Plastic Clinical Nurse SpecialistinEast GrinsteadinEast GrinsteadPUBLISHED FRI 22 NOV 2024

Acting as the Trust's Plastic outreach clinical nurse specialist service you will provide expert tailored treatment, advice, consultation, support and guidance to patients, carers and referring trusts. You will work as a highly skilled, expert, advanced and autonomous practitioner liaising within multi-professional teams, both within QVH and across all NHS trusts in Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

You will be expected to visit patients in all environments and offer specialist advice to other healthcare professionals, to carry out wound care checks and provide treatments for the QVH patients.

A large part of this role is collaboration with other healthcare professionals and imparting knowledge and experience to provide the best care for the patient and their wound, providing others with education and learning is essential.

Other duties include to develop the service for the future ensuring sustainable growth whilst maintaining standards of specialist care. Innovate and change current practice through the delivery of appropriate education and training to meet service needs.

Where necessary, work closely with the Burns Outreach specialist nurse to manage patients appropriately and gain support and advice to ensure continuity of care ensuring a tailored approach is adopted for all patients accessing both outreach services.

About us

The successful candidate will be part of a small team intent on driving the implementation of national best practice guidance for lower limb care. We hold a unique position in the south east cost where lower limb traumas are referred within a day of injury which with a prompt assessment and implementation of a robust care plan can reduce the risk of the development of leg ulcers.

They will be responsible for assessing, diagnosing, implementing, planning and reviewing care needs for the lower limb patient. It is desirable that they are experienced in performing complex Doppler assessments, interpreting ABPI and implementing treatment according to findings.

Patients are assessed initially from a photo on referral after which a plan is formulated, putting the patient at the centre of the assessment process. You will need to use clinical expertise and work autonomously, although a weekly MDT discusses more complex patients when needed.

You will be expected to attend patients in all environments they may be in, and offering specialist advice to nursing homes, district nurses, practice nurses and acute nurses in their care of their patients. Therefore you must be a confident car driver with UK licence experience, a car is provided during working hours.

A candidate must have excellent interpersonal skills,using communication of all forms, and skilled in the use of information technology.

Undertake wound therapies, such as negative pressure wound therapy, larval therapy, ABPI assessment and application of compression therapies as required.

In cases of larger lower limb wound where good conservative management will still lead to a lengthy healing time, pre-assess patient for skin grafting and provide the initial postoperative care, handing over to community or acute teams when appropriate.

The job role also involves visiting patients at home for the QVH, if there is significant reasons the patient can not attend to have a dressing change, so a working knowledge of a variety of plastics procedures is of benefit, but not essential as a period of supernumerary time can be spent with the dressings clinic or wards.