About this role
Job summary
To work as part of the St Helens heart failure team. To develop and facilitate a cohesive management programme for patients with end stage heart failure across St Helens. The post holder will work closely with primary care and secondary care services for heart failure and palliative care
Main duties of the job
This role provides specialist leadership in the care of patients with end-stage heart failure, working closely with cardiology, palliative medicine, and multidisciplinary teams across hospital and community settings. It focuses on complex assessment, advanced clinical decision-making, care planning, and seamless discharge, while leading education, service development, guideline implementation, and compassionate end-of-life care to improve quality of life for patients and support their families and carers.
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
Our services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018 Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal) National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme.
Job description Job responsibilities
Principle Responsibilities:
To work with Cardiologist and Consultants in palliative medicine in developing palliative care services for patients with end stage heart failure
To assess, plan implement and review individual care plans for patients
To provide clinical expertise and professional advice to medical, nursing and other colleagues on the delivery of care to patients with end stage heart failure. Contributing to an improvement in the quality of life for patients.
Utilise high level analytical and decision-making skills to deliver appropriate clinical care, using advanced clinical skills in assessment and/or diagnosis.
To support the discharge of heart failure patients from in-patient setting to primary care, ensuring seamless care and support to patients and carers is provided.
Education/Audit/Research:
To act in an advisory capacity on end stage heart failure for multi professional Specialist Palliative Care Team, Community and Hospital.
To keep abreast of current developments and relevant research in palliative care for end stage heart failure through continuing professional development.
To disseminate research findings and lead in implementation of new practice to primary care.
To lead in education and training of all disciplines in both cardiological and palliative care sectors as part of a multi professional collaborate education programme.
To maintain own professional development in both cardiology and specialist palliative care.
Managerial Responsibilities:
To contribute to the service development process for heart failure in the community setting.
To assist in development of clinical policies and provide specialist advice.
Liaise with voluntary organisations as appropriate.
Provide input and liaison with the Consultant in Palliative Medicine plus the Cardiology Consultant and members of the Palliative Care Teams and Cardiac Teams.
To lead the development and facilitation of a cohesive management programme for patients with end stage heart failure.
Ensure the effective and efficient use of physical and financial resources, make recommendations regarding supplies and equipment.
Support and advise colleagues on ethical decision making in relation to end of life issues.
Participate in peer and clinical supervision.
Clinical Responsibilities:
To implement End of Life Care tools such as Preferred Place of Care / Care and Communication Record/Advanced Care planning.
To manage own caseload of complex patients, to include the assessment of patients identifying and advising on risk factors, implement care plans and to take appropriate action to prevent hospital readmission where possible.
To lead in the formulation of new clinical guidelines, standards and patients group directions to ensure consistency in approach across all professional disciplines and support the development of evidence-based and cost-effective care.
To deliver expert clinical practice to patients with End Stage Heart Failure in the local community
To work alongside acute sector colleagues to ensure a seamless delivery of care.
To refer people to relevant practitioners or agencies when this is necessary providing accurate and necessary information consistent with maintaining confidentiality.
Communicate very sensitive complex condition related information to patients and/or relatives. Use counselling skills to be reassuring and use empathy in difficult situations i.e. palliative care.
Work in partnership with patients and their carers to ensure they can make informed choices about their health and healthcare at all levels including conveying information of a sensitive or distressing nature.
Review patients' medication regimes ensuring that they receive appropriate pharmacotherapy in effective doses in line with local End Stage Heart 'Failure Guidelines. Prescribe changes or initiate medication in accordance with Clinical Management Plans.
Communication:
To provide high levels of communication and support to the patient carers and colleagues, to enable service provision, delivery and quality
To provide emotional and psychological support to the patient, families and carers
To communicate effectively to support patient's end of life care needs, including complex issues such as breaking bad news and care of the dying
To provide advice and signposting to bereavement support to carers and families
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Registered Nurse (Adult) with current NMC registration Degree level qualification (or evidence of study to degree level) Post graduate qualification or modules in heart failure, advanced clinical practice or palliative care
Desirable
Non-medical prescribing qualification (V300) or willingness to work towards Advanced communication skills training (e.g. difficult conversations/ACP)
Experience Essential
Substantial post-registration experience in Heart failure and/or Palliative, community, or long-term condition management Experience and knowledge of managing patients with complex, progressive disease e.g. chronic and advanced heart failure management and palliative /end of life care principles Experience of multidisciplinary team (MDT) working across organisational boundaries Experience of autonomous decision making and professional accountability and manage complex caseload Experience of coordinating care across health and social care services
Desirable
Experience working in community or integrated care settings Experience of Advance Care planning (ACP), DNACPR discussions or end of life care coordination Knowledge of national guidance relevant to heart failure and palliative care (e.g. NICE)
Skills Essential
Advanced clinical assessment and decision-making skills Strong MDT working and care coordination skills and high-level communication skills Ability to educate, advise and support patients, carers and staff Good written and IT skills, including electronic clinical record systems Leadership and mentorship skills
Desirable
Ability to analyse data and contribute to service improvement Professional, credible and able to influence across teams
Other Essential
Ability to travel independently across the trust footprint Willingness to work flexibly in line with service need
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.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Address Fingerpost Park Health Centre
Atlas Street
St Helens
WA9 1LN
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)