Clinical practice
- Assess, plan, develop, implement and evaluate treatment programmes that promote health and well-being
- Assess, plan, implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for patients with a known long-term condition
- Proactively identify, diagnose and manage treatment plans for patients at risk of developing a long-term condition as appropriate
- Work with other health care professionals to diagnose, monitor, manage and treat long-term conditions, including non-drug-based treatment methods using a management plan, and in line with national and local policies and practice needs
- Review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, appropriate to patient needs and in accordance with evidence-based practice and national and practice protocols
- Work with patients in order to support adherence to prescribed treatments
- Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side-effects and interactions
- Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care
- Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that promote patients to live healthily, and apply principles of self-care
- Support and manage health needs of women presenting for family planning and cervical cytology consultations
- Recognise, assess and refer patients presenting with mental health needs
- Implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programme for both adults and children
- Advise, support and administer vaccinations where appropriate for patients travelling abroad
- Promote and deliver evidence-based care for patients presenting with aural conditions
- Meet the needs of patients presenting for opportunistic wound care
Communication
- Demonstrate sensitive communication styles to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment
- Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating
- Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication
- Act as an advocate when representing patients and colleagues
Delivering a quality service
- Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the NMC
- Produce accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures
- Prioritise, organise and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality
- Deliver care according to NICE guidelines, local and national policies and evidence-based care
- Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation
- Participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the practice
- Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required
- Collaborate on improving the quality of health care in partnership with other clinical teams, responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate
Evaluate the patients response
- Support and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation
- Participate in the management and review of patient complaints, and identify learning from clinical incidents and near-miss events using a structured framework (eg root-cause analysis)
- Participate in the performance monitoring review of the team, providing feedback as appropriate
- Understand and apply legal policy that supports the identification of vulnerable and abused children and adults, being aware of statutory child/vulnerable adult health procedure and local guidance
- Work within policies regarding family violence, vulnerable adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour, and refer as appropriate
- Support and participate in the delivery of clinical research trials as necessary
Leadership personal and people development
- Take responsibility for own development learning and performance including participating in clinical supervision and acting as a positive role model
- Support the development of others in order to maximise potential
- Actively promote the workplace as a learning environment, encouraging everyone to learn from each other and from external good practice
- Encourage others to make realistic self‑assessment of their application of knowledge and skills, challenging any complacency and actions that are not in the interest of the public and/or users of services
- Act as a clinical leader in the delivery of GPN services to patients, ensuring that the needs of the patient are the priority
- Participate in planning and implementing changes within the area of care and responsibility
- Work with practice management to ensure sufficient staff of appropriate ability, quality and skill-mix are available to meet current and future service delivery
- Contribute and participate in the development of local guidelines, protocols and standards
- Participate in the planning and engagement of practice-based commissioning or similar initiatives
- Ensure awareness of sources of support and guidance (eg PALS), and provide information in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any difficulties and referring where appropriate
- Promote the role of the GPN in the provision of care
Team working
- Understand own role and scope, and identify how this may develop over time
- Work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working
- Delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessing competence
- Ensure clear referral mechanisms are in place to meet patient need
- Prioritise own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team
- Work effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery
- Participate in team activities that create opportunities to improve patient care
- Participate and support local projects as agreed with the practice management team
Management of risk
- Manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients
- Monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines
- Ensure safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs
- Follow the stock management procedure in the ordering, use and control of stock
- Understand and maintain cold chain when accepting delivery or moving stock that requires temperature to be monitored
- Maintain your own responsibility for all PGD sign off and updating
- Oversee the monitoring, stock control and documentation of controlled drug usage according to legal requirements
- Support members of the nursing team to undertake mandatory and statutory training requirements
- Apply infection-control measures within the practice according to local and national guidelines
- Apply policies that reduce environmental health risks, are culturally sensitive and increase access to health care for all
- Participate in the local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice
Utilising information
- Use technology as an aid to management in planning, implementation and monitoring, presenting and communicating information
- Review and process data using accurate Read codes to ensure easy and accurate retrieval for monitoring and audit processes
- Manage information searches using the internet and local library databases, for example, the retrieval of relevant information for patients on their condition
- Understand the responsibility of self and others regarding the Freedom of Information Act
Nurse Prescribing
- For Prescribing Nurses only
- Follow best practice prescribing medications and dressings within your scope of professional practice
- Review medications opportunistically and during chronic disease appointments
Learning and development
- Act as mentor to students, assessing competence against set standards as requested and if appropriately qualified
- Assess own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate
- Make effective use of learning opportunities within and outside the workplace, evaluating their effectiveness and feeding back relevant information
- Provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning