Community Team Lead

Job Title: Community Team Lead (Band 8A)

Responsible to: Head of CPCT

Responsible for:  Clinical and Line management of a community nurse locality team

Basic Function

The post holder will be responsible for providing inspirational and motivational clinical leadership to a team of nurses to deliver a high standard of specialist palliative care nursing in conjunction with the multi-disciplinary team within the community setting. This includes assessment of patient and family needs in conjunction with the multi- disciplinary team.

The post holder is required to provide clinical leadership for a team of nurses and have the  required  knowledge  and  skills  to  deliver  specialist  palliative  care  in  line  with individual needs of patients and their families, and is able to provide expert clinical advice both internally and externally.

The post holder will create, lead and maintain a nursing culture, which is open to change, new ideas, concepts and innovation whilst influencing St Joseph’s strategy and direction.

The  post  holder  will  be  responsible  for  improving  the  patient  experience  and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care can flourish and be measured.

To act as a senior member of the care team, influencing development of the nursing team and organisation

The post holder will manage resources efficiently and effectively within agreed budgets.

The post holder will lead on a culture of learning and quality improvement in the clinical area.

Organisational Context

St Joseph’s Hospice was founded in 1905 by the religious sisters of charity who retain an interest in the oversight of the Hospice.  The hospice is working to achieve its vision 2024 which has five key strands: patients, enterprise, estates, funding and fundraising, and human resources.  The hospice seeks to be an outstanding provider of palliative and end of life care.  Each employee is critical to delivering and maintain those standards in accordance with the Hospice’s core values.

Discretion to act

The post holder will be an autonomous practitioner who is responsible for acting within the scope of their professional competence.

Scale and Impact

Management responsibility for 6-7 direct

Budget – support the Head of CPCT to ensure the service maintains a balanced budget at all times

1.  Clinical Responsibilities / Clinical Management

• Ensure that planning, implementation and evaluation of total care of the patient and family is individualised, evidence based and of the highest standard and quality.

• To be a leader and proactive role model with presence within the community setting integrating with the multi professional team, maintaining an overview of patient care, acting as a resource and offering guidance and support.

• At regular intervals, monitor the effectiveness of clinical care provided to patients and their families in the community team by undertaking quality checks, ensuring that working practices are followed at all times and that clinical services are delivered appropriately.

• Attend the multi professional team meetings to provide expert opinion on patient and clinical care issues.

• Attend or chair meetings both within the hospice and externally as required.

• Lead on the identification of risks which may impact upon patients and the delivery of a high quality clinical service. Promote awareness of risk management amongst junior staff and colleagues.

• Ensure  staff  give  support  and  advice  to  patients  families  and  other  health  care professionals  contacting  the  hospice,  both  in  and  out  of  hours,  and  document appropriately.

• Use complaints and concerns positively and proactively to review and improve the quality of the service and lead on the development and progression of action plans arising from complaints.

• Ensure the Head of CPCT is informed of any significant changes in the day to day running of the community team.

2.  Professional Leadership

• Demonstrate effective leadership skills and provide regular team meetings, supervision of staff, and ensuring annual appraisals & PDR’s for the nursing team are completed within the time required.

• Demonstrate the necessary skills to establish and maintain high level  effective communication to patients, relatives and members of the multi professional team and external partners.

• Work across all shift patterns to ensure high visibility, effective leadership and management of the nursing team.

• In conjunction with senior colleagues within the multi professional team respond positively to change initiatives, demonstrating awareness of the implications and acting as an effective change agent.

• Ensure that  communication  within  the  team  is  a  two  way  process,  supporting  and empowering staff to make suggestions or decisions around aspects of improvement to the patient experience.

• Actively establish and develop relationships with internal and external agencies and organisations as part of a wider system of promoting St Joseph’s Hospice with key stakeholders particularly the Primary care Networks within your locality.

• Supervise and evaluate nursing documentation continuously and implement any required actions to ensure high quality professional documentation; ensuring all documentation is accurate, up to date and review dates are in place and achieved.

• In conjunction with the Head of CPCT and the wider nursing team, ensure that clinical policies and procedures reflect best practice, professional codes of conduct, The Care Quality Commission Standards.

• Ensure that regular team meetings are held to ensure dissemination of information and a two way forum for communication, and that minutes are circulated in a timely fashion and actions are completed.

• Together with Head of CPCT, Nurse Consultant and Director of Clinical Services and set standards/ competencies of nursing care and ensure that these are maintained at optimum level.

• Take responsibility for accessing regular clinical supervision / reflective practice.

• Ensure that the care given is fully compliant with the CQC and CCG standards at all times.

• Actively contribute to the delivery of St Joseph’s Hospices Strategy

• Be aware of and accept responsibility for own clinical practice.

• Maintain and continue personal development in symptom control,  leadership  and management, teaching and communication skills.

3.  People Management and Development

• Ensure that the duty rotas meet the needs of the service at all times.

• Support the management of nursing staff and volunteers, including induction, recruitment, appraisals, performance management involving line manager if areas of concern are identified.

• Work collaboratively to develop and implement staff competencies.

• Ensure all nursing staff are fully compliant with all aspects of statutory and mandatory training.

• Ensure identification of relevant, appropriate ongoing training requirements for the community nursing team and that there is a training plan in place to facilitate individual training needs in line with St Joseph’s service objectives.

• Monitor the evaluations and outcomes of student placements, put any actions in place that are identified to ensure the placement remains a preferred choice from the local university.

• Act as a role model and mentor, demonstrating positive attitudes and behaviour at all times that are concordant with St Joseph's Hospice mission and core values.

• Take responsibility for the training, orientation and probationary evaluation of all newly appointed nursing staff.

• Deliver and participate in teaching sessions in areas of expertise within the hospice and externally if required.

• Take responsibility for your own professional development, including keeping up to date with relevant clinical, professional and management issues at local and national level.

• Ensure that you are fully compliant with the requirements of professional revalidation.

• Directly supervise student nurses in the clinical area acting as a mentor and assisting learners to achieve learning objective.

4.  Finance / Resource Management

• Be responsible for the control and monitoring of the agreed budget ensuring provision of a high quality and cost effective service.

• Ensure that equipment is used and maintained in a safe and serviceable condition and that faults are reported promptly.

5.  Audit, Research and Policy Development

• Engage   in   research,   audit   and quality   initiatives,   encouraging   participation   and awareness within the nursing team.

• In collaboration with the Audit Facilitator lead audit programmes ensuring wide ownership and active participation within the community team.

• Implement any learning from audit and research projects

• To contribute to the development of new policies and the review of existing policies and procedures.

• To be responsible for the implementation and monitoring of compliance against policies and procedures, including issues arising from complaints or incidents.