The discharge lounges at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells are undergoing changes and expansion to the current service provided to the trust and moving to providing a 7-day service - with no night shifts. Whether your newly qualified or have years of experience this maybe just what you're looking for.

Are you able to navigate around IT systems, work well under pressure or like the feeling of not knowing what the working day has in store? This is an exciting time to be joining our MTW family as we move forwards and transition into a fully digitally led organisation.

The lounges can offer you challenging and changing demands to support the flow of the hospital through the both the emergency and elective pathways, while trying to keep the flow moving through the lounge.

The lounge continues all patient care from the wards including drug rounds via out IT systems and support creating capacity by giving last doses of IV medications such as antibiotics prior to discharge. The lounge staff also support ward team in completing simple district nurse referrals for patient, providing patient education around discharge medications and teaching injection techniques if required. With the expansion of the virtual wards the lounge staff will support patients with hospital in a box and use of the app and uploading data prior to discharge.

Main duties of the job

Building relationships with our inpatient area teams, medical and surgical teams and external providers help ensure patients leave safely from the discharge lounges. Therefore, engagement and effective communication is a key skill for promoting positive patient outcomes.

Communication under pressure will be vital, ensuring that other allied healthcare professional are supporting their part in the patients discharge to minimise delays and extended waits in the lounge. Preventing delays for those patients who require an acute admission. Quick thinking and the ability to think outside of the box will also be a vital skill to have and or develop due to the pace and demand on the discharge lounge

The lounges work alongside our Care Coordination Centre (CCC), Site Directors and Site Practitioners to ensure a safe and effective flow. Our in-patients are monitored via our Teletracking system in the CCC to see identified confirmed discharges or pending discharge for later on in the day. This system runs live time so is able to monitor the current and predicted bed base and census at any one time.

The discharge lounge helps support patients get to the right area first time while also ensuring that we are embedding a positive patient experience within MTW.

About us

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is a large acute hospital Trust in the county of Kent.

The Trust provides a full range of general hospital services and some areas of specialist complex care to around 760,000 people living in the south part of West Kent and the north part of East Sussex.

The Trust's core catchment areas are Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells and their surrounding boroughs. We work from two main clinical sites: Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury. Tunbridge Wells Hospital opened in 2011 and provides single rooms with en-suites for all in-patients - the first of its kind in the country.

We employ more than 7,000 full and part-time staff in a huge range of clinical and non-clinical roles across both of our hospital sites.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Once your pre-employment checks have been completed you will be contacted by Recruitment to arrange your start date which will be in line with one of our Corporate Inductions.

Following your Corporate Induction you will be expected to attend the Trusts 2-week Induction Programme for RNs, NAs, RMs, ODPs and Paramedics. The programme is full-time (please email mtw-tr.professionalstandards@nhs.net if this is problematic)and will involve travel to both Trust sites. The programme includes supernumerary shifts in the clinical area, classroom-based sessions and e-learning.

Please note that appointment to this post will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure & Barring Service Check at Enhanced Level. (Enhanced level now includes regulated checks against vulnerable adults and children)

At MTW, we seek to develop a culture where everyone can reach their full potential with opportunities to grow and develop their career. We recognise and value the unique contributions that each of our staff bring, delivering the best quality care and service to our patients. We are committed to being a diverse employer and strive to reflect everyone in our local communities. We welcome applications from people of diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences and celebrate the diversity of thought, viewpoints and ideas that will make our Trust the best place to work.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Nursing Diploma / Degree
• NMC Registration

Experience/Knowledge

Essential

• Understanding of the discharge process and importance of hospital flow.

Desirable

• Good range of surgical and medical knowledge to provide effective communication with patients on discharge.

Skills

Essential

• Report writing / effective documentation
• Negotiation of challenging situations
• Mentoring / Supervision
• Able to use IT software.

Desirable

• Good knowledge of effective documentation

Employer details

Employer name

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

Address

Tunbridge Wells Hospital

Tonbridge Road

Tunbridge Wells

TN2 4QJ

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

359-5281681-T2