring of patient experience.
• Maintain awareness of relevant research, evaluations and audit, and act on this information in collaboration with colleagues to continually develop the service.

• Identify areas of risk and poor quality, and address these through appropriate governance structures and forums.

• Develop personal and professional knowledge through critical self appraisal, clinical supervision and networking with other health care professionals locally and nationally.
• Have responsibility to ensure annual appraisal, agree objectives which reflect local and national service needs and develop personal development plans.
• Advocate and contribute to a working environment that promotes continuous learning and development, evidence-based practice and succession planning, as well as identifying learning opportunities at local and national levels.
• Have a high level of communication skills to enable the participation in the dissemination of practice through conferences and professional publications.
• Develop and sustain appropriate multidisciplinary working relationships to improve health outcomes and healthcare delivery systems.
• Contribute to protocols, documentation systems, standards, policies and clinical guidelines for others to use in practice.

Ensure statutory and mandatory training updates, as well as role /speciality updates are completed, and necessary records maintained