Children's Community Nurse

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To participate in the out-of-hours on-call service(s) provided by the team for children with palliative care needs.

         To support and promote effective teamwork within the team

To provide accurate contemporaneous written and electronic records of all aspects of care for children to promote safe continuity of care.  

·   To identify, lead, and implement initiatives and projects that facilitate improvement to nursing practice, ensuring continual improvement to care and the development of excellence in standards of care.

       To provide accurate statistical information as required and to participate in an ongoing evaluation of performance, including audit, individual, and team evaluation

To maintain close contact with hospital teams and other Primary Health teams and providers, which could include conferring regularly with consultants, general practitioners, attending, and participating in internal and external meetings.

 To participate in Bromley Healthcare’s appraisal process for themselves and designated members of the team.

To assist in the development of joint protocols and care pathways in conjunction with both hospital and Multi-Disciplinary Team professionals.

 To demonstrate awareness of relevant research findings and to share and apply these to clinical practice where appropriate. To participate in research programmes when necessary.

To act as a resource person for statutory and voluntary agencies with specific regard to the roles and responsibilities of the CCN

To participate in the out-of-hours on-call service(s) provided by the team for children with palliative care needs.

   To support and promote effective teamwork within the team.

Clinical

To assess, plan, implement, and evaluate programmes of care that will enable children to be nursed at home and other locations closer to home as an alternative to hospitalisation, and to support and enable parents as partners in care.

The post holder is expected to work within the requirements of the 6 C’s of Nursing - Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication, Courage, and Commitment.

To facilitate a multi-disciplinary approach to the management of children within the caseload.

To provide specialist nursing input when required, ensuring all medical and nursing needs are understood and implemented in accordance with relevant standards and protocols.

To be responsible for a special interest role in a long-term condition. If required, training will be provided.

To establish and maintain good working relationships with the child and parent/carer and others involved in the child patient’s life at all times, including statutory and voluntary organisations.

To play a key role in liaising with all hospital departments to promote the home care philosophy for children with health-related needs. To provide training for school staff and other care staff to enable them to safely undertake and meet the care needs of the children, as directed. This could include training them to undertake feeding via a gastrostomy tube, oro-pharyngeal suctioning, administration of daily medications and emergency medication, and any other care needs as required. This includes reassessment of individual competence.

Participation in the monitoring and assessment of the children’s continence needs.   

Administer prescribed medication and treatments according to Bromley Healthcare policies and procedures. Record all treatments and medications given.

To participate in the national school’s immunisation programme within the special school setting.

To accept referrals from both hospital and community services according to local procedure.

To make referrals as appropriate to other members of the health care team and other agencies, ensuring that ongoing support is offered and available.

To assess the need for, and initiate, where applicable, requests for aids/equipment. 

To work effectively with other members of the multidisciplinary team, in particular Community Nurses, Health Visitors, School Nurses and General Practitioners, Social Workers, Teachers etc.  To develop understanding and co-operation between hospital and community services, as well as other inter-linked agencie,s including voluntary organisations.

To provide school-based advice and guidance to mainstream schools. This may be through the core training offer as well as input into individual health care plans and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP), attending multi-disciplinary meetings, annual reviews, and team around the child meetings if needed