Vascular nurse specialist

Overview

The Vascular Nurse Specialist will act as the clinical expert and professional resource to the multi‑professional team, patients and carers within their speciality service of vascular surgery. They will take overall responsibility to develop the specialist area of practice in partnership with the other members of the speciality team (Head of Operations, Clinical Director, Associate Director of Nursing, Service Manager, Vascular Nurse Specialists etc.

within their site and broader within the network). This will be achieved through the core dimensions of the role: clinical practice, leadership, acting as the patient advocate, audit, and education.

The vascular nurse specialist will carry responsibility for either a defined caseload or offer a highly specialised service, to include setting standards of care, assessment of care needs, development, implementation, and evaluation of programmes of care. They will contribute to achieving the objectives of the clinical service group/speciality corporate objectives and work within the clinical governance framework.

• Lead the development and delivery of a programme of practice for the professional development of staff within the speciality.
• Perform specialist assessment of patients’ nursing needs, plan, implement and evaluate care delivery using advanced clinical knowledge and clinical skills.
• Lead clinical care by managing a patient caseload providing expert assessment, diagnosis, planning and evaluation.
• Coordinate and manage nurse-led clinics (three sessions per week) as well as support to the consultant clinics.
• Contribute towards a multi-professional approach in the management of patients within the specialist area, especially in relation to transfer and repatriation of patients between service providers at arterial and non-arterial centres.
• Establish and maintain effective communication with patients, relatives, and the multi-disciplinary team. Participate in multi-disciplinary meetings locally and regionally, acting as the patients’ advocate.
• Support patients and their families to ensure they receive the required information to enable them to self-manage, lead or participate in their care delivery.
• Recognise changes in patients’ condition that require the intervention of others and refer on as appropriate.
• Support, assist and encourage the multi-disciplinary team in resolving patients’ problems through new and innovative models of case management.
• Lead the specialist nursing contribution to the service, working in partnership with lead clinicians and operational managers to ensure delivery of high standards of patient care.

• Registered Nurse / Midwife / AHP
• Post-basic specialist qualification relevant to the specialty
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Recordable specialist qualification (Desirable)
• Independent Prescribing (Desirable)
• ECDL, post-registration experience
• Extensive clinical experience
• Involvement in audit (Desirable)
• Participation in research (Desirable)
• Evidence of leading and facilitating change; in-depth specialist knowledge; teaching/assessment skills; organisation and negotiation skills
• Effective communicator; root cause analysis; leadership and motivation skills
• Ability to motivate self and others; evidence of audit and change management ability; computer literate
• Ability to work on own initiative and within a team; diplomatic; assertive and confident
• Recognition of own limitations; able to travel between sites
• Flexibility; appropriate UK professional registration

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital & Royal Liverpool University Hospital. The post will be based primarily at the Aintree Hospital, Liverpool UK.

The Vascular unit consists of 14 consultant surgeons with supporting junior staff, including 4 Specialist Registrars, 2 Clinical Fellows and 1 Research Fellow. There is one dedicated vascular ward and a fully equipped vascular lab with 3 technologists providing scanning services. Most elective surgery takes place in dedicated vascular theatre and a vascular hybrid theatre.…