Paediatric Epilepsy Specialist Nurse

Job overview

Working at a clinical and leadership level to coordinate delivery of patient care and deliver on KPIs, within the aims of the role and wider Epilepsy Specialist Nurse Pilot.

Main duties of the job

The purpose of this role is to work within the system footprint, based within at one of the Acute Secondary Care Providers, namely Buckinghamshire NHS Trust, Oxford University Hospitals, or Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. The role will support the provision of care for CYP with Epilepsy, including supporting CYP and families in areas of deprivation to ensure equality in access to services and improve patient outcomes.

The objective of the funding is to demonstrate the value of Epilepsy Specialist Nurses (ESNs) working across a system and across traditional healthcare-setting boundaries. We will ideally be looking to particularly work with, and improve outcomes for, those from areas of higher deprivation or with additional needs such as medical complexity, learning disability and autism, or transitioning to adult care.

The successful candidate will be expected to work as an integrated member of the Clinical Epilepsy Team and demonstrate advanced clinical skills and deliver the KPIs, within the aims of the role and wider pilot.

The role will be supported by the Band 8 Lead Epilepsy Specialist Nurse who will provide clinical leadership and support across the nursing team, to ensure the delivery of safe and effective care to children and young people with epilepsy within the BOB ICB System.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Project Management

• Work with the Band 8a lead epilepsy nurse and wider colleagues to identify where there are gaps in existing service and plan accordingly to ensure the new nursing team is allocated in the best possible way, taking into account limited resource, specific needs such as transition, learning disability and autism, medical complexity and the impact of deprivation on access to appropriate care.
• Provide support to ensure the delivery of safe and effective care to children and young people with epilepsy within BOB ICB.
• To work autonomously to instruct and coordinate delivery of patient care and KPIs, within the aims of the role and wider pilot.
• Act as a recognised expert in the field of epilepsy nursing and provide professional leadership in all areas of practice in supporting colleagues to promote excellence in care.
• To work collaboratively and compassionately across all disciplines across the acute and community settings including community services.
• To exercise a high degree of personal and professional autonomy, making critical judgements and decisions to meet the expectations and demands of this role in conjunction with the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT).
• Contribute to performance improvement, taking a lead for identified areas where agreed.
• Provide coordination of and participate in relevant internal and external working groups and provide project advice, expertise and support where requested
• Provide relevant and timely specialist advice and guidance on own portfolio of projects/function
• Work with members of the Team to investigate the causes of any variance from target/plan and proactively contribute to the implementation of solutions.
• Management of a risk and issues tracking mechanism and its proactive resolution and escalation processes.

3.2      Financial and Physical Resources

• This post does not have direct budgetary responsibilities, The post holder will support local, regional and national targets at all times with clinical care being their prime responsibility.
• Provide regular reporting on the targeting of resources and monitoring their implementation from a value for money perspective.

3.3      Staff Management

• This post does not have any direct line management responsibilities.
• Take a lead in the coordination of training, development and recruitment activity across the Team, including support and administrative staff and allied health professionals.
• Contribute to training for nurses, doctors and other health professionals and support workers in the care of children and young people with epilepsy at a local level.

3.4      Information Management

• Devise and provide improvements to current management information, analysing, reporting and suggesting procedures to enhance decision making processes.
• Ensure timely and accurate information analysis and reporting to management on agreed areas of work, including submissions of KPI progress versus target to the BOB ICB – Long Term Conditions Integrated Epilepsy Delivery Network and the Band 8a Lead Epilepsy Specialist Nurse.

3.5      Research and Development

• Contribute to the development of and provide regular reporting of the key performance indicators identified, for the successful assessment of individual and workstream success
• Delegate aspects of Research and Development activities, collating information, analysing and reporting findings.

4.        Operational Responsibilities

4.1      Planning and Organisation

• In joint collaboration with Band 8a lead epilepsy nurse and the BOB ICB CYP LTC Delivery Network Manager and the CYP LTC’s Clinical Lead, oversee the strategic development of the paediatric epilepsy service within the nominated acute provider, whilst providing consistency across the BOB ICB footprint.
• Coordinate, plan, deliver and manage the healthcare needs of the patients being reviewed by the team.
• Plan, implement and evaluate new and existing policies in children’s epilepsy and service delivery in line with local and national guidance.
• Support effective patient flow throughout the development of affective pathways, supporting Trust management teams with on-going clinical care provision.
• Contribute to the strategic planning of Team projects, identifying interdependencies across projects/functions, potential impacts on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary.
• Contribute to short, medium and long term business plans, achieving quality outcomes. 4.2 Policy and Service Development
• To undertake and coordinate evidence-based audit (i.e. Epilepsy12) and research projects to ensure best practice and aid service development.  Disseminate the findings at a local and regional level. Lead the implementation of specific changes to practice or service protocols.
• To evolve the role, proposing and negotiating extensions of practice beyond traditional scope and boundaries to meet the needs of service users in line with NHSE, and across BOB ICB’s strategic approach and business plans.
• Contribute to the review and development of existing information management systems and contribute to the development of an integrated approach to, service or initiative management.
• Develop policies and procedures in own work function with an impact on the wider organisation, as required.