Neuro High Dependency Unit - Band 5 or above

Our client is a NHS Foundation Trust which is one of London’s largest and busiest teaching hospitals, with a unique profile of strong local services and a growing reputation for research and development and the provision of tertiary specialties. Over the past few years, our client has been undergoing a transformation and has benefited from a range of initiatives and investments to improve patient services.

Employing over 5,000 people, their main services are based in South East London. They have a number of key satellite units within their immediate vicinity and at other locations within the community they serve.

Seventy percent of their work is providing full hospital services to over 700,000 people in the South East London boroughs where they serve. These areas provide their own challenges associated with such a socially and economically diverse catchment area. As both health service provider and a major employer, our client is keen to play its part in the surrounding area and help reduce social and health inequalities. Their Primary Care Liaison Team has established a range of initiatives to improve communication between GPs and the Trust.

As a Foundation Trust they have a Board of Governors drawn from the local community and former patients, together with representatives from a range of stakeholder groups, who take an active role in helping them improve services. For example, a Trust working group investigated access to the hospital and have been lobbying Government for the retention of the strategically important local rail link to the hospital and to make the station more accessible to the disabled.

In addition to providing local hospital services, the Trust also provides very strong tertiary care services. The high level of national and international referrals attest to their high reputation for liver disease and transplantation, neurosciences, cardiology, haemato-oncology and foetal medicine – both as providers of medical services and also as the forerunners in research.

• In 2003 the Trust made headlines when the liver team performed the first successful healthy liver cell transplant on a baby (which can remove the need for a liver transplant).
• In 2004 – Richard Lane became the first UK diabetes patient to achieve insulin independence following a series of three groundbreaking pancreas islet cell transplants. This is being supported by the establishment of a Cellular Therapy Unit at the Medical School.
• In 2006 – Cardiothoracic Consultant Surgeon, Mr Olaf Wendler, carried out a new surgical technique to close a rupture in a patient’s heart.
• In 2007, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Mr Christos Tolias achieved a UK first in successfully performing non-occlusive bypasses on the brains of four patients (rerouting and maintaining the blood supply to the brain by using a graft vein, usually taken from the leg).

In addition, the Trust has been involved in the following national initiatives:
• Standards for Better Health (2004)
• National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death
• Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health.
• The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
• In 2005, the Government named The Trust’s Day Surgery as one of five NHS Centres for Innovation and Training (CITEC) in the UK.
• They pioneered a new approach for patients suffering ‘out-of-hospital’ heart attacks whereby patients are treated directly by the Trusts specialist cardiac centre rather than the local A&E.

Teaching

The Trust, together with the local School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Institute of Psychiatry, and London South Bank University has become a centre of research and development, as well as training the next generation of Doctors, Dentists, Nurses and Allied Health Professionals.

The School of Medicine and Dentistry along with the Trust undertakes a range of research studies across all clinical specialties e.g. in the field of aortic aneurysms, coronary artery bypass grafts, Sickle cell and Thalassaemia, maternal deaths, stillbirths, and deaths in infancy, and the results of these studies are regularly published. There is also research into the effect of complementary medicine and therapies in areas such as Neurosciences, and with the development of the trust’s professorial day case unit the trust has been nationally designated as a ‘Centre for Innovation and Teaching in Elective Care’.

There is a steady increase in the completion of clinical research studies by nurses, midwives, and allied heath professionals, and also of management and leadership research studies by management staff. These studies are presented at national conferences and also feature in the Trust’s Research and Publications Digest, which is produced bi-annually.

PLANS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Recent new development includes:
• a new Outpatients’ Department and treatment areas
• new wards for medical and neurology patients
• increased bed numbers and flexibility
• the refurbishment of an existing Wing, which has accommodated medical and neurosciences wards and neuro-imaging, enabling former services at one hospital to transfer to another

Other recently approved developments include the building of two new wards and two additional theatres, to enable the Trust to deliver additional activity, and agreement by the Trust to create a new £25 million research laboratory building on the campus.

In recent years, major redevelopment and building programmes have taken place on one of the Trust’s sites and their Day Surgery Centre has become one of the largest units in the country, increasing its theatre capacity from four theatres to seven. Two theatres are dedicated to orthopaedic and laparoscopic work. Over 60% of surgical services are now provided on a day care basis which is well above the Department of Health target and is indicative of the willingness of clinicians to be at the forefront of service developments which focus on improved patient care.

STAFFING

An integral part of the delivery of excellent healthcare is the employment, development and motivation of staff. Our client holds an impressively low staff vacancy and turnover rate and has developed many initiatives to improve the working lives of all involved in the Trust. Four key initiatives under the four headings of partnership working, flexible working, supporting staff and career and personal development have been established. Initiates undertaken include:
• A scheme, which offers a range of flexible working options to suit individual circumstances.
• ‘Investors in People’ accreditation
• Three workplace nurseries
• A large range of development programmes for all staff, including mentoring, coaching, tutor-led, hands on, open and e-learning with many programmes leading to qualifications.

Our client has been heavily involved in the ‘Improving Working Lives’ (IWL) scheme and achieved IWL ‘Practice Plus’ well ahead of deadline. In the areas assessed, the Trust achieved an impressing 96% overall score and they are now working towards the next standard to become a ‘Model Employer’.

They provide services in an open and non-discriminatory way, aiming to ensure equality of access to care for patients and equality of opportunity for their workforce. They are fully committed to promoting equality in the way they provide they services and manage they staff, on the grounds of race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion and age. Their Equality Scheme outlines their arrangements for integrating equality into business planning processes

Job Details
Due to annual growth of this Trust and expansion, our client is currently looking to recruit enthusiastic and motivated HDU nurses to work in their Neurosciences department and will be interviewing over the next few weeks.

The regional Neuroscience services serve a population of 3.8 million and have an international reputation for motor neurone disease, movement and neuromuscular disorder and epilepsy surgery. Providing a wide range of expert clinical services for both regional and local patients, the service is continually expanding and developing offering new and exciting career options for nursing. This strong clinical speciality, combined with a nursing team committed to high clinical standards and a supportive environment, makes this Trust a compelling career option for ambitious neuroscience nurses.

The unit comprises of:

• Neurosurgery
• Neurology with integrated Telemetry unit
• High Dependency Unit - 12 beds

Patients are admitted to Neuro HDU with a variety of conditions for major surgery or with head injuries. You will be nursing achnoid haemorrhages, high cervical lesions and lower lumbar lesions as well as critically ill neurological patients.

As a band 5 nurse you will focus on the delivery of a high standard of clinical care and the further development of both clinical and managerial skills. They are looking for motivated individuals with previous experience within an acute or critical care setting. Neuroscience experience is desirable but not essential. You will possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills and a desire to learn.

In return they are able to offer the opportunity to work as part of a dynamic specialist nursing team in a modern working environment, with strong peer support and access to excellent educational opportunities, from both in-house studies to degree and masters programmes.

New members of staff:

As a new member of nursing staff you will have a compulsory five-day induction, organised by the trust to meet European Community Standards. The induction programme is open to all staff across the trust and will introduce you to the structure of the trust, and enable you to meet key people working within the Trust. Mandatory training such as Fire Regulation, Basic Life Support and Manual Handling will be included within this program. You will receive an orientation checklist that you need to complete during the first two weeks in your clinical area and a competency document you will need to complete during your time at this Trust.

When you start in your clinical area you will have a local induction. This induction will be organised over three to five days. It will give you the opportunity to be orientated to your new work environment, to meet the nurse specialists and visit other clinical areas such as neuro imaging and neuro theatres. You will be assigned a Mentor by your ward manager.

Qualifications
It is essential that you are a RN1 with a minimum of three years experience.

You will be registered with the NMC. No adaptation nurses need apply.

You will have HDU or some form of critical care experience, you must have experience of managing equipment

Neuro HDU experience is not essential but you must have an interest in Neuro Nursing

You will be competent and up-to-date in HDU practice

You must be willing to commit to at least 12-month open contract

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

It would be desirable that you have a post-registration specialist course or the overseas equivalent but not essential.

We can review candidates who require work permits, as you will qualify for one as ‘Critical Care Nursing’ is considered a skill shortage occupation.

Skills/Experience
• You will have at least 3 years experience
• You will have HDU or some form of critical care experience, you must have experience of managing equipment
• Neuro HDU experience is not essential but you must have an interest in Neuro Nursing
• You will be competent and up-to-date in HDU practice
• You will be good at problem solving
• You must be willing to commit to at least 12-month open contract
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

In addition:

• Interest to develop knowledge of the clinical speciality and own practice
• You will have a good basic level of English Language demonstrated through effective written and verbal communication skills
• Understanding of the NMC Code of Professional Conduct
• All staff are expected to take full responsibility for their own continual personal development
• Able to lead a team to achieve results
• Good interpersonal skills
• Teaching skills
• Able to prioritise and meet deadlines
• Able to manage difficult situations
• Organised time management
• Able to use initiative
• A willingness to participate in continuing professional development
• IT skills
• Awareness of audit & research
• Analytical skills
• Ability to work within a team and independently
• Flexible
• Smart appearance
• Able to work to pressure
• Punctual
• Enthusiastic
• Assertive and positive attitude
• Pleasant disposition
• Caring nature

Benefits
Competitive salaries at Band 5 or 6 levels with a high cost area supplement for working within London, a final salary pension scheme that’s among the best in the world, the ability to buy and sell annual leave throughout the year, flexible working and a modern smoke-free working environment. On-site nursery available, store discounts, complementary therapies clinic, a credit union scheme and staff clinics for physio and travel vaccinations. Hospital accommodation is available.

Key Points

Based: South East London
Salary: £23,344 - £30,210 pa
Contract: Permanent - Full Time
Start Date: Immediate

If you have the appropriate experience and find this opportunity of interest

then please give the Adevia UK team a call on 0870 033 0500
or 0208 400 6280
or register your details now

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