ACST Practitioner (Access to Community Services Team)

The Access to Community Services Team (ACST) currently have a vacancy for an enthusiastic and dynamic practitioner. This can be a nurse, an occupational therapist or a physiotherapist. The vacancy is permanent full time (37.5 hours).
The ACST are based primarily on the Emergency Care Centre at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary where their remit is to plan and facilitate safe and early discharge from the Emergency Care Centre.
The team is dynamic and proactive in their approach to healthcare and currently provide a full operational service between the hours of 8am - 6pm, 7 days per week.
The successful candidate will have a good understanding of working within an acute setting with patients presenting with complex medical, functional and social problems. Experience of working in a range of settings and knowledge of community services would be an advantage. This post involves working across professional boundaries and challenges traditional practice. To support this we provide a sound supervision structure and training.
Evidence of personal development is essential., The successful candidate will work with our established team consisting of Nurses, Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists and will have the ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team. You will be expected to perform comprehensive generic assessments within the Emergency Care Centre and short stay areas to achieve a safe and effective discharge from hospital., + To work as part of the ACST within Emergency Care, Short Stay areas, and Clinic areas to provide a quality service to all patients identified for or referred to the Team
+ To proactively seek out patients who would benefit from ACST assessment and ensuring patients are signposted to a wide range of community based services
+ To act as a source of knowledge on the management of patients, regarding facilitated discharge and preventing unnecessary admissions, providing an advisory service to patients, relatives, carers and other healthcare professionals
+ To take a role in the specialist assessment and treatment of patients, who may have complex and or chronic presentation and to determine clinical diagnosis and management indicated and to maintain records as an autonomous practitioner
+ Develop specialist knowledge around community services to enable appropriate signposting of patients being discharged
+ To develop knowledge and skills to support frail elderly patients through an evidence-based falls pathway from the acute hospital into the community
+ To work in conjunction with other ACST members ensuring patients follow a seamless care pathway and receive the highest standard of care
+ To participate in service improvement activities to ensure ACST achieve Team and Organisational Objectives
+ To educate and train health professionals and students in the management of patients identified for or referred to the ACS
+ Following training will be able to interpret basic investigations as abnormal e.g. bloods and x-rays to contribute to the overall patient management plan
+ To produce informative and detailed information for out of Trust patient transfers for continuing patient management
+ To take delegated responsibility from the team leader for managing patients appropriate for the ACST and be responsible for providing specialist assessment and management plans for patients, relevant to your discipline
+ To support Team Manager and Clinical Lead by engaging in specific projects to target and address the root cause of inappropriate readmissions to hospital
+ To support Service Manager and ACST Clinical Lead in the achievement of Team and Organisational Objective
Planning and Organisational Duties
+ To be responsible for a designated area of work, as agreed with the Team Leader. To plan and organise efficiently and effectively regarding patient management and use of time
+ To decide priorities for own work area, balancing other patient related and professional demands, and ensure that they remain in accordance with those of the team as a whole
+ To deputise for the Team Leader in terms of operational issues as required
+ To be actively involved in the collection of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the ACST service
+ To support the Team Manager and Clinical Lead with service improvement initiatives to support the achievement of ACST and Organisational objectives
+ To support Team Manager and Clinical Lead by engaging in specific projects to target and address the root cause of inappropriate readmissions to hospital
+ To undertake any other duties that might be considered appropriate by the Team Leader.
+ To maintain own clinical professional development (CPD) by keeping abreast of any new trends and developments and incorporate them as necessary into your work
+ To undertake the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of Evidence Based practice projects, audit and outcome measures, either individually or with the Team Manager/Clinical Lead. Use information gained to make recommendation for change
+ To exercise good personal time management, punctuality and be consistent and reliable in relation to attendance.
Communications and Key Working Relationships
+ To communicate complex patient-related information (as well as non-patient information) effectively and work collaboratively with other health professionals to ensure delivery of a co-ordinated multidisciplinary service. This will include case conferences, ward rounds, meetings and discharge planning as appropriate
+ To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise rehabilitation potential and to ensure understanding of condition. Use communication skills such as persuasion, motivation, explanation to encourage patients to undertake their management programme
+ Demonstrate highly developed communication skills (verbal and non-verbal) to gain informed consent with patients where there will often be barriers to effective communication e.g. loss of hearing, altered perception, expressive and receptive dysphasia, pain, fear et
+ To assess capacity, gain valid consent and have the ability to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment
+ To maintain accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date documentation, in line with legal, departmental and professional standards requirements. Communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate disciplines in form of reports and letters.
Responsibility for Finance
+ To be responsible for ensuring the effective selection and use of all resources and advise the Team Leader of anything that is required to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the team.
Responsibility for Human Resources
+ To participate in the staff appraisal scheme and Personal Development Plan (PDP) as both appraiser and appraisee.
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.
Responsibility for Teaching
+ To be an active member of the in-service training programme by the attendance and delivery of presentations and training sessions at staff meetings, tutorials, training sessions in-house and by attending external courses and engaging in reflective practice.
+ Be responsible for the safe and competent practice of junior staff through teaching, training, supervision and practice.
+ To provide spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers and other professionals, to promote understanding of the aims of management, and to ensure a consistent approach to patient care.
+ To provide advice, teaching and training to other members of the MDT regarding the role of the ACST and the management of patients.
+ To assist the ACST Clinical Lead to train, supervise and performance manage junior members of the team using formal appraisal documentation.
+ Supervise, educate and assess the performance of students to graduate standard. Work with universities to ensure the standard of practice and teaching meets the standards set by the required level of qualification.
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Recruitment Information for Candidates

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'.
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.