Job summary
Are you a Childrens Nurse with experience in caring for children with life-limiting conditions, complex needs or chronic illnesses? Are you looking for a senior nursing role that will enable you to develop your skills and play a key role in enhancing the palliative care support for children and young people within the Cornwall region? If so, this incredibly fulfilling role is for you. A position where you can directly support putting children and families at the centre of all we do and directly help make the most of short and precious lives.
Main duties of the job
The primary purpose is to promote a close working relationship between hospice staff and nursing/medical staff in Cornwall. They will do this to ensure families have the best possible information in regard to accessing and receiving hospice care.
- Have a CHSW caseload of children living in Cornwall (with flexibility) to provide more local accessible support.
- Ensure hospice and local care plans up to date and are aligned
- Undertake pre-hospice, stay assessments /preparation ensuring care plans are up to date
- Undertake review / assessments as required
- Provide family listening support or signposting to listening support, including to bereaved parents.
- Visit children who are hospitalised in Cornwall for advice, liaison, and support.
- Work collaboratively with the local teams attending clinics, improving communication & liaison etc.
- Participate with and support any EOL (end-of-life) care at home (roster) for CHSW children being provided locally providing both leadership and clinical care ensuring 24/7 cover is provided.
- Link with the hospice bases when Cornwall children visiting, maintaining clinical skills through occasional shifts.
- Attend meeting and training ensuring connection with both hospice and community teams
- Liaise and work closely with the team of Clinical Psychologists supporting access to psychological care.
Essential Qualifications
- RSCN RN Child including Professional UK registration e.g. NMC
- Educated to degree level or equivalent knowledge and skills gained
- through a combination of alternative non-graduate study, or employment
- experience
Desirable Qualifications
- Degree/Diploma in palliative care for children or equivalent.
- Leadership Training or Experience.
- Mentor qualification for clinical setting with Sign off mentor status
Essential Experience
- Clinical experience and competence, including extensive post qualification experience working with children/adults with a life limiting /life threatening condition, chronic illness or disability in a variety of settings; acute, community.
- Extensive knowledge and insight into the needs and current issues of children with life limited conditions and their families including working with children and families at end of life and supporting bereaved families.
- Understanding of Quality Governance and the implications for clinical services including experience of quality issues.
- Experience of delivering paediatric end of life care in a variety of settings.
- Experience of supporting families to write wishes documents / advance care plans.
- Evidence of continuous professional development (CPD) clearly recorded for professional profile.
Desirable Experience
- Experience of working in a hospice setting and delivering care in the community setting.
- Experience of training clinical skills
- Experience of effectively managing and responding to complaints/concerns.
- Knowledge of key legislation and key drivers within paediatric palliative care; local and national Agenda.
- Experience of audit and research.
Essential Skills & Abilities
- Ability to work autonomously and to demonstrate initiative with the skills to manage a wide ranging and complex workload.
- Highly specialist clinical skills within paediatric palliative care with the ability to provide clinical leadership in a complex environment.
- Ability to show evidence of being self-motivated and to motivate others.
- Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, service users and their parents and carers.
- Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills with the ability to engage children and families who are hard to reach and support highly sensitive complex communication and engagement.
- Ability to retain resilience whilst working in a demanding and unpredictable environment.
- Ability to demonstrate the required level of behaviour in keeping with CHSW core behaviours and values, modelling a positive leadership style.
- Ability to represent the service in a wide variety of public and professional forums.
Desirable Skills & Abilities
- Experience of collaborative working ensuring a consistent approach across teams.
- Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite including Word, Excel, Outlook.
- Experience of report writing and providing information (facts/figures) for business reporting.
- Ability to work and lead multidisciplinary team effectively with well developed skills and understanding of people management and effective team leadership.
- Experience of investigating and responding to concerns.
Essential Personal Qualities
- A personal commitment to and empathy for the philosophy of palliative care / childrens hospice care.
- A professional collaborative manner, which is courteous, confident, consistent, approachable and non-confrontational.
- Resourceful, energetic and creative/solution focused approach to work.
- A commitment to maintain clinical skills and undertake direct care to retain visibility, credibility and confidence in clinical skills.
Disclosures and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.
Job Details
- Pay scheme: Other
- Salary: £47,849 to £54,097 a year pro‑rata if part time
- Contract: Fixed term
- Duration: 18 months
- Working pattern: Full‑time, Part‑time
Employer details
Children’s Hospice South West
Little Harbour
Porthpean Road
Cornwall
PL26 6AZ