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Job Overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a dynamic, enthusiastic and motivated individual to join the Neurosurgery service and support the implementation of the regional Minor Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) pilot.
The successful post holder will play a pivotal role in delivering a virtual MTBI follow-up service in order to demonstrate patient safety, improved patient experience as well as financial and operational efficacy of the pilot.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will act as a healthcare professional within the Southwest Neurosurgery Operational Delivery Network (SW Neurosurgery ODN), assisting in the remote management of patients with minor head injury, alongside the on-call neurosurgical services for NBT and UHP and assist in the care provision alongside the Matron and Clinical Supervisors if and when required.
The postholder will provide clinical leadership for the neurosurgical telephone follow-up service, coordinating patient pathways and ensuring high standards of care. This will include the development of detailed guidance and Standard Operating Procedures to support the delivery of the service.
Working for our organisation
North Bristol NHS Trust employs over 12,000 staff providing healthcare to the residents of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset from our award-winning hospital building at Southmead. We are the regional Major Trauma Centre, and an internationally recognised centre of excellence in a range of services and major specialities. Our vision is that by enabling our teams to be the best that they can be, we will provide exceptional healthcare, personally delivered.
North Bristol NHS Trust values all people as individuals. We aim to be an anti-discriminatory organisation and are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We welcome applicants from all underrepresented groups.
Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities
Clinical Practice
- Run the MTBI virtual follow-up clinics. . These will be undertaken via telephone to the patient on two occasions, 24 hours and 5-7 days, post injury. The consultation will be structured to ensure appropriate safety netting at each point, and to allow the collection of data to support the pilot. Clinical concerns will be escalated to the on-call teams for the respective regions.
- Collect pre-agreed data to support continuous evaluation of the pilot & provide regular reports on the progress.
- Assess, plan, implement and evaluate individual treatment interventions within a set field of practice for patients by virtue of enhanced clinical judgement and close liaison with members of the MDT, Clinical Supervisors and the Matron.
- Use expertise and decision-making skills to inform clinical reasoning approaches when dealing with individual presentations and complex situations, synthesising information from multiple sources to make appropriate, evidence-based judgements and/or diagnoses.
- Initiate, evaluate, and modify a range of interventions.
- Provide specialist, clinical knowledge to colleagues, patients and carers/relatives.
- Exercise professional judgement to manage risk appropriately, especially where there may be complex and unpredictable events and supporting teams to do likewise to ensure safety of individuals, families, and carers.
- Ensure compliance with their respective code of professional conduct and work within their scope of practice.
- Work in conjunction with the MDT to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care.
- Work in partnership with individuals, families, and carers, using a range of assessment methods as appropriate.
- Be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of their broadened level of responsibility and autonomy. This includes being critically aware of their limits of their own competence and professional scope of practice, including when working with complexity, risk, uncertainty, and incomplete information.
- Be responsible and accountable for their decisions, actions, and omissions at this enhanced level of practice.
- Utilise professional judgement and maturity, understanding when to seek help.
- Demonstrate critical reflection on own practice, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and openness to change.
- Demonstrate effective communication skills, supporting people in making decisions, planning care, or seeking to make positive changes, using Health Education England’s framework to promote person-centred approaches in health and care.
- Work collaboratively with an appropriate range of multi-agency and inter-professional resources, developing, maintaining, and evaluating links to manage risk and issues across organisations and settings.
- Evidence the underpinning subject-specific competencies i.e. knowledge, skills and behaviours relevant to the role setting and scope, and demonstrate application of the capabilities to these, in an approach that is appropriate to the individual role, setting and scope.
- Act as a clinical advocate for developing and delivering care that is responsive to changing requirements, informed by an understanding of local population health needs, agencies, and networks.
Leadership and Management
- The postholder will provide clinical leadership for the neurosurgical telephone follow-up service, coordinating patient pathways and ensuring high standards of care. This will include the development of detailed guidance and Standard Operating Procedures to support the delivery of the service.
- Lead on the development, delivery, and audit of the initiative over the 12 month pilot and the service improvement initiatives borne out by learning in the pilot.
- Act as an advocate for the service, attending regional Emergency Department, Trauma, and Medical teaching sessions to advertise the service and educate referrers.
- The postholder will act as the role model the trust values, demonstrating a person-centred approach to service delivery and development.
- Work as the enhanced practitioner by sharing knowledge and information and supporting colleagues to promote a cohesive team and the achievement of objectives for the service.
- Support on the promotion of the Trust’s neurosurgery service across the organisation and to other NHS/health organisations or regulating bodies.
- Apply enhanced clinical expertise to influence clinical practice to enhance quality, reduce unwarranted variation and promote the sharing and adoption of best practice.
- Evaluate their own practice, and participate in multi-disciplinary service and team evaluation, demonstrating the impact of enhanced clinical practice on service function, effectiveness, and quality.
- Continually develop practice in response to changing population health need, engaging in horizon scanning for future developments.
- Pro-actively initiate and develop effective relationships, fostering clarity of roles within teams, to encourage productive working.
- Actively engage in peer review to inform own and other’s practice, formulating and implementing strategies to act on learning and make improvements.
- Actively seek feedback and involvement from individuals, families, carers, communities, and colleagues in the co-production of service improvements.
- Demonstrate resilience, and determination, managing situations that are unfamiliar, complex, or unpredictable and seeking to build confidence in others.
- Demonstrate receptiveness to challenge and preparedness to constructively challenge others, escalating concerns that affect individuals’, families’, carers’, communities’ and colleagues’ safety and well-being when necessary.
- Negotiate an individual scope of practice within legal, ethical, professional, and organisational policies, governance, and procedures, with a focus on managing risk and upholding safety, utilising a shared portfolio of evidence and appraisal.
- Discuss patient and relatives' experiences with them to prevent complaints from developing and to assist the management team in investigating and responding to complaints when they arise.
Education
- Develop a culture of organisational learning to inspire future and existing staff.
- Engage in self-directed learning, critically reflecting to maximise clinical skills and knowledge, as well as own potential to lead and develop both care and services.
- Critically assess and address own learning needs, negotiating a personal development plan that reflects the breadth of ongoing professional development across the four pillars of practice.
- Facilitate collaboration of the wider team and support peer review processes to identify individual and team learning.
- Support on the development of evidence-based programmes of education and care of patient within neurosurgery specialty.
- Supporting the wider team to build capacity and capability through work-based and inter- professional learning, and the application of learning to practice.
- Engage with, appraise, and respond to individuals’ motivation, development stage and capacity, working collaboratively to support health literacy and empower individuals to participate in decisions about their care and to maximise their health and well-being.
Research
- Act as a role model within the clinical area and the team as a research empowered practitioner.
- Actively seek opportunities to undertake research and present work performed in the neurosurgery department at a local, national or international level.
- Critically engage in research activity, adhering to good research practice guidance (Completing relevant good clinical practice (GCP) training if involved in national research), so that evidence-based strategies are developed and applied to enhance quality, safety, productivity, and value for money.
- Empower patients and colleagues to participate in NIHR / national research projects.
- Develop a ‘knowledge rich enquiry culture’ where research values are promoted and encouraged.
- Evaluate and audit own and others’ clinical practice, selecting and applying valid, reliable methods, then acting on the findings.
- Facilitate collaborative links between clinical practice and research through proactive engagement, networking with academic, clinical, and other active researchers.
- Disseminate best practice research findings and quality improvement projects.
- Be involved in local audit and support other practitioners in developing quality improvement projects.
- Publish work through established channels and present at local regional, national and or international conferences as appropriate.
Person specification
Education / Training / Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Active Professional Registered Qualification with a Professional body e.g., NMC, HCPC
- Proven leadership experience
- Evidence of ongoing professional development through maintenance of professional portfolio and registration revalidation.
Desirable criteria
- Working towards Post registration qualifications/CPD in area of practice
Work experience
Essential criteria
- Interest and understanding of neurosurgery as a specialty
- Involved in planning and supporting improvement and transformation, achieving cultural change to improve service quality
- Experience of implementing local/specialist objectives
- Experience in foundational leadership and willingness to enact change management
- Excellent organisation and leadership skills
- Ability to act independently, resolve complex clinical situations and have good decision-making skills
- Experience of management of the neurosurgery patients
- Experience of involvement in research and audit at a local level within current or previous roles.
- Ability to interpret and apply best practice and promote its use with others
- A sound understanding of professional priorities and issues
Leadership
Essential criteria
- Demonstrates ability to question and challenge practice in a constructive way so that standards of patient and staff care, health and wellbeing are continually evaluated and improved, including effective communication with patients and colleagues.
- Professional approach to work and instil confidence
- Involved in supporting/management of support roles/students
- Able to work within a team or independently
- Able to be flexible within the role and prioritise the needs of the service
- Able to demonstrate behaviours consistent with the Trust values
If you apply for this vacancy and have not received a communication from North Bristol NHS Trust within three weeks of the closing date, please assume that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful.
Please note that North Bristol NHS Trust does not reimburse travel expenses relating to interview attendance.
If you feel you meet the requirements of the Disability Act / Two Ticks scheme and require further support/advice, please contact us on tel 0117 414 1151.
North Bristol NHS Trust are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
The successful applicant(s) will normally commence at the minimum of the scale unless they have previous NHS service at the same band. Progression through the scale is by annual increments.
At North Bristol Trust (NBT), we know diverse and inclusive environments lead to happier and healthier teams and improved patient care and outcomes. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are currently underrepresented in NBT’s workforce at Band 8a and above. These include people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people and LGBTQIA+ people.
Please note that stringent pre-employment checks are undertaken on all successful applicants prior to commencement in post.
