Service Lead for Health Visiting and School Nursing

Women & Children’s Services

Job Information

Working together for the Isle of Man

Isle of Man Public Service Careers

Job Description

Job Title: Service Lead - Health Visiting and School Nursing

Band: 8a

Division: Community

Job Evaluation Reference No: 0902v5/JE/16

Responsible to: Care Group Manager- Integrated Women, Children

and Families

Responsible for: Direct line management for Health Visiting and

School Nursing Nurses

Overview

The Service Lead will actively contribute and assist the Care Group Manager with the delivery of the

strategic direction of the Directorate through the effective operational management and oversight

of the Health Visiting and School Nursing Services. The Service Lead will provide professional clinical

leadership and advice for staff and oversee projects undertaken. The post holder will work closely

with the Care Group Manager and Matron to drive forward seamless and integrated services across

the Care Group.

CARE

In the DHSC we pride ourselves on being committed, appreciative, respectful and excellent. CARE

represents what we are about, what we stand for and what we value. All our recruitment,

performance management and development is based on our CARE ethos.

Job Purpose

The post holder supports the smooth running of the Health Visiting and School Nursing Service and is central to patient care delivery, monitoring and evaluation. To act as a highly visible, accessible, autonomous and authoritative person to whom clients, carers, visitors and multi -disciplines can call upon for advice, assistance and support in the decision making process. To be the first point of contact for operational issues. Provides a leadership role within the organisation ensuring all standards of health visiting and school nursing practice are met in line with policies procedures and guidelines.

Directly manages health visitor and school / nurse team leaders within the Service encouraging life-long learning, practice/service development and a culture of enablement to meet the needs of the service users. To utilise human resources within the teams on a daily basis.

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Duties and Responsibilities

The main duties and responsibilities of the role are;

Manages staff directly and indirectly on a daily basis Service–wide. Has autonomy and authority to act as the day to day operational manager for the Service ensuring

staff skill mix and deployment takes place as required to ensure safe staffing levels. Participates in and contributes to the planning and development of the service and in the wider

community e.g. the development of an integrated, multiagency team. Takes lead responsibility for infection control issues within the Service, working closely with the

Infection Control Team and within current guidelines and policies to ensure robust audit, action planning and change management to minimise risk of infection and to strengthen measures to prevent / control spread of infection.

Leads on developments and monitors the Service’s progress in achieving the relevant aspects of the Strategy for Community Nursing and appropriate National Service Framework documents, in conjunction with other designated lead persons.

Contributes to the strategic planning, compilation and implementation of the Service’s Business Plan

Leads by example motivates and empowers others and promotes positive attitudes, mutual understanding and collaboration between services involved in the care process on a daily basis.

Provides a highly visible senior practitioner presence, to provide professional role modelling and other opportunities for professional development of junior staff on a daily basis.

Is a visible, accessible and authoritative presence in clinical areas providing advice, assistance and support to multi-disciplinary teams, patients, relatives, carers and visitors on a daily basis.

Leads and participates in specific professional and service developments within the Service and across the organisation on a regular basis e.g. Observations of Care, clinical audits.

Regularly contributes to clinical policy and clinical governance functions, working collaboratively with other Service Managers, Matron for Women, Children and Families, Clinical Leads, Lead Nurses, Service Users, and multi-disciplinary teams.

Leads and instigates benchmarking activity and regularly participates in relevant clinical audit / surveys.

Regularly ensures integrated working between internal and external agencies Undertakes investigations and sits on disciplinary panels.

Organisational Structure

A copy of the organisational structure and its relevance to this role is shown below.

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Communication and Relationship Skills

The communication and relationship skill requirements of this role are:

Initiates and develops local, national and international networks to ensure effective standards

of care

Supports and provides professional advice to areas of health and social care outside of own

service, e.g. Children’s Centre, Hospice, Children’s Ward.

Provides professional advice and Clinical Supervision for staff as and when required.

Communicates in a manner that is consistent with relevant legislation, policies and

procedures.

Recognises and reflects on barriers to effective communication and modifies communication

in response.

Provide and receive sensitive and confidential information by telephone, written,

electronically and verbally from all healthcare professionals regarding patient care.

Expected to utilise effective verbal and non-verbal communication and interpersonal skills

with patients / carers / relatives / visitors and healthcare professionals with internal

departments and external agencies, e.g. Volunteer service Manager, Red Cross, UK placement

students and establishments.

Expected to utilise effective verbal and non-verbal communication and interpersonal skills

with patients / carers / relatives / visitors who may be potentially distressed / angry /

confrontational.

Maintain effective two way communication with patients / relatives / carers and other

members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure that appropriate information is shared and

patient needs are met.

Communicates with all stakeholders using a full array of methods which includes verbal,

written, report writing, formal presentations.

Identifies and acts on barriers to communication by, consistently evaluating own approach to

communication using reflection and enabling all who one interfaces with to provide feedback.

e.g. through 360 degree feedback.

Care Group Manager

Health Visitors School Nurses Registered Nurses Nursery Nurses

Service Lead - This Post

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Improving communication through evaluation of the culture, the environment as well as the

giving of feedback

Promotes culture to develop where communication is honest, open and direct and the giving

and receiving of feedback is encouraged by all.

Contributes to the development of collegiate working relationships and partnerships to

provide a seamless service for acute and post-acute care provision.

Knowledge, training and experience required to do the job

The essential knowledge, training and experience requirements of this role are:

Registered Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (Health Visitor or School Nurse) on

Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) Register

Masters Degree in relevant area or willingness to work towards

Significant post registration experience

Relevant experience in nursing management post

Relevant teaching and assessing qualification

Professional knowledge acquired through first level degree, supplemented by training or

experience

Proven track record and qualification of effective leadership skills

Able to formulate and manage staff development plans

Able to make changes to clinical practices

Able to positively contribute to the Business Planning process and service development plans

Able to lead health visiting and nursing issues and developments

Able to set standards, monitor performance and enable staff to achieve high levels of

professional performance

Evidence of decision making and influencing in a multi-professional environment.

Experience in planning, writing and implementing complex policies in a multi-professional

environment and implementation of same.

Able to demonstrate detailed and coherent report writing.

Able to provide leadership within own profession and beyond

Proven track record of managing staff and resources effectively

Intermediate IT skills, e.g. report writing, use of EMIS patient record system, email system,

word

Clinical Supervisor to staff within the Department.

Analytical and Judgement Skills

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The analytical and judgement skill requirements of this role are:

Monitors systems to minimise all risks associated with the delivery of patient care with

particular reference to Clinical Risk Management and any relevant Health and Safety

legislation.

Regularly monitors standards and assists in operational management of service delivery to

ensure they are in accordance with Clinical Governance Strategy through, for example

undertaking audit or critical incident investigations

Monitors and acts upon Untoward Incidents and complaints in accordance with Hospital risk

management strategy and statutory requirements, implementing action plans and taking

corrective action as appropriate. On a monthly basis writes a report to act as a learning tool

for all staff disciplines within the Directorate.

Arbitrates to solve problems as required on a daily basis.

Ensures structures are in place to safeguard the safety of patients, carers, self, other staff and

the public by maintaining a safe environment

In conjunction with team leaders ensure documentation is appropriate, accountable and

defensible in line with NMC guidelines and local policy etc.

Deals with complex facts or situations requiring analysis, interpretation and comparison of a

range of options to enable choice of best solutions on a daily basis, making clinical and

professional autonomous decisions.

Utilises own and others skills for analysis of service, patient, organisational and staffing issues

and makes decisions on that analysis

In conjunction and liaison with other staff has the discretion to make decisions regarding

patient care within clinical/professional guidelines and as part of multi-disciplinary team

Planning & Organisational Skills

The planning and organisation skill requirements of this role are:

Is involved in nursing capability / disciplinary and grievance investigations and procedures

Attends relevant meetings, courses, seminars and keep professionally up to date e.g.

Professional Development Forum, Multi-Professional and National Conferences.

Develops the nursing structure to meet professional, local and national directives

Actively participates in team building and peer group support

Independently and in conjunction with the Care Group Manager, matron and senior nurses in

the care group, plans and organises complex activities according to daily demands and

identified future requirements for the Service.

Participates in and contributes to the planning and development of nursing services, including

the review of team establishments, grade mix and skill mix

Is actively involved in the recruitment, selection and interviewing process for staff

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Initiates and supports the development of quality improvements in the nursing service,

consulting with service users, their carers and staff

Uses sound organisational, time management, facilitation, negotiation and delegation skills.

Has responsibility to review and change plans as required e.g. short term in relation to staffing

issues, long term in relation to service development.

Leads workshops and chairs meetings e.g. staff meetings.

Contributes to training events and make presentations as required.

Physical Skills

The physical skill requirements of this role are:

Applies current up to date knowledge to clinical practice and maintains clinical skills required

in area of expertise.

Patient/Client Care

The patient/client care requirements of this role are:

Acts as advisor, and professional role model in respect of patient care, using shared experiences, evidence based practice to own and other disciplines to provide clinical support within teams.

Collaborates with patients, carers and staff to provide care reflective of patient’s individual needs

Monitors Service clinical practice to ensure it is in line with best practice / Marsden Manual / hospital policies

Promotes, facilitates and delivers supervision in clinical practice / action learning / open forums

Ensures Health and Safety requirements are adhered to, especially risk management strategies

Ensures the delivery of patient care is subject to regular and systematic review, setting and monitoring standards with particular reference to patient care documentation, individualised patient care and the national benchmarking programmes, quality of food, standards of cleanliness within and out with the Service.

Assists in the implementation of recognised clinical standards e.g. NICE Guidance, NSF, etc.

Policy and Service Development

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The policy and service development requirements of this role are:

Ensures adherence to Clinical Governance strategy by developing and maintaining evidence

based policies/guidelines/standards that are regularly audited and initiate appropriate

changes in practice

Has systems in place to recognise stress in self and staff and take appropriate action, e.g. IPR,

clinical supervision and action learning

Responsible for implementing policies and procedures that impact across all areas of children,

women and families. (For example: Community Nursing P&P’s, Safeguarding, Public Health)

The post holder will provide clinical governance and evidence that P&P are being adhered too

through patient safety walks, audit, patient experiences, complaints, data analysis,

dashboards, policies are government wide and will impact across the organisation.

Financial and Physical Resources

The financial and physical resource requirements of this role are:

Is a source of support for all staff utilising the community equipment.

In conjunction with team leaders leads in evaluation, training and development of staff in

relation to all equipment (current and new)

The post holder is responsible for signing off invoices/orders/timesheets up to £5000

Human Resources

The Human resource requirements of this role are:

Facilitates in the professional development and performance management of health visiting and school nursing team leaders in conjunction with regular IPR.

Contributes to the professional development of clinical staff. Works within the NMC Code of Conduct, ensuring own registration is maintained

Regular provision of advice and training to staff at all levels of the organisation. This may include informal on a daily basis or formal teaching sessions.

Participates in teaching of nursing/medical and Allied Healthcare Professionals (AHP) as appropriate e.g. Professional Development Forum and Service-initiated sessions.

Contributes to the Service nursing education and training provision, assisting team leaders to undertake an annual training needs analysis.

Strategic: In conjunction with the Care Group Manager:- Contributes toward the service strategy, assisting in short, medium and long term goals and

utilises business planning to plan the future for the service Plans strategies which impact across the service Contributes to the development of high level organisational policies

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Operational: Develops maintains and ensures compliance with policies, procedures and guidelines with

regular review, audit and evaluation, acting on findings to support staff to improve performance.

Initiates investigation of disciplinary matters, incidents and complaints in accordance with DHSC policy

Effective use of negotiation skills when dealing with conflict.

Leadership: Provides professional lead to nurses working across the service Leads and co-ordinates the development of clinical excellence in nursing Leads on specific professional and service development in line with good practice, NSF’s,

Transforming Care Standards and other national guidance as endorsed by the Director of Community Nursing.

Promotes service user and carer involvement In conjunction with team leaders, leads health visiting and school nursing Kneale, Matthew

(OHR) teams in the management of change

In conjunction with team leaders has responsibility for ensuring that health visiting and school

nursing staff attend mandatory training

Information Resources

The information resource requirements of this role are:

Assists in maintenance of training records and monitoring effectiveness of training

Keeps records of events in relation to operational decisions made during each working day.

Keeps contemporaneous records in relation to patient-related activity maintaining

confidentiality and working within relevant legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures.

Keeps records relevant to health and safety in relation to patient care, staff safety and

personal documentation within recognised policies.

Develops systems to ensure good communication and team effectiveness throughout the

Directorate.

In conjunction with managers develop and monitor systems to ensure adherence of

competency based training programmes that ensure all equipment is safely used and

maintained

Contributes to the preparation and collation of data, as required, and the preparation of

reports to utilise this data

Intermediate IT skills, e.g. report writing, email system and word

Research and Development

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The research and development requirements of this role are:

Contributes to creating an environment where research, quality and clinical audit are valued

by staff.

Consults current research regarding clinical practice and management and assesses

implications for Service, e.g. IPR, S/HCA Tasks.

Initiates, facilitates and carries out clinical audit, including multi–professional, ensuring that

any remedial action is agreed and taken where necessary

Freedom to Act

The freedom to act requirements of this role are:

Works autonomously to promote good practice within own sphere of nursing

Promotes and works within all relevant guidelines / codes for clinical practice recommended

by the NMC e.g. conduct and scope of practice

Remains clinically competent and credible, acting as an expert clinical resource for nursing,

medical and AHP staff

Works across professional boundaries, acting as a professional role model to all staff

Is clinically and professionally expected to make autonomous decisions on a daily basis,

including provision of advice to junior staff in clinical decision making, multi- disciplinary team

(including medical staff)

Confidentiality

In the course of your duties you may have access to confidential material about patients, members of staff or other business of the Department. On no account must information relating to identifiable patients be divulged to anyone other than authorised persons, for example, medical, nursing or other professional staff, as appropriate, who are concerned directly with the care, diagnosis and /or treatment of the patient. If you are in any doubt whatsoever as to the authority of a person or body asking for information of this nature, you must seek advice from your manager. Similarly, no information of a personal or confidential nature concerning individual members of staff should be divulged to anyone without the proper authority having first been given. Failure to observe these rules will be regarded by your employers as gross misconduct which could result in disciplinary action being taken against you. In the case of information held on computer systems, you may be held personally liable if you in any way knowingly contravene the appropriate terms of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Health & Safety

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It is the duty of all employees to work in such a way that accidents to themselves and to others

are avoided, and to co-operate in maintaining their place of work in a tidy and safe condition,

thereby minimising risk. Employees will, therefore, refer any matters of concern through their

respective line managers. Similarly, it is each person’s responsibility to ensure a secure

environment and bring any breaches of security to the attention of their managers.

In the absence of Manager/ Deputy Manager, the Registered Nurse is responsible for all patients, staff, allied health professionals, the building and all safety protocols.

Safeguarding

The Isle of Man is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young

people and adults at risk and expects staff to share this commitment.

Staff must work in accordance with all health and social care policies relating to safeguarding.

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Job Description Appendix 1

Physical, mental and emotional demands of the job and working conditions

Physical Effort

Combination of sitting / standing / driving and walking on a daily basis, regular attendance and re-attendance at one of 20 community bases on a daily basis.

Daily frequent repetitive movements when using keyboard

Mental Effort

Frequent prolonged and intense concentration work pattern unpredictable on a daily basis. Concentration required daily for: Attendance and participation at meetings on a daily basis. Carries mobile phone at all times whilst on duty, primarily for staff access. Very frequent unpredictable work interruptions to deal with service issues on a daily basis.

Emotional Effort

Daily indirect and occasional direct exposure to sensitive and distressing information relating to child abuse and domestic violence.

Often deals with highly emotional situations with patients / relatives / carers / staff / members of the public at least three times weekly, e.g. child protection supervision, patient complaints

Deals with staff issues frequently on a daily basis. Investigates and deals with untoward incidents on a daily basis, complaints, disciplinary and

grievance procedures as required. Supports staff through upsetting professional and personal events at least weekly. Working with groups of colleagues who may have conflicting ideas, agendas and ways of

working.

Working Conditions

Shared accommodation Occasional exposure to unpleasant verbal aggression from service users in the child protection

arena. Occasional working in patient environments, e.g. home visits and child health clinics – contact

with urine, faeces, vomit. Potential exposure to verbal aggression. Works 9-5 Monday – Friday or other hours via negotiation with Care Group Manager Exposures to VDU screen regularly each shift.

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Agreement of above description

I have read and agree with the above description

Job Holder’s Name (please print) Date:

Job Holder’s Signature

Line Manager’s Name (please print)

Date:

Line Manager’s Signature

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Job Title: Service Lead Health Visiting and School Nursing

Department: Health and Social Care

Division: Community

Band: 8a

Attributes

Essential (E) or

Desirable (D)

Method of

Assessment

Qualifications Registered (SCPHN) Health Visiting/School

Nurse Relevant teaching and assessing

qualification Masters Degree or willingness to work

towards Relevant leadership programme/

course/management level 4

E

E

E

D

CV

Pre-Employment

Checks

Interview

Experience Significant Post Reg. experience Competent and credible within sphere of

practice Significant experience in management post Competent in all aspects of practice relating

to safeguarding children Evidence of continuous professional

development Experience in management of change Demonstrate a sound understanding of the

roles and functions of statutory and voluntary bodies

Evidence of ongoing personal and professional development

E E

E E

E

E E

E

CV

Interview

Person Specification

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Experience of co-working and working across agency and organisation boundaries

Experience of formulating policies based on research and evidence.

Track record of involving and maintaining staff to improve performance.

Experience in complaints management Experience in business management Experience in work force planning Experience in leading Research and

Development

E

E

D

D D D D

Attributes Effective leadership skills Ability to critically analyse research and

apply findings Ability to contribute to strategic and

Business Plans Skills for analysis of service, patient, organisational and staffing issues

Evidence of facilitation skills Effective Presentation skills Report Writing Evidence of risk management activities Experience of working with budgets Intermediate IT skills i.e. Report writing, E-

mail systems, word. Sound organisational, time management,

facilitation and delegation skills. Able to demonstrate a high level of personal

autonomy and accountability Ability to lead and build personal and

professional credibility at all levels of the organisation Demonstrate outstanding verbal, written

and presentation skills, networking, analytical

and negotiation skills Ability to critically appraise research

evidence and use when formulating policy Evidence of managing high risk situations

effectively Ability to effectively work across disciplines and agencies at all levels

Strong leadership skills including the ability to influence, negotiate, provide clarity and make difficult decisions

E E

E

E E E E E E

E

E

E

E E

E

E

E

E

CV

Interview

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Expert in interagency partnership working E

CARE Enthusiastic, cheerful and highly motivated

Positive professional role model for staff

Honest

Open minded, treats colleagues with dignity and respect Capacity to work with clinicians and staff at all levels Exemplary personal standards and behaviour. Inspires others and leads by example

Ability to create a high level of confidence in self Able to create a supportive learning environment for safeguarding team members

Ability to resolve conflict Ability to work under pressure to meet

deadlines Confident and flexible approach to work Ability to manage a complex and diverse

workload

E E E E

E

E E

E E

Assessment Centre

Interview

Circumstances and Interests Clear understanding of professional

accountability Understanding of patient safety clinical

governance Ability to undertake risk assessment, critical incidence analysis and implement action plans

Evidence of enabling staff to achieve quality assurance within their daily activity

Full valid driving licence and access to own vehicle

Satisfactory Police Check Isle of Man Worker

E

E

E

E

E D

Application

Interview

Pre-employment

Checks