CRF Senior Clinical Research Nurse
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
We are looking for an exceptional senior research nurse to join the clinical research facility (CRF) research team. This post will provide clinical leadership for our expanding research portfolio, manage junior research delivery staff and support the team to deliver high-quality research.
You will be responsible for the management of your team's research portfolio, reviewing protocols, amendments and identifying resource implications. You will have line management responsibilities and will actively be involved with staff recruitment, training, supporting and mentoring of all team members.
Applicants must be a registered adult nurse with evidence of continuing professional development. You should have good experience in clinical research within the NHS, a strong clinical background and desire and willingness to learn and develop others.Essential skills are excellent communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to multitask and meet tight deadlines, the ability and initiative to work independently and manage a patient caseload across a variety of research studies.
The post holder is expected to work on shift patterns necessary to ensure patient safety and timely delivery of clinical trials. Work patterns will include day shifts, regular late and some night duties and weekends as required by trial protocols.
Main duties of the job
Responsibilities will include the co-ordination of a portfolio of early phase translational clinical research, collaborating with key personnel throughout the two adult Clinical Research Facilities (CRF), to ensure continued care and support for patients and healthy volunteers involved in these clinical trials and studies.The post holder will take responsibility for supervising the safe administration of experimental therapies, and for monitoring the effects of drugs and other treatment modalities used in these trials. They may also be involved in gaining ethical approval, collecting data, interviewing and data entry.
The post holder will be expected to advocate for patients and empower them to make informed choices concerning their involvement in the clinical trials by providing advice and information.
The post holder will be involved in improvement projects to further develop the operational aspect of the CRFs. This includes attending feasibility and initiation meetings, monitoring CRF supplies and equipment, facilitating orientation and support of external staff to the CRF.Aspects of the role will include clinical tasks such as phlebotomy, analysis of blood specimens, drug administration and clinical observation.
The post holder will work with a high level of autonomy, taking delegated responsibility from Clinicians for clinical decision making, and will work closely with the Investigator and multidisciplinary staff.
Working for our organisation
The postholder will interact with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders involved in the delivery of the Trial including clinicians, research and health care managers, research delivery staff and research participants. Staff within the Medical School and other relevant hospitals and Trusts, non-commercial bodies and Pharmaceutical companies and/or sponsors.The postholder will lead a research nursing team dedicated to the delivery of the study.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will:
- Lead on participant communications and well-being issues, providing specialist advice relevant to clinical research nursing
- Be responsible for leading a research nurse team to support screening of eligible research participants including providing information and support to participants, clinical follow-up, data collection and safety reporting according to requirements
- Work with the CRF Matron to establish and maintain key strategic relationships with networks of clinicians, researchers and health service managers for effective roll-out of the trials
- Work alongside a team of trial coordinators, data managers and database developers to ensure compliance with GCP, data protection and research governance frameworks, regulations and sponsor requirements
- Support the development of training materials for clinical research staff at study sites including study specific and informed consent training and elements of GCP
- Monitor participants’ experience and identify important participants’ well-being issues
- Be a central point of contact for site staff for trial-specific procedures including support to participants, eligibility assessment, informed consent, and sample management.
Person specification
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential criteria- NMC Level One Registration – RN Adult
- Your professional knowledge acquired at degree level will be supplemented by specialist training, experience and/or short courses
- ICH GCP certificated
Skills
Essential criteria- Substantial experience in clinical trials, teaching and mentoring as demonstrated by your individual portfolio.
- Able to clearly demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of current UK clinical trial regulations, good clinical practice and the Declaration of Helsinki 1996
- Experience to deliver specialised programmes of care, and provide highly specialised advice for patients and healthy volunteers who are participating in clinical trials
- Able to demonstrate evidence of accuracy to detail in data collection
- Knowledge and experience of handling complex relationships
- Demonstrable managerial/ team leader experience
- Experience of mentoring and developing staff
- Experience with First-in-Human/ early phase study delivery
Experience
Essential criteria- Able to provide and receive complex, sensitive information, communicating this highly sensitive information to patients using empathy and reassurance, gain cooperation where required and overcome barriers to understanding by possessing excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Able to plan and organise complex activities and programmes, requiring formulation and adjustment as necessitated
- You will recruit to, support and develop a specialist nursing service provision
- You will have the dexterity and coordination needed for undertaking venepuncture, intramuscular, skin punch biopsies and accuracy required for e.g. intravenous injections, syringe pumps and infusions
- You will possess basic laboratory skills such as centrifugation and sample separation
- You will be able to teach/deliver core training of individual clinical trial/study protocols to junior members of staff
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Ability to work autonomously and as a member of a small team, as well as part of the wider multidisciplinary team
- Ability to set direction and lead a team of research professionals
- SACT accreditation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
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