Nursing Associate – Physical Health in Inpatient Mental Health

Integrated Care System; Orpington; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in the UK seeks a Nursing Associate to enhance physical health in mental health inpatient care. This role involves delivering personalized care, conducting health assessments, and collaborating with a multi-disciplinary team. The ideal candidate is a Registered Nursing Associate with clinical experience and skills in physiological measurements and observations. This position supports holistic patient care and offers opportunities for professional development.

Qualifications

• Clinical experience (12 -18 months) and experience of engaging with service users and their family/carer.
• Experience of working with adults with mental health problems within community or inpatient settings.
• Experience of facilitating group activities and social inclusion.

Responsibilities

• Leading on physical health care within the ward area in conjunction with the Physical Health Lead.
• Identifying and escalating any physical health concerns to the ward Multi-Disciplinary Team.
• Facilitating physical health clinics within the ward area.
• Undertaking physical health screening for new patients.
• Producing physical health care plans in response to any additional physical health needs.

Skills

Ability to undertake and understand range of physiological measurements and observations

Phlebotomy

ECG recording

Education

Registered Nursing Associate on the NMC register

GCSE Grade A-C in Maths & English or skills level 2 Maths & English or equivalent

Job description

Nursing Associate – Physical Health in Inpatient Mental Health

Nursing Associate (Band 4) - Drive Better Physical Health in Mental Health Inpatient Care

Join our innovative new Physical Health Team supporting our acute inpatient mental health service users across Bromley (Green Parks House), Bexley (Woodlands Unit), and Greenwich (Oxleas House). This is a fantastic opportunity to champion the equal importance of physical and mental health ("parity of esteem").

You will play a key role in delivering and developing physical health clinics within our inpatient units. Your focus will be on providing high-quality, compassionate, and personalised care, including physical health checks, proactive physical interventions for long term conditions, and advising on healthy lifestyle choices.

As a qualified Nursing Associate, you will work with a degree of autonomy, utilising your assessed competencies, while knowing when to seek guidance. You will be supported and supervised by a Registered Nurse within this dynamic, multi-site team. If you're passionate about holistic care and improving patient outcomes, we want to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will help develop and deliver physical health clinics within inpatient mental health settings with a focus on compassionate and personalised care.

Ability to complete comprehensive physical health and cardiometabolic assessments and be competent to record physiological measurements using National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2), assess BMI, Blood pressure, take blood for lipids and blood glucose monitoring, along with recording ECG where indicated.

The ability to take a medical history, including family history and enquire about lifestyle issues such as smoking, alcohol and non-prescribed drug use.

The ability to enquire and to follow up where needed on uptake of national screening programmes for breast, cervical and bowel screening where indicated.

The ability to follow up on personalised care planning, engagement and psychosocial support and discuss with the team the challenges if this is not being met.

Ability to provide quality care that is responsive to service user's needs, with supervision available but not always present, and acting on own initiative, within policies and protocols.

Administration tasks including recording on clinical records and communicating with primary and secondary care.

Involvement in group work, activities, and workshops, holding a small caseload.

To work independently under the leadership of registered nurses.

About us

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We're Kind
• We Listen
• We Care

Job responsibilities

• Leading on physical health care within the ward area in conjunction with the Physical Health Lead.
• Identifying and escalating any physical health concerns to the ward Multi-Disciplinary Team.
• Facilitating physical health clinics within the ward area.
• Undertaking physical health screening for new patients, identifying any areas of concern and escalating these.
• Producing physical health care plans in response to any additional physical health needs.
• Assisting with ongoing care of physical health needs such as wound dressings or diabetic reviews after initial assessment.
• Undertaking further training to become competent in physical health skills, such as phlebotomy, ECG taking, diabetes management.
• Assisting with physical health audits within the ward area.
• Assisting with stocking and maintenance of physical health equipment e.g. wound dressings and resuscitation equipment.
• Within training, advising colleagues on basic physical health intervention and identifying when escalation is needed.
• Assisting with inpatient and onward community physical health referrals.
• Assisting with training and physical health-based competencies on the wards.

Knowledge, awareness and understanding of Mental Health Law, including.

legislation of relevance to inpatient mental health settings i.e. Mental Health Act 1983 (amended in 2007), Mental Capacity Act (2005) and Community Treatment Orders (CTO).

Understanding and working within the boundaries of the Lone Working Policy

and awareness of Personal Safety in inpatient mental health setting, including clear and updated communication with the shift lead.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

• Registered Nursing Associate on the NMC register.
• GCSE Grade A-C in Maths & English or skills level 2 Maths & English or equivalent

Experience

• Clinical experience (12 -18 months) and experience of engaging with service users and their family/carer.
• Experience of working with adults with mental health problems within community or inpatient settings.
• Experience of facilitating group activities and social inclusion

Skills

• Ability to undertake and understand range of physiological measurements and observations
• Phelebotomy
• ECG recording

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.

Multiple Site Oxleas House (Greenwich), Green Parks House (Bromley)and Woodlands Unit (Bexley)

Multiple Site Oxleas House (Greenwich), Green Parks House (Bromley)and Woodlands Unit (Bexley)