Pre-Assessment Nursing Team Lead

Spire Harpenden are looking for an experienced Preoperative Assessment (POA) Team Leader to help lead our experienced pre-assessment team. This role will suit a POA Nurse who is looking for the next step in their career or a Nurse with current team leader experience.

At Spire Harpenden, we pride ourselves on our comprehensive private hospital services and high standards of care for our patients in Hertfordshire. We're dedicated to providing quality treatment and aftercare. This means ongoing investment in our facilities and introducing new services so you can have up-to-date treatment and care in a clean, comfortable environment.

Duties and responsibilities

To ensure the smooth running of the department, day to day, in the absence of the POA Manager.

Working autonomously, completes POA for a caseload of patients and backfilling protected clinic slots for short dated bookings, undertaking a targeted history with assessment of past medical, operative and anaesthetic history.
Lead on the clinical triage of all patient Health Questionnaires to ensure appropriate POA pathway identified for all patients.
Local hospital short dated bookings process to be followed to reduce pressure points and to ensure a smooth patient journey for urgent cases.
Completes testing as per NICE guidelines (NG45), interprets and manages the results, and where appropriate initiates relevant referrals to appropriate staff.
Completes venepuncture, electrocardiogram, lung function testing and requesting of x-ray as per policy.
Identifies patients with specific health issues and undertakes relevant risk scoring where indicated and manages the results.
Demonstrates appropriate review of previous anaesthetic documentation and is able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key factors that would require referral for anaesthetist assessment.
Follows up on outcomes of referrals to ensure fitness to proceed.
Provides information about any specific pre-operative instructions, intraoperative care and discharge.
Identifies cultural requirements, communication or other specialist health or social needs.
Liaises with the anaesthetist and surgeon to determine fitness to proceed.
Following assessment, seeks advice where necessary, to ensure the appropriate level of post-operative care can be determined.
Communicates any special requirements and essential resources to the MDT team.
To provide cover for the weekly theatre meeting when required
To provide liaison between POA team and senior colleagues in the event of staffing/department specific issues in the absence of the POA Manager

Who we're looking for

Adult Nursing Degree and registered with the NMC
Experience of leadership
Knowledge of working within a pre-operative assessment.
Advance assessment skills in a POA or equivalent background.
Able to work independently and prioritise patient caseload and POA workload.
Ability to work autonomously and experience of supervision of staff.
Well-developed communication skills, written verbal and IT.
Participates and assists in the development of policy, guidelines and patient information for POA.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships, both internally and externally
Strong focus on delivering and meeting customer expectations
Takes an active role in the supervision and teaching of staff and students, including assessment of EEs for junior staff.

Benefits

We offer employees a competitive salary as well as a comprehensive benefits package which includes but is not limited to:

35 days annual leave inclusive of bank holidays
Employer and employee contributory pension with flexible retirement options
Spire for you' reward platform - discount and cashback for over 1000 retailers
Free Bupa wellness screening
Private medical insurance
Life assurance
Free onsite parking

Our Values

We are extremely proud of our heritage in private healthcare and of our values as an organisation:

Driving clinical excellence
Doing the right thing
Caring is our passion
Keeping it simple
Delivering on our promises
Succeeding and celebrating together
Our people are our difference; it's their dedication, warmth and pursuit of excellence that sets Spire Healthcare apart.

For us, it's more than just treating patients; it's about looking after people

We commit to our employees well-being through work life balance, on-going development, support and reward.

Spire Healthcare are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture for all. Our people are our difference, it's their dedication, warmth and pursuit of excellence that sets Spire Healthcare apart.

Closing date: 9th January. In order to streamline our recruitment process, we reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications