Tissue Viability Nurse

Job Overview

An exciting opportunity to be a part of the Hillingdon Tissue Viability team who are implementing innovative ways of working to support complex wound care across the community .

We are a Consultant Nurse led Tissue Viability service providing care across Hillingdon.

Main duties of the job

CNWL is looking for a Tissue Viability Nurse to support the Hillingdon Community Services, part of Goodall division. The main remit of the role will be to deliver wound care and tissue viability service to complex wound clinic and in patient’s home and/ or nursing homes across the Hillingdon community.

To provide guidance and training to nurses and health care professionals both in the nursing homes and community health services.

To provide written advice and care plans to be implemented by staff in caring for patients.

To work closely with other specialist teams to ensure a seamless service to service users.

Working for our organisation

There’s a place for you at CNWL

We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.

Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people.

We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee, we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.

With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you are, there is always a place for you at CNWL.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

The post holder will work as part of the Tissue Viability team to manage clinical caseloads which include both physical and mental health patients with tissue viability needs. The post holder will ensure the delivery of cost and clinically effective tissue viability service to patients, carers and health care professionals. The caseload will consist of house bound patients but there are sites where commissioned wound clinics are also held. The role also consists of change management where the Service lead will support his / her own team to embed change positively

main responsibilities

• Act as a role model in expert practice facilitating and supporting the delivery of effective care by use of clinical judgement and decision making skills.
• Provides leadership and management to the tissue viability team, ensuring effective clinical standards, and development of individual team members.
• Have responsibility for the assessment of care needs and the development, implementation and evaluation of care programmes both simple and complex for and with individuals and their families.
• Identify individual and collective tissue viability needs through observation, assessment and discussion such as Doppler studies, advanced Doppler studies and advanced wound assessment applications.
• Analyse and interpret collected information and collate as part of holistic assessment to identify patients’ needs, aetiology of wound, prognosis and then facilitate management programmes to address patient need.
• Assist the Tissue Viability team in managing complicated aspects in relation to tissue viability.
• Liaise with other organisations, Voluntary, Statuary and Health, to provide holistic care.
• Co-ordinates care for individuals and their carers
• Engages patients and their carers in all aspects of care planning and delivery
• Implements the framework of informed consent
• Provides health advice and support for other agencies.
• Work with patients, carers and families to enable them to develop self-care skills with respect to health and health services
• Document consultations and practice to incorporate both audit and the setting, and monitoring and evaluation of standards of care.
• Promoting the delivery of seamless services
• Implements the National Service Frameworks
• Work with other partners to facilitate access to other programmes to promote health for the community (e.g. ICT training, basic skills training and adult education).
• Uses quality standards in all aspects of care planning and delivery
• Prescribes and Implements evidence based practice at all times, including VAC, bio-surgical debridement, and intermittent pneumatic compression.
• Plans and implements management of chronic diseases and works towards preventing the complications of long term conditions.

Person specification

Skills/ Knowledge/ Ability

Essential criteria

• Proven critical decision-making skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills and proven ability to work across professional health care boundaries
• Presentation skills and report writing
• Proven training and teaching ability
• Ability to motivate self and others
• Computer literate in Word/Excel and EPR
• Previous leadership role
• Excellent IT skills
• Car driver with access to a car for care delivery across the community

Desirable criteria

• Experience of Electronic Patient Record and Access programmes

Professional/ Statutory Registration

Essential criteria

• Able to work autonomously while being part of a team
• Proven professional development
• Evidence and experience of mentorship
• Can demonstrate professional accountability
• Undertaking clinical supervision or similar

Desirable criteria

• Clinical supervisor or facilitator
• Demonstrate an understanding of clinical governance and the application of the clinical governance agenda in the NHS.
• Ability to understand a thorough understanding of recent government strategies and their effects on the provision of service to patients, service users and NHS organisations.

Qualifications And Education

Essential criteria

• RGN
• Experience as Senior staff nurse
• Mentorship in practice or equivalent
• Evidence of contribution to education and training programmes for nursing and health care colleagues
• Attendance at a short leg ulcer course/ wound care study days
• Worked as a tissue viability link nurse/equivalent
• Partnership Working
• Knowledge of RCN/ NICE/ NHSI guidelines
• Multi- agency working
• Implementing evidence-based practice
• Worked as a tissue viability link nurse/equivalent

Desirable criteria

• Post registration course in wound management or leg ulcer management
• Debridement Course
• Evidence of further education in research or audit

Previous experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working autonomously at an advanced level within the community setting
• Evidence of co-ordination of a multi disciplinary team to achieve efficient health care delivery, including evidence of workforce planning and financial management
• Competent Vac Therapy within community setting
• Organisational skills
• Assessments skills
• Previous experience of working with students and supporting junior staff
• Experience of involvement in developing & reviewing guidelines/ protocols and care pathways
• Care Planning and caseload management
• Written and verbal communication
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Health Promotion
• Facilitation skills
• Ability to teach clients and colleagues, both formally and informally

Skills/ Knowledge/ Ability

Essential criteria

• Proven critical decision-making skills
• Excellent IT skills
• Car driver with access to a car for care delivery across the community

Desirable criteria

• Experience of Electronic Patient Record and Access programmes