Staff Nurse (Band 6) - Smithers Ward

Job overview

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is one of the leading cancer centres in the world and has an international reputation for the care and treatment it provides. The Royal Marsden serves a local, regional, national, and international population within three hospital sites in London and Surrey and Sutton.

The Staff Nurse on Smithers ward is based within the Surrey site. Smithers ward is a 16 bedded Acute inpatient oncology ward, with a 4 bed surgical day unit and 3 bed inpatient radiation treatment suite attached. Within the ward we care for patients undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, along with patients requiring complex symptom control. We focus on holistic care, understanding the psychological impact of an individuals cancer diagnosis. We are looking for a knowledgeable oncology nurse who is caring, compassionate and works well under pressure, has good time management skills, and is dedicated to deliver high quality patient focussed care. If you are interested and would like to join our team, then we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

• To coordinate and supervise a shift, communicating effectively with members of a multidisciplinary team to deliver high quality, evidence-led care to patients.
• To exercise clinical judgment and decision making about patient needs in terms of long term goals or plans.
• To participate fully in the day to day organization and running of clinical trials including the recruitment, education and monitoring of patients entering a clinical trial and liaison as required with trial sponsors.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To complete the first level assessment of patients with cancer and their families to gain an understanding of their physiological, psycho-social, spiritual and cultural needs and to develop a positive, realistic and supportive attitude to ensure that these needs are met.

This will include:

• Counterchecking patients’ vital signs, blood results, patient body surface area, chemotherapy prescription and consent before administration of treatment.
• Educating patients on their treatment such as indications and side effects.
• Ensuring necessary medication and follow up appointments are obtained.
• To plan, document, deliver and evaluate care plans from admission through to discharge / transfer discussing this with the patient, their family and multi-disciplinary teams and to alert the Sister/Charge Nurse of any changes. To set goals for each of the identified nursing issues and encourage / teach other nursing staff to do the same. To help the patient achieve set goals through care planning.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• NMC Registration
• Evidence of ongoing professional development
• RMH Certificate in Intravenous Drug Administration or to be obtained within three months of appointment

Desirable criteria

• Qualification in oncology or speciality Diploma or Degree level study (or equivalent) Recognised teaching qualification

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience in intravenous drug administration
• Sufficient post registration nursing experience in oncology or speciality to be confident and competent in using the required skills to do the job

Desirable criteria

• Experience in chemotherapy administration
• Experience in Clinical Management
• Evidence of relevant teaching experience
• Knowledge and understanding of clinical trials management

Skills / Abilities / Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Evidence of effective interpersonal skills with particular ability to liaise with multidisciplinary team members
• Evidence of working cooperatively in a team
• Ability to demonstrate self-motivation (working with minimal supervision)
• Ability to work accurately and reliably under pressure
• Ability to make decisions, organise and prioritise
• Evidence of commitment to customer care initiatives
• Knowledge and understanding of quality issues
• Ability to coordinate as shift/department

Desirable criteria

• Experience in oncology or area of specialty
• Venepuncture and/or cannulation skills
• Evidence of understanding of the NHS Plan and current NHS issues
• Computer Literacy (e.g. use of Microsoft Word and Outlook)

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application

Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.