Assistant Practitioner

An exciting new opportunity for a Band 4 has arisen within the Dorset County Hospital Renal Home Therapies Team. While based at Dorset County you will be required to be flexible in working in the Home Therapies Training Suite at DCH, or our Satellite Unit at Poole & in patients homes across Dorset & Somerset.

We are looking for an Assistant Practitioner with experience in Haemodialysis and successful completion of either Haemodialysis competencies or equivalent to work as a member of an expanding Nurse led Home Therapies Team. As such you will work as part of the team accountable for the delivery of patient care under the supervision of a registered nurse.

You will be proficient and have experience of initiating & terminating dialysis including cannulation of AV Fistulas. You will have experience in training haemodialysis patients to perform self-care. You will have some background knowledge of peritoneal dialysis with a willingness to learn & develop in this field to assist in troubleshooting & providing support. Your responsibilities will require you to work efficiently & autonomously, provide safe quality care, keeping documentation up to date, ensuring the best clinical outcomes and experience for the patient. You will be expected to act as an effective role model/mentor promoting excellence through practice.

You must be educated to foundation degree in Health & Social Care or equivalent and have recent experience of working with patients in haemodialysis. You will need to be a good communicator able to liaise within the multidisciplinary team while maintaining sensitivity & support for the patients you are responsible for. The role does require flexibility in working hours at times & a clean UK driving licence is essential. Working in a community setting you will be required to drive varying distances to patients homes.

The Renal Specialist Team comprises a team of nurses, healthcare assistants & administrators who support patients to maintain good health in order to work towards a kidney transplant & stay out of hospital enjoying a good quality of life with their family.

The team work closely together to support each other in their individual roles. The Home Therapies Suite is a new addition to the Renal Unit following a very generous donation from a former patient giving the team the opportunity to enable more patients to have their treatment at home.

If you are friendly & approachable, motivated & trustworthy; are committed to delivering excellence in patient care in a professional manner and like to work for an organization that values its staff & patients, then we would like to hear from you.

To assist the Registered Nurse in providing high standards of patient centred care for kidney patients. This is predominantly a training position and under the direction of the Renal Specialist Sisters, you will plan and implement the training of patients in home haemodialysis so that they can dialyse independently at home.

Please see job description for more detail