Falls Practitioner

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 31,000; Part time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in London is seeking a part-time professional to join its Falls Service at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Responsibilities include supporting falls assessments, liaising with multidisciplinary teams, and delivering falls prevention interventions. Candidates must have relevant experience in healthcare and hold GCSE and NVQ qualifications. This permanent role offers a salary of £27,485 to £30,162 per annum, pro-rata for part-time work.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 24 months experience in an acute healthcare setting.
• Ability to liaise with other agencies.
• Experience of teaching others.

Responsibilities

• Undertake comprehensive falls screening for all referrals.
• Review patients who have fallen in the inpatient environment.
• Monitor completion of patient risk assessments.
• Deliver appropriate falls and injury prevention interventions.

Skills

Experience of working within the multidisciplinary team

Patient assessment skills

Ability to work under structured guidelines

Education

5 GCSE's (A-C)

NVQ3/4 in health and social care

Job description

To work as part of the Trust's Falls service supporting multi-factorial assessments on patients referred to the service.

To provide falls prevention advice in accordance with agreed protocols.

To support the referral process to internal and external services / agencies.

To maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders both internal and external to the Trust, using appropriate communication networks.

To work under structured guidelines and with minimal direct supervision

To undertake ongoing review and audit of falls and risk documentation.

Collating information for inclusion in reports and presentations.

Main duties of the job

Post based at Queen Elizabeth Hospital but cross site working

These posts are to work as part of the Trust's inpatient falls service supporting multi-factorial assessments on patients referred to the service. Through a visible presence the post holder will work closely with the ward based nursing and allied health care professionals to support the implementation and use of the falls documentation. You will be expected to work under structured guidelines with minimal direct supervision.

About us

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust is a community focused provider of local and acute care, providing high quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley. With a turnover of around £700 million, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham and a range of community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup.

As an organisation, we've made significant improvements for patients and staff in the last two and-a-half years. This is reflected in our most recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection (from February 2020), which found improvements across the organisation and gave us an improved rating of "Good" in the Well-Led and Effective domains, in addition to the rating of "Good" that we had already achieved in the Caring domain. Our staff culture change programme has been key to the Trust's improvement journey, as we've stabilised our workforce by reducing vacancy rates and improving staff retention. We've also significantly increased the representation of minority ethnic leaders across our clinical and corporate teams.

Job responsibilities

Undertake a comprehensive falls screening / assessment, using an agreed framework / proforma on all referrals to the service

To review all patients who have fallen within the inpatient environment ensuring that all appropriate documentation and follow up actions have been completed by nursing staff.

Make an informed judgement about the most appropriate course of action for a patient, and support the referral process to internal / external services in accordance with the agreed pathway. For complex cases this will be discussed with the Integrated Falls and Fracture liaison CNS.

Deliver appropriate falls and injury prevention interventions as required e.g. exercise classes.

To be able to work under structured guidelines with minimal supervision.

To identify objectives for own professional development which reflect local and national service needs, accessing advice, guidance and support as appropriate.

Performance

Maintain a comprehensive and accurate database of patient referrals received and actions implemented.

To undertake individual risk assessments on inpatients

To monitor the completion of relevant / identified patient risk assessments regularly, escalating as appropriate any areas of concern to the Integrated Falls and Fracture Liaison CNS.

Undertake and successfully complete all training relevant to the post and as deemed appropriate.

To participate in the planning, reviewing and development of the Falls Service

Ensure Health and Safety standards are maintained according to Trust policy and procedures.

To undertake and support audits related to falls service (internal or external driven audit requirements)

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

• 5 GSCE's (A-C)
• NVQ3/4 in health and social care

Experience

• Minimum of 24 months experience in an acute healthcare setting.
• Experience of working within the multidiciplinary team
• Experience of liaising with other agencies
• Ability to work under structured guidelines with minimal direct supervision.
• Experience of teaching others
• Experience of patient assessment skills

Knowledge

• Knowledge of falls risk factors
• Knowledge of research and audit

Disclosure 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.

Employer name

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

Address

Falls Service

Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Stadium Road, Woolwich,

£27,485 to £30,162 a yearper annum plus HCA pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

197-R-AJ7504

Job locations

Falls Service

Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Stadium Road, Woolwich,