Practice Nurse

The post holder is an experienced nurse who, acting within their professional boundaries, will provide care for the presenting patient from initial history taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of care.

They will demonstrate safe, clinical decision‑making and expert care, including assessment and diagnostic skills, for patients within the general practice.

The post holder will demonstrate critical thinking in the clinical decision‑making process.

They will work collaboratively with the general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing nurse leadership as required.

In order to work at this level NMC requirements for advanced practice must be met.

We are looking for up to full‑time hours.

• Clinical practice: assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate treatment/interventions and care for patients presenting with an undifferentiated diagnosis.
• Clinically examine and assess patient needs from a physiological and psychological perspective, and plan clinical care accordingly.
• Assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate interventions/treatments for patients with complex needs.
• Proactively identify, diagnose and manage treatment plans for patients at risk of developing a long‑term condition (as appropriate).
• Diagnose and manage both acute and chronic conditions, integrating drug and non‑drug‑based treatment methods into a management plan.
• Prescribe and review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, appropriate to patient needs and in accordance with evidence‑based practice and national and practice protocols, and within scope of practice.
• Work with patients to support compliance with and adherence to prescribed treatments.
• Provide information and advice on prescribed or over‑the‑counter medication, medication regimens, side‑effects and interactions.
• Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care.
• Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that promote healthy lifestyles, and apply principles of self‑care.

• Utilise and demonstrate sensitive communication styles, to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment.
• Communicate with and support patients who are receiving bad news.
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating.
• Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication.
• Maintain effective communication within the practice environment and with external stakeholders.
• Act as an advocate for patients and colleagues.
• Ensure awareness of sources of support and guidance (e.g. PALS) and provide information in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any difficulties and referring where appropriate.

• Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the NMC.
• Produce accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures.
• Prioritise, organise and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality.
• Deliver care according to NICE guidelines and evidence‑based care.
• Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation.
• Initiate and participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the organisation and its activities.
• Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required.
• Collaborate with other clinical teams to improve the quality of health care responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate.
• Evaluate patients’ response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care.
• Support and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation.
• Use a structured framework (e.g. root‑cause analysis) to manage,…