Lead Practice Nurse

Job Title Lead Nurse

The post holder will be responsible for both clinical leadership and management of the nursing team to ensure high-quality patient care within a general practice setting. Key responsibilities include managing nursing staff, overseeing clinical policies and procedures, providing direct patient care, managing chronic diseases, and supporting the practice manager in developing services. They will also be responsible for ensuring safe and effective care delivery, infection control, and staff development.

Primary Responsibilities

The following are the core responsibilities of the Lead Nurse. It is anticipated that his role will evolve. There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:

Clinical

• Provide clinical leadership and direct patient care, including assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for acute and chronic conditions.
• Manage and treat long-term conditions, in line with national and local policies and practice needs
• Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care
• As an independent prescriber you will ensure safe, effective and appropriate medications are prescribed as per current legislative framework and local and practice guidelines.

• Review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, in accordance with evidence-based practice and national/practice protocols, and work with patients to support adherence to prescribed treatments
• Overseeing infection prevention and control (IPC), including conducting audits, delivering training, and ensuring compliance with practice policies and national guidelines.
• Support and manage health needs of women presenting for family planning and cervical cytology consultations
• Implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children including patients travelling abroad
• To support with complex wound management.

Managerial

• To participate in workforce recruitment.
• Participate in management meetings, taking on responsibilities and reporting back as required.
• Work collaboratively with the partners in developing a culture which embeds clinical quality and patient safety and monitors its effectiveness to ensure continuous improvement.
• To provide nursing expertise to the clinical team and support with the development of strategic plans.
• Provide professional leadership and ensuring compliance with professional standards.
• Undertake an annual appraisal for each member of the nursing team, ensuring CPD plans are monitored and executed in line with practice strategy
• Act as mentor for staff and students, assessing competence against set standards
• Disseminate learning and information to other team members, share good practice and inform others about current and future developments (eg courses and conferences)

• Continuously monitor and review nursing policies and processes and implement changes where necessary.
• To work with colleagues in a way which fosters, openness, two-way communication and a positive culture of involving and communicating with staff on any issues which affect them.
• Manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients
• To support and /or undertake projects which will benefit the patient cohort of [Employer hidden — view at passion-project.co.uk] Group.
• Contribute to and ensure a culture that encourages each individual to take responsibility for his/her own performance.
• Effectively respond to complaints, undertaking investigations as appropriate in line with practice policies. Disseminate findings and ensure opportunities to learn are shared throughout the organisation as appropriate.
• Day to day line management of the nursing team, working closely with the Practice Manager

This list is not exhaustive.

The person specification for this role.

Person Specification – Lead Nurse

Qualifications Essential Desirable

• Registered Nurse with Current NMC PIN ✓
• A good standard of Education to Degree level or Higher ✓
• Independent Non-Medical Prescriber ✓

Experience Essential Desirable

• Significant post-registration experience in general ✓ practice.
• Experience in leading teams ✓
• Experience of performance management, including ✓ appraisal writing, staff development and disciplinary procedures.

Skills & Knowledge Essential Desirable

• Evidence Long term condition management ✓
• Evidence of complex wound care management ✓
• Trained in cytology ✓
• Ability to communicate complex and sensitive ✓ information effectively with people at all levels by telephone, email, and face to face
• Demonstrate personal accountability, emotional ✓ resilience, and work well under pressure.
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word ✓ processing skills, emails, and the internet to create simple plans and reports.
• Effective time management (planning and organising) ✓
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously ✓
• Evidence of Audit and reporting ✓

Personal Qualities Essential Desirable

• Committed to ongoing professional development
• Polite and confident ✓
• Be flexible and able to manage sudden and unexpected ✓ demands.
• Motivated ✓
• Forward thinker ✓
• High levels of integrity and loyalty ✓
• Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations ✓
• Ability to work under pressure ✓

Other requirements Essential Desirable

• Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check ✓

This document may be amended following consultation with the post holder, to facilitate the development of the role, the practice and the individual. All personnel should be prepared to accept additional, or surrender existing duties, to enable the efficient running of the practice.

Generic Responsibilities

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

A good attitude and positive action towards ED&I creates an environment where all individuals are able to achieve their full potential. Creating such an environment is important for three reasons: it improves operational effectiveness, it is morally the right thing to do, and it is required by law.

Patients and their families have the right to be treated fairly and be routinely involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any

grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.

Staff have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression. Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued, and equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that you treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.

Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)

This practice is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities to for staff to maintain their health, well-being, and safety. You have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for you, your team, and others, and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. All personnel are to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Environmental Protection Act 1990, Environment Act 1995, Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999 and other statutory legislation.

Confidentiality

This practice is committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters, pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect all staff will respect their privacy and always maintain confidentiality. It is essential that if, the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained that all staff protect patient information and provide a confidential service.

Quality & Continuous Improvement (CI)

To preserve and improve the quality of our output, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work. The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice.

This practice continually strives to improve work processes which deliver health care with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone counts, and staff are

permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.

Induction Training

On arrival at the practice all personnel are to complete a practice induction programme; this is managed by the line manager.

Learning and Development

The effective use of training and development is fundamental in ensuring that all staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude, and competences to perform their role. All staff will be required to partake and complete mandatory training as directed by the training coordinator, as well as participating in the practice training programme. Staff will also be permitted (subject to approval) to undertake external training courses which will enhance their knowledge and skills, progress their career and ultimately, enable them to improve processes and service delivery.

Collaborative Working

All staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working. Teamwork is essential in multidisciplinary environments. Effective communication is essential, and all staff must ensure they communicate in a manner which enables the sharing of information in an appropriate manner.

Service Delivery

Staff must adhere to the information contained with practice policies and regional directives, ensuring protocols are adhered to at all times. Staff will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding policy and procedure.

Security

The security of the practice is the responsibility of all personnel. Staff must ensure they remain vigilant at all times and report any suspicious activity immediately to their line manager. Under no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks to anyone and are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured.

Professional Conduct

Staff are required to dress appropriately for their role. Clinical staff will be provided with a uniform.

Leave

All personnel are entitled to take leave. Line managers are to ensure all of their staff are afforded the opportunity to take a minimum of number days leave each year, and should be encouraged to take all of their leave entitlement.