Health Visitor, Specialist Community Public Health Nurse

Job overview

Health Visitor, Specialist Community Public Health Nurse

The 0-19 service for the London Borough of Harrow, offers Health Visiting and School Nursing to the children and families of this 261,200 strong population in North West London.

We are looking to recruit competent and motivated individuals with a dynamic approach to meeting the needs of Harrow’s large and diverse population. This is an exciting opportunity for enthusiastic Band 6 Health Visitors to work in building our integrated 0-19 Service to support the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme to families in Harrow.

The Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (Health Visitor) will work as part of the 0-19 team delivering a high quality, proactive service for children, young people and their families. The aim of the service is to achieve equity of health outcomes for the local population through the provision of evidence-based and needs-led services.

Main duties of the job

The Health Visiting Service will work closely with local partners, particularly GPs, Children's Centres and the local community and voluntary sector.

Health Visitors work as part of a skill mixed team and you will contribute to the success of the team by being an effective role model and supervising community nursery nurses, community staff nurses, health care assistants and students to ensure they are working to the standards which people using our services deserve.

Harrow health visiting team also offer The Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH) programme which is a high-quality, evidenced based, nurse-led structured intervention for families needing extra support.

As a health visitor you will be contributing to the Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home visiting (MECSH), designed to be integrated within our universal health visiting service as a sustained home visiting programme, predominantly for families needing ongoing support but

also serving some families who require a more comprehensive service.

Working for our organisation

Harrow is a richly diverse, outer London borough in the north west of the capital bordering Hertfordshire, plus the London boroughs of Hillingdon, Ealing and Brent.

There are three 0-19 Healthy Child Programme in Harrow with approximately 75 Staff. This includes 0-19 Team leaders, Community Practice teachers, School nurses, Public Health Nurses, Community Nursery Nurses, Health Care Assistants and Administrative staff.

We believe that the best health care is delivered by multi-disciplinary teams working well together and in partnership with other teams and services to provide seamless care.

You will be working as part of a supportive team with access to a wide range of NHS benefits including discounts, pensions and various learning and development opportunities.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Health Visitors contribute to the provision of safe and reliable services by:

• Using their Clinical judgement and risk assessment to keep the people using our services as safe as possible.
• Safeguarding people by recognising and responding when an adult or child might be at risk from abuse but also recognising their own limits and asking for help and escalate concerns when necessary.
• Escalating safety concerns and by doing so acting as effective advocates for those who use our services.
• Being open and Transparent about their own practice.
• Supervising the work of others.
• Reflecting on everyday practice to identify areas where improvement in safety or quality can be made.
• Working with others to create a culture of continuous improvement.
• Maintaining accurate, legible , comprehensive records.
• Maintaining compliance with mandatory training requirements.

Person specification

Skills and Knowledge

• Able to communicate with the multi-disciplinary team, present cases, take note of actions, update others in the team and use handover effectively. Speaking face to face but also by telephone and writing letters and reports.
• Maintaining accurate, timely, concise and legible clinical records both electronic and handwritten which adhere to the CNWL policies
• Able to talk to people about sensitive issues in a supportive manner but also challenge others assertively where necessary
• Able to maintain electronic patient records Use Microsoft Word and excel for letter and report writing
• You are expected to have the skills required to act as a professional, registered nurse and adhere to the NMC Code of Conduct.
• Work well with other members of the team including communicating effectively, being kind and considerate, reliable and enthusiastic
• Manage others and contribute to the management of the team

• Expertise in particular skills and evidence of how you developed them and use them in your current role
• Supervision, Line management and appraisal training
• HR skills training e.g. recruitment, managing absence

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse or Midwife
• Registered Specialist Practitioner Public Health Nurse (Health Visitor)
• Nurse Prescribing
• Evidence of relevant Continuous Professional Development
• Numeracy skills required for the safe administration of medicines

• Mentorship Preparation Module/ ENB 998
• Degree or Master in Related Subject

Previous Experience

• This post is open to newly qualified health visitors
• Experience of working with complex families
• Experience of multi-disciplinary integrated team working
• Ability to work flexibly and respond to changing demands and methods of working both individually and within a team.
• Ability to work without direct supervision and proactive in seeking support with decision making when required
• Knowledge of Infection Control legislation and maintenance of standards
• Knowledge of Safeguarding Children issues
• Knowledge of risk management
• Knowledge of current issues and how they impact on professional practice.
• Knowledge of Information governance requirements

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.

We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page

Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.

If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.