Pleural Assistant Practitioner

The pleural assistant practitioner will work closely with the pleural and mesothelioma clinical nurse specialists to help support the team to deliver high quality, patient-centered care. This will involve participating in both office based administrative duties, such as telephone and email support, and in the pleural outpatient clinics.

Pleural outpatient clinic support will include performing clinical observations, venepuncture and cannulation, supporting patients during pleural procedures and indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) drainages and care. 

Main duties of the job

• Triage incoming calls, using a risk assessment framework and initiate appropriate response according to protocols and individual pathways, using good communication skills, basic clinical awareness and appropriate tools and procedures, liaising as appropriate when non routine and refer complex decisions to the team for assessment and review.
• Provide telephone advice and refer on or sign-post to other sources of support
• Provide support to patients in the clinic setting
• Assist the pleural clinical team with pleural outpatient clinics, such as supporting pleural procedures
• Coordinate the necessary assessments, appointments or investigations to fast track people back into the system if required
• Demonstrate the ability to recognise and respond appropriately when faced with a sudden deterioration or an emergency situation, alerting the team or enabling rapid response as appropriate
• Support information provision and signpost as appropriate
• Guide people through the use of self-assessment resources
• Document and monitor all aspects of care coordination and service delivery, supporting data collection for audit

Working for our organisation

North Bristol NHS Trust employs over 12,000 staff providing healthcare to the residents of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset from our award-winning hospital building at Southmead. We are the regional Major Trauma Centre, and an internationally recognised Centre of excellence in a range of services and major specialties. Our vision is that by enabling our teams to be the best that they can be, we will provide exceptional healthcare, personally delivered.   

North Bristol NHS Trust values all people as individuals. We aim to be an anti-discriminatory organisation and are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We welcome applicants from all underrepresented groups. 

Bristol is consistently voted the best place to live in the UK, with vibrant local music, arts and gastronomic scenes, a wide range of modern and state of the art shopping, recreation and leisure facilities, a wealth of great local family days out, fantastic transport links for local, national and internal holidays, and it has a rich history. If you prefer country, village or smaller town living, our Trust is also easily commutable from a range of attractive locations in North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and South Wales (such as Portishead or Chepstow). For band 5 Registered Nurses and ODPs, relocation support may be available.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To provide general information and support about pleural disease and pleural services, to enable people to navigate the health and social care system and make choices that are best for their patient centred care. A key aspect of the role involves daily and direct (e.g. face to face and telephone) communication with patients, relatives, carers, and other health and social care professionals. The information and nature of the communication required is sensitive due to the nature of pleural disease and cancer. Communication in this context requires a high degree of empathy, understanding, diplomacy, honesty and integrity.

Person specification

Essential and desirable

Essential criteria

• Relevant health or social care experience at AFC Band 3 or equivalent
• Experience of working effectively as part of a team
• NVQ 3 OR 4 plus additional training to diploma level equivalent, or equivalent through short courses.
• Excellent written, verbal, and electronic communication skills

Desirable criteria

• Clinical experience of working within Respiratory medicine
• Clinical skills in vital signs, venepuncture, ANTT and indwelling pleural catheter drainage and care