Due to an internal promotion an exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced senior nurse to be our Nutritional Specialist Nurse Lead, to support the provision of high quality, safe and effective patient care.

This role is integral to the gastroenterology service and we are committed to providing ongoing support, professional development, and guidance to our nutritional lead. You will be working along side the other members of the nutritional MDT, including a consultant lead.

As an effective professional leader, you will be responsible for leading a number of quality initiatives alongside the current nutritional service. So if you are forward thinking and want to help drive quality improvement and care in the field of nutrition, we would love to hear from you!

This vacancy is advertised on a fixed term basis for a period of 2 years as it has been established to provide cover for an employee on secondment.

Whilst this post is advertised on an acting /secondment basis there is the potential that this post may become permanent in the future.

NHS Employees should ideally secure their manager's agreement for a secondment arrangement prior to applying, as this will be a condition of any offer made.

Main duties of the job

The Nutrition Nurse Specialist will work as part of a Multidisciplinary Nutrition Support Team to improve patient nutrition across the Trust. With an emphasis on clinical and nursing aspects, the Nutrition Nurse will be involved in improving awareness of under nutrition, improving delivery of nutritional support both Enteral and Parenteral and auditing the outcome of nutrition support. Providing clinical care, education, advice and support for individuals and their carers.

About us

Choose Well - Choose WWL

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that 'happy staff, makes for happy patients'. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement, and living our values 'the WWL Way'.

WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. With this in mind we are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

Key results from the job holder

Planning and Organisational Duties

• To work independently and as a key member of the Nutrition support Team, comprising Consultant Gastroenterologist, Senior Dietitian and Senior Pharmacist.
• Accept referrals from medical, nursing and dietetic colleagues across the Trust.
• Facilitate and undertake regular ward rounds with the Nutrition support Team.
• Optimise the continuity of care for patients between the hospital and community by providing opportunities for liaison between multidisciplinary healthcare staff involved in the care of patients with nutritional problems.
• Assist in improving links between dietetics, pharmacy, medical and nursing staff.
• Participate in service performance reviews and clinical audit and contribute to the implementation of improvements that increase service effectiveness, efficiency and quality of care.
• Maintain effective communication systems with all other healthcare staff responsible for the care of patients with nutritional problems, delivering timely and appropriate information in line with current best practice.
• To be able to work within a team independently.
• To be a member of the Trust Nutritional steering group.
• Maintain a safe and therapeutic environment for patients.
• Report and record all incidents according to Trust policy.
• To organise and manage own workload to meet service and patient need.

Communications and Key Working Relationships

Patient / Service User

• Facilitate and coordinate the placement of feeding tubes.
• Insertion of Enteral feeding tubes
• Assessment and insertion of nasal bridles to secure nasogastric/nasojejunal tubes.
• Assist and supervise ward nurses in the administration of Parenteral and Enteral nutrition and the associated care/treatment.
• Promote high standards of care to prevent patients receiving artificial nutritional support to minimise complications, in particular catheter related sepsis.
• Provide advice and support in the event of such complications.
• Order appropriate tests and investigations to minimise the risks involved in artificial nutritional support.
• Evaluate results of tests and take appropriate actions.
• Liaise with Consultant Gastroenterologist where appropriate.
• Liaise with General Practitioner and provide written information where appropriate.
• Prepares care plans for Enteral and Parenteral Nutritional support.
• Manage and support patients receiving artificial nutritional support.
• Identify and assess patients requiring insertion gastrostomy feeding tubes.
• Insertion of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) feeding tubes as First Assistant with Consultant Gastroenterologist/Nurse Endoscopist.
• Provide aftercare with ongoing education, stoma care and community follow up ensuring an appropriate level of independence at home.
• Provide gastrostomy replacement within the community unsupervised

Responsibility for Finance

• To ensure the effective and economical use of resources and monitor expenditure arising from the nutritional nursing service.
• Aid in implementing British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) standards in the Trust.
• Aid in implementing British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) guidelines in the Trust.
• Development of policies and guidelines for nutritional support team and enable cost benefit analysis.
• Promote and facilitate evidence based practice.
• Assist in collecting data to assess financial impact of the Nutrition support team and enable cost benefit analysis.
• Promote and facilitate evidence based practice.
• Contribute and carry out clinical audit.
• Participate in research activities undertaken by the team and to assist in developing research ideas, particularly those relevant to nursing practice.

Responsibility for Information Resource

• Maintain accurate documentation/data base.
• Maintain confidentiality of all patient information.
• Maintain comprehensive and defensible healthcare records including patient health, financial, personal and administrative. Records may be paper, electronic, microfiche, video tapes or x-ray images.
• Comply with data Protection act.
• The range of duties and responsibilities outlined above are indicative only and intended to give a broad flavour of the range and type of duties that will be allocated. They are subject to modification in the light of changing service demands and the development requirements of the post holder.

Responsibility for Human Resources

• Adhere to Trust policies and maintenance of the professional Code of Conduct.

Responsibility for Health & Safety

• Compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 the post holder is required to fulfil a proactive role towards the management of risk in all of their actions. This entails the risk assessment of all situations, the taking of appropriate actions and reporting of all incidents, near misses and hazards, and a statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.

Research

• Participate in multidisciplinary audit.
• Participate in development and application of evidence based practice within care delivery.

Responsibility for Teaching

The post holder will promote life-long learning through the use of appropriate coaching, teaching and assessment in practice by:

• Implement the Nutritional Assessment Tool across acute adult ward areas and provide ongoing education.
• Provide information, support, teaching and counselling of patients and their carers requiring gastrostomy tube insertion.
• To actively promote recognition of under in conjunction with Nutritional Assessment Tool.
• Develop nursing skills / knowledge relevant to the care of patients with nutritional problems or requiring nutritional support.
• To provide support and training for nursing and medical staff in the insertion and maintenance of enteral feeding tubes, including naso gastric, naso jejunal, and gastrostomy and jejunostomy tubes.
• To provide support and training for nurses and other staff caring for patients receiving Parenteral nutritional support and Parenteral feeding lines.
• To assist in provision of training and support for patients being discharged home with alternative feeding. To assist in liaison with community service for aftercare.
• Pursue a preventative-education approach preventing the onset of problems, recognising deterioration and helping professionals, patients their families and carers to adopt and cope with their nutritional/gastroenterology problems, to maximise symptom control and quality of life.
• Assist in teaching sessions for health care staff on all aspects of nutritional support including study days.
• To raise the profile of the importance of Nutrition across the Trust and the Teams goals and achievements.
• To update personal knowledge, keeping up to date with new advances, through attendances at courses conferences networking and regular reading.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• First level Registered Nurse
• Post registration qualification relevant to the speciality at diploma level

Experience

Essential

• Post registration experience in Gastroenterology
• Experience of caring for patients receiving a range of artificial nutrition
• Experience of teaching in a clinical environment
• Participation in audit

Skills

Essential

• Competent in caring for patients with altered/complex nutritional needs
• Skilled in verbal and written communication
• Presentation skills
• Teaching skills
• Audit skills
• Research awareness
• Time management skills

Knowledge

Essential

• In depth knowledge of nutrition and the disease processes that affect it
• Up to date knowledge of advances in nutritional management
• Knowledge of the political and professional agenda and its application to the role
• Comprehensive understanding of clinical governance and its application to the Specialist Nurse role

Additional

Essential

• Flexibility and adaptability
• Ability to undertake on call duties
• Ability to travel to other sites within the Trust
• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, i.e. with confidence and accuracy, using correct sentence structures and vocabulary, and without hesitation

Employer details

Employer name

Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Royal Albert Edward Infirmary

Wigan Lane

Wigan

WN1 2NN

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

302-23-5810821M