Sister, Children's Hospital at Home Team (CHAHT)

This is a unique opportunity to be part of something exceptional in this patch of Kent, the Garden of England. You will involved in the continuation of the CHAHT based at DVH, facilitating early discharge of children and young people from PED, PAU and Willow and preventing admissions. You will be part of a team of Band 6 nurses working as part of the CHAHT and you will work closely with the Band 7 Team Leader. The CHAHT is a dynamic team incorporating specialist nurses working alongside children's and primary care teams, evolving and offering an excellent service for children and young people within the locality, forging strong links with community and tertiary services., The successful candidate will work across Children's Services as part of the CHAHT team, providing clinical, specialist and holistic support and care to children and young people in their own home.
We are looking for you to apply if you are a motivated clinical nurse, with knowledge and experience in children's nursing in an acute or primary care setting. You will have excellent interpersonal, IT and communication skills with the ability to organise, manage and plan your own workload effectively. You will be dedicated and passionate in your role working with children and young people whilst demonstrating excellent leadership and team working. You will be energetic and dedicated in working as an advocate in support of our children, young people and their families.
The successful applicant will be expected to provide advice and support in relation to management of children and young people and will be expected to provide clinical advice and educational support to staff within the Trust., 1. Clinical
1.1 To initiate appropriate work, accepting referrals and be able to work autonomously with the child and family in the community setting.
1.2 To be based from and regularly attend and liaise with acute hospital colleagues to enable timely and safe discharge from hospital and appropriate follow-up in the community setting e.g. care of children with viral wheeze needing inhalers and observation at home, fluid challenges for children with diarrhoea and vomiting, children requiring intravenous antibiotics.
1.3 Recognise and monitor acute exacerbations of illness and initiate appropriate interventions.
1.4 To provide a holistic, autonomous and clinical nursing service as an expert practitioner using high levels of decision making and clinical judgement and evidence based practice.
To carry out initial assessments/home visits and plan, implement and evaluate nursing care for all patients for whom he/she has continuing responsibility. Act in partnership with the child and family when assessing a child's needs and planning. To provide advice contributing to the well-being of the patient and participate in health promotion. (feeding advice, management of fever in child). To provide high quality nursing care to meet
agreed pathway standards of care.
1.5 To ensure medical needs and instructions are carried out in accordance with Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) guidelines and ensure accurate record keeping (PAS system used for client records). To create reports for specific formal meetings such as child protection case conferences. Ensure confidentiality of information is adhered to always.
1.6 To liaise with, and receive referrals from other disciplines and make decisions regarding client treatments/outcomes without direct supervision.
1.7 To carry out specialist procedures in the community settings e.g. administration of intravenous antibiotics, care of central venous access devices, insertion of peripheral cannula and phlebotomy.
1.8 To use clinical judgement and expertise in assessing and implementing change during clinical visits e.g. assessment of respiratory condition and management of any changes.
1.9 To use clinical knowledge and expertise in deciding appropriate administration of drugs, route to be administered and dose of the drug, within a set of defined parameters prescribed by medical colleagues e.g. inhalers.
1.10 To use clinical knowledge.
1.11 To teach, support and guide patients and those with parental responsibility.
1.12 To be familiar with practices regarding the management of hazardous/ biological substances and follow local policies regarding their disposal.
1.13 To undertake individual risk assessments to support children and families within their own homes.
1.14 To be familiar with safe manual handling practices and implement within the practice setting when both working with clients and service equipment.
1.15 To recognise and respond to safeguarding issues as they arise.
2. Research
2.1 Facilitate a high quality, cost effective service through undertaking research, surveys, audits in connection with own work.
2.2 Utilise research findings to develop new ways of working and disseminate relevant information to staff.
2.3 To assist the Clinical Lead and Team Leader with updating or writing new care plans, policies, guidelines and competencies.
2.4 Set, monitor and review standards of care on a regular basis and initiate corrective action plans.
3. Work force
3.1 To manage client caseload and have the ability to work autonomously.
3.2 Act as a professional role model and mentor at all times.
4. Financial
4.1 To demonstrate accountability in the use and management of all resources including financial.
5. Partnerships, Communications and Relationships
5.1 To participate in working parties in order to propose changes to policy, procedure and guidelines within child health.
5.2 To liaise, make and receive referrals from other disciplines and make decisions regarding client treatments/outcomes.
5.3 To attend Willow Children's Inpatient Ward and PAU on a daily basis to ensure all appropriate referrals are made and to provide seamless care from hospital to the community setting. To be involved in the providing and receiving of delicate and sometimes complex information during these visits.
5.4 Identify and intervene where circumstances contribute to an unsafe environment for patients and staff and bring to the attention of the Team Leader.
5.5 To be responsible for the demonstrating of safe use of expensive and complex pieces of equipment. To be responsible for ensuring that medical supplies are ordered from an agreed list in order that the team remain within budget.
5.6 There is a requirement for the post-holder to be flexible with their working hours and cover over weekdays, weekends and/or Public Holiday, to ensure a high quality continuous service between 0800-2200 seven days a week.
Please see attached JD for full details
Our staff are our most valuable asset. We are committed to making staff feel appreciated, supported and included in the Trust's successes. Our mission is to be an outstanding place to work providing the very best care for our patients and excellent career opportunities for our staff. Everything we do is guided by our core values and behaviours, identified by our staff and embedded throughout the organisation.
Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement
We have the highest CQC rating of all Acute NHS Trusts in Kent and Medway (Good). The CQC highlighted that managers promoted a positive culture that supported, valued staff and created a sense of common purpose based upon shared values.
The Trust is a great place to work, stay, develop a career and enjoy a healthy work life balance. We have made and are delivering on a wide range of commitments to staff; health and wellbeing; equality; diversity and inclusion; access to education and career development. During 2020 we sett up quality councils, driven by our staff to create a culture of shared governance and quality improvement.
We have a strong focus on innovation and improvement. Part of Guy's and St Thomas' (GSTT) 'Healthcare Alliance' we are introducing new models of care to improve clinical outcomes for patients. Our association with GSTT also gives staff wishing to develop their skills excellent opportunities to work across numerous specialities.
As our local population increases, our services and skills are expanding and adapting to meet demand. We are continuously looking at best practice models to enhance and improve the services we offer.
The Trust provides services at Darent Valley Hospital and Queen Mary's Hospital, for a local population of over 500,000 people.
If you would like to be part of our innovative and forward thinking team putting patients at the centre of all we do, we invite you to #joinourfamily.
The NHS are striving towards "we work flexibly" as a workforce, we want to ensure that you can work in a way that is best for us, our patients, and importantly for you. We offer many flexible working opportunities, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement for you and if it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Please note this vacancy may close earlier than stated to aid efficient processing of applications. To ensure your application will be considered please submit it at your earliest convenience. If you have not heard from us within 21 days of the closing date please assume that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion.
Please note, that due to the limited number of car parking spaces, car parking permits will be allocated subject to compliance with the Trusts eligibility criteria and availability of spaces. Permit holders are not guaranteed a car parking space.
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust is a smoke free organisation. To improve public health smoking or vaping is not permitted anywhere on the hospital site.

Are you a Paediatric Nurse who is passionate about providing excellent care for children and young People?
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 6 Registered Children's Nurse to work within the children's hospital at home team and care for children and young people to enable early discharge from, and prevent admission to hospital. We are seeking an enthusiastic, motivated and innovative nurse to join our Paediatric Service to work as part of our specialist nursing team supporting the Children's Hospital At Home Team (CHAHT). This service supports the Paediatric service, including Paediatric Emergency Department (PED), Willow ward team and Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU).