Respiratory Clinical Lead Nurse -Surrey Downs H&C

At Surrey Downs Health and Care (SDH&C), we are now implementing our new ways of working and model of care.
Our model is formed around a shared and innovative new care and delivery model focusing on care being provided through distributed clinical leadership through Primary Care Networks (network of GP practices working together with combined practice population); integrated community bedded services and specialist services with the development of pathways into and out of the acute trust.
Pivotal to our success will be the Clinical Lead. Reporting to the Operational lead for Community Services, the Clinical Lead will provide clinical leadership to the nursing and AHP workforce across the Respiratory service.
The role contains two key components:
As a Clinical Lead (20%) in supporting the Operational Manager in operational delivery plus the development and transformation of new services as they are integrated into the Primary Care Networks. This includes reviewing Datix incidents and developing actions plans to prevent re-occurrence of incidents alongside policy review and development of clinical practice within the service
In addition as the Clinical Lead (80%) of the role, the post holder will be expected to hold ongoing clinical responsibilities including undertaking home visits and managing complex patient care within the service, relevant to professional background., To work across organisational & professional boundaries as part of Surrey Downs Health & Care community service to provide clinical care and leadership and to co-ordinate the treatment, care, management and empowerment of individual patients.
To liaise pro-actively and work collaboratively with all health, social care and voluntary sector providers, primary and secondary care professionals, palliative care services, patients, carers and commissioners
To act as a source of specialist clinical knowledge and expertise to GPs, nurses and allied health professionals within the integrated community multi-speciality provider service.
To act as a source of knowledge and advise for community matrons and district nurses, to aid proactive case management of patient with LTC needs in order to promote self-management, prevent further deterioration in health and facilitate a speedy and safe discharge from acute and community hospitals
To provide clinical leadership and supervision to a team of community Nurses and therapists, Principal duties to include:
Communication skills
- Encourage effective day to day communication with the team, demonstrating leadership skills, skilled at negotiating, motivating and influencing. Shares ideas, information and feedback in order to empower all members of the team.
- Be responsible for communicating highly sensitive complex information to patients, families and carers even when there are significant barriers to communication e.g. hearing and sight impairment, depression, denial or learning difficulties. Demonstrates sensitivity, empathy and reassurance.
- Take a fundamental leadership role in developing the skills, confidence and capabilities of health care professionals in the service, in primary care and the wider community setting.
- Work collaboratively with members of the respiratory service and other clinical specialities such as primary care networks, acute hospitals, Hospices, commissioning bodies, etc. in order to provide seamless and high quality care for respiratory patients, is seen as a clinical leader.
- Keep accurate, contemporaneous records that ensure safety, continuity of patient care standards for record keeping and local policies.
- Be able to translate complex information such as local and national guidance and governance into easily understood language for all levels of staff.
- Actively participates in the multidisciplinary team and fosters good working relationships with other healthcare professionals and users of services to ensure the delivery of high standards of effective healthcare where the content may be confidential and sensitive.
- Promote a culture which respects and values diversity and supports patients, visitors and staff in exercising their rights.
- Ability to build relationships and provide leadership to the team to maintain stability and manage staff through periods of change.
- Demonstrate a professional manner and act as a role model.
Proactive in seeking out different styles and methods of communication, anticipating barriers to communication and takes action to improve communication.
Analytical and judgemental skills
-Receive referrals from triage, assess and prioritise the required intervention in line with available resources and the complexity of the situation.
- Interpret clinical assessment findings, using advanced standards of clinical
assessment. Use specialist assessment tools such as spirometers, blood gas
analysers, PHQ9, MUST, Purpose T, CAT and Incremental Shuttle walk to inform management interventions and initiate the most appropriate treatment.
- Monitor and review and effectiveness of proposed interventions with patients making modifications if necessary and ensure that care is patient centred, respecting people's dignity, wishes and beliefs and involve them in shared decision making, obtaining their consent.
-Attend and use clinical supervision effectively to aid professional development and learn from personal experiences.
- Advise less experienced members of staff on best practice and treatment plans to follow.
- Analyse commissioning and activity data e.g. trends and make predictions that will ensure service is responsive to changes in evidence and delivery requirements whilst meeting clinical governance requirements.
-Be responsible for assessing risk and risk management and minimisation.
Planning and organisational skills
- Reviews, plans and implements changes to Service to ensure all outcomes are achieved. This will either be in conjunction with Operational Manager and / or independently advising them on implications of change in delivery or circumstance
-Plan for emergency situations, ensuring patients have rescue medications and written management plans that they understand and can follow when acutely unwell.
- Work independently, able to plan own work, prioritising and being flexible to meet the needs of the service and promote quality
-Plans and delivers education components of the service annual training programme across the community setting and evaluating outcomes.
- Contributes to the team development, creating opportunities to enable everyone to learn from each other and external good practice.
Clinical care
Work as an autonomous practitioner using evidence-based guidance to continually further develop own highly specialist knowledge and personal skills in the recognition and management of a wide range of respiratory conditions.
-Carry out advanced clinical assessments through history taking and advanced physical examinations, using highly specialist skills to analyse results, recognise and diagnose respiratory conditions and be able to differentiate them from other conditions.
- Take responsibility for the assessment and on-going management of patients requiring oxygen at home, this will include arterial blood gas analysis, education and instruction regarding all areas of oxygen therapy. Ensuring that equipment is used safely and that the national and local guidelines are followed.
- Responding to changes of blood gas levels, titrating dose of oxygen up or down and alerting senior medical staff where appropriate.
- Promote self-management of respiratory conditions, through health promotion and disease specific education. This will include appropriate referral to other specialist services such as stop smoking, dieticians, mind matters and pulmonary rehabilitation. Support the patient in identifying realistic and achievable goals within the context of their overall care plan.
- Demonstrate an awareness of own limitations in practice and seek advice and support from senior medical staff or critical care where appropriate, act as a resource for other staff.
- Provide support, information and advice to the patients diagnosed with advanced progressive diseases and their families to enable them to realise and maintain their potential and make adjustments to their lives if necessary.
- Provide patient education and appropriate information / leaflets
- Ensure that risks to both patients and staff are minimised (clinical and non-clinical).
- Deliver the service within child/adult safeguarding processes and procedures and that ensure staff are trained appropriately in line with supervision requirements
- Ensure all administrative procedures follow good practice and make sure
comprehensive, holistic clinical care is delivered

Surrey Downs Health and Care has a track record of providing person centered care that goes beyond organisational boundaries to do what is best for the individual. This partnership includes:
+ The three GP federations GP Health Partners, Dorking Health Care and Surrey Medical Network representing practices that operate in the Surrey Downs area
+ CSH Surrey
+ Epsom and St Helier's University Hospitals NHS Trust
+ Surrey Council County
Historically, there have been boundary lines between the organisations that provide care to people in their homes, in GP surgeries and in hospitals, but we have always been united in our mission to provide great care to the people who need us.
It's on those grounds that the Surrey Downs Health and Care was formed - we want local people to receive the care that they need in the right environment. By bringing together our expertise, we can improve patient care and enable local people to access the right support, care and treatment more easily than ever before.
In bringing this partnership together, we are working to the same set of values that will translate into better care for our residents.