Job overview

The post holder will work with health professionals across Princess Alexandra Trust Hospital and all interfaces to improve the awareness and diagnosis of heart failure, and to ensure appropriate systems that underpin good practice are in place. To lead on achieving and maintaining standard of care set by clinical guidelines and protocols developed nationally and locally. 

To act as the non-medical clinical lead for heart failure between primary and secondary care. To ensure overall continuing responsibility of care and support to heart failure patients/families/carers from secondary to primary care setting, utilising case management where appropriate. The post holder will contribute to the development structured pathways in collaboration with the Heart Failure Team’s in the Community for the management of these patients across the respective Secondary & Primary Care Trusts, and will work to agreed clinical protocols. To liaise with MDT, and Heart Failure Team in Primary Care to ensure a model of care that will provide a comprehensive care package to all heart failure patients in secondary & primary care.

Main duties of the job

·      To ensure all patients when admitted or readmitted to the acute Trust are reviewed to ensure that their medications are optimised to reduce the LOS and repatriate home under the supervision of the Community Heart Failure Team.

·      To provide care and support to patients through education to enable them to optimise their potential and thereby improve and maintain the best possible quality of life.

·      To liaise with external networks for example, Cardiac network to identify new areas of best practice. Thus, continuing to improve standards of patient care through evidence-based research/practice.

·      To lead and co-ordinate the provision of palliative care support for patients with end stage heart failure, promoting greater collaboration amongst the health care professionals caring for this group of patients. Identify working groups to develop strategic guidelines and policies.

·      To initiate and develop strategies to meet the requirements and targets set by national and local statutory bodies. To safeguard and act in the best interests of patients by maintaining the inherent dignity and value of each individual enabling them to make informed choices in order to reach their own potential. (Acknowledgement to the NMC Code).

Working for our organisation

Our Organisation

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) provides a full range of general acute, outpatient and diagnostic services at The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, the Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishop’s Stortford, and St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping.

We employ 3,500 staff and serve a local population of around 350,000 people living in west Essex and east Hertfordshire, centred on the M11 corridor and the towns of Harlow, Bishop’s Stortford and Epping. Our extended catchment area incorporates a population of up to 500,000 and includes the areas of Hoddesdon, Cheshunt and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.

Our Values

The Princess Alexandra Promise to our patients as identified by our 3 values which will contribute to improving our patient experiences:

Patient at heart – Always holding the patient and their wellbeing at the centre of our thoughts and efforts

Everyday excellence – Sharing and celebrating our successes, being honest when we get it wrong, giving us the ability to learn from both

Creative collaboration – Knowing strength comes from diversity, we combine our experiences, skills and talents, working together to find new and better ways to care

The Trust believes in investing in all our staff and rewarding high standards of care whilst building for excellence and in return we expect our staff to uphold the Trust values to the highest level.