Nurse Consultant for Frailty
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Job overview
Are you a dynamic and forward-thinking senior nurse leader with a passion for frailty care?
As our Nurse Consultant for Frailty, you will provide expert, autonomous clinical care to adults living with complex needs and frailty across Southport Hospital and the surrounding communities of Sefton, Formby, Ormskirk, and Southport.
What you’ll be doing:
- Leading and developing frailty focused Virtual Wards and supporting MDTs across acute and community provision.
- Providing expert clinical assessment, treatment planning, and care co-ordination for adults over 18 with complex and frailty related conditions
- Acting as a senior decision maker within the clinical team, supporting safe admission avoidance and effective hospital discharge pathways
- Driving quality improvement, clinical audit, research and service evaluation aligned to national best practice
- Acting as a visible role model, mentor, and leader within the frailty workforce
This is an exciting time to join MWL Trust as we transform how we deliver care for adults living with frailty. You will have the unique opportunity to shape new models of care across traditional boundaries, working collaboratively with system partners to keep patients well, independent, and out of hospital wherever possible.
Please note this recruitment process will involve an interview and a clinical assessment task, to be held 27.5.25/28.5.25 subject to change.
Main duties of the job
The Nurse Consultant will independently provide direct and indirect clinical care to patients. This will be for an unselected group of patients over the age of 18, but predominantly with complex conditions and frailty. The nurse consultant will provide care in all areas of the trusts frailty and urgent community response (UCR) services, both in secondary care and in the community.
The Nurse Consultant will be responsible in leading autonomous Virtual ward MDTs and be a senior decision maker with the rest of the clinical team.
When not proving direct clinical care, the nurse consultant will lead, participate and deliver the education and training to multi-disciplinary staff working alongside the MWL ACP team. This will include collaborating with local higher education institutions to develop and deliver workforce training and to ensure that academic research is linked to local service developments.
The nurse consultant will assist in setting the standards for monitoring effectiveness by audit and statistical data collection. The post holder will be responsible for the contribution to, and development of protocols and policies relevant to frailty services to enable high quality patient care.This will include participating in the local agenda to promote frailty recognition and management. The nurse consultant will be accountable for ensuring clinical quality, patient safety, and improving patient experience.
Working for our organisation
The Secretary of State has approved the partnership between St Helens & Knowsley and Southport & Ormskirk Hospitals.
From 1^st July we have come together as a single organisation under the name Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Trust delivers acute hospital care, intermediate care, community, and primary care services to a population of over 600,000 people with a combined workforce of around 9000 dedicated and skilled staff from 17 locations including Whiston, Southport & Formby, St Helens, Ormskirk and Newton hospitals.
The Trust provides regional services for burns, plastic surgery and spinal injuries to more than 4 million people across Mersey and West Lancashire, Cheshire, the Isle of Man and North Wales.
Our Vision is to deliver 5 Star Patient Care:
- CARE that is evidence based, high quality and compassionate
- SAFETY that is of the highest standards
- COMMUNICATION that is open, inclusive and respectful
- SYSTEMS that are efficient, patient centred and reliable
- PATHWAYS that are best practice and embedded, but also respect the individual needs of patients
Our achievements include:
- Trust rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- Awarded National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for our Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Please see our Wellbeing & Benefits booklet for more information on our staff benefits. Accessible version available upon request.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities- Maintain Professional Registration
- Adhere to relevant Code of Practice of Professional body
- Provide highly specialised clinical expertise in the management of patients with frailty, complex multiple co-morbidities and polypharmacy
- Ensuring that the 2-hour response time is met for all patients in the geographical area of responsibility, and their needs are met with social and therapeutic care.
- They will be responsible for assessing and diagnosing patients, planning care, prescribing and adjusting medication, organising and acting investigations and referral to other professionals within and outside the Trust. They will demonstrate a high level of competence in the appropriate use and pharmacology of all agents.
- They will provide advanced level assessment, diagnosis and evidence-based care for the patient group. They should be able to re-evaluate and implement treatment plans as appropriate.
- They will advise on diagnosis and prognosis and be able to conduct sensitive conversations around treatment goals, limitations, advanced care planning and end of life care.
- Actively participate in advancing nursing practice at a strategic level and through expertise in nursing practice develop and implement of evidence-based care and guidelines.
- They will be expected to communicate complex, sometimes highly sensitive information to patients, GPs, consultants and other health professionals both verbally and in writing.
- They will have the authority to accept referrals directly into frailty areas e.g. SDEC Ambulatory, Community Frailty and UCR and refer patients on as necessary. They will be able to support staff to implement the ‘pull method’ from ED.
- Contribute to professional development of their field at a local, national and international level.
- Participate in the Trust’s Research and development agenda leading nursing research and audit projects at service level with the aim of improving health outcomes and identifying future service developments.
- They will act as a clinical supervisor and take the lead in developing the UCR services.
- They will ensure that all practice is of the highest standard and research based.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- 1st Level Registered Nurse, Degree Level or equivalent qualification
- Non-Medical Prescribing qualification (NMP V300)
- Master’s degree in Advanced Nurse Practice
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria- Significant experience in Non-Medical Prescribing
- Significant demonstratable experience as a Nurse Specialist in acute and frail patients
- High level of experience of managing complex patients autonomously
- Competent in taking bloods, and assisting in medical procedures
- Proven track record and extensive experience in field of Frailty Nursing
- Experience of management of urgent and emergency patients
- Experience in leading a team and leading changes
- Experience in clinical research and audit
- Able to effectively conduct and present audit findings
- Competent and experienced in use of quality-of-life tools for assessing patients
- Experience of participation in national nursing committees
- Experience in chairing committees and setting up new groups to facilitate change in workplace
- Experience in presenting research findings at national and international meetings
- Proven experience and ability to educate professionals and patients conditions to a high level
- Awareness of national and local policies that affect service provision
- Experience of patient involvement within local service
- Experience of managing a team of Nurses
Skills
Essential criteria- Extensive experience in advanced decision-making skills
- Must be able to communicate effectively with people at all levels or the organisation and have effective negotiating skills
- Ability to take the lead in projects in Primary and Secondary Care
Other
Essential criteria- Evidence of leading initiatives in collaboration with local ISB’s
- Ability to travel between all Trust MWL sites (currently Southport, Whiston and Community services)
- Full driving licence with access to a vehicle which can be used for work purposes or access to assisted driver
Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.
Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.
The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce.We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.
As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact [email protected]
We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.
The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years.Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.
If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.
Flexible Working
We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:
- All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
- There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
- Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.
At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.
Working for Team MWL
Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts.Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.
The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website
You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.
Additional Information
Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here.
An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.
Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.