CLINICAL SPECIALIST

An opportunity has arisen for a dynamic, enthusiastic, self-motivated, experienced Clinician, with good clinical palliative care knowledge base, to join our well-established Hospice Community Team as a Clinical Specialist.

The Clinical Specialist will provide specialist palliative and end of life care assessment, advice and support for people, families, carers and professionals across community settings.

The Clinical Specialist will work as an autonomous practitioner as a core part of the hospice multidisciplinary team, providing timely decision-making, effective symptom management, crisis response and coordinated care for people with complex palliative care needs.

Main duties of the job

• Act as a first point of specialist clinical advice for new referrals and re-referrals, completing holistic assessments and providing clear, timely documentation.
• Undertake specialist assessments in people's homes, hospice clinics and outreach settings, using clinical judgement to identify risk, complexity and priority.
• Provide expert advice on complex symptom management, palliative care emergencies and the safe evaluation of treatment plans.
• Support people, families and carers with clear information, compassionate communication and timely access to hospice and bereavement support.
• Administer prescribed subcutaneous medication in urgent situations where this is clinically indicated, authorised and within competence.
• Provide timely and within scope of (palliative) practice prescriptions in crisis scenarios (if NMP), and effective liaison with the GP as core prescriber to ensure their ongoing, informed, up to date repeat prescribing and their timely provision of non-urgent prescriptions.
• Provide responsive specialist telephone assessment, advice and support through the Specialist Advice Line.
• Use triage and clinical decision-making skills to support rapid access, crisis response and appropriate face-to-face visiting.
• Contribute to the community on-call rota, including out-of-hours, weekend and bank holiday cover.
• Work collaboratively across hospice, primary care, community, acute and social care services to support joined-up care.
• Share relevant clinical information clearly and appropriately to support safe care planning, escalation and continuity.
• Contribute specialist palliative care expertise to internal and external multidisciplinary meetings.
• Support continuous improvement in community palliative care, aligned to hospice strategy, local system priorities and relevant national guidance.
• Lead or contribute to audit, clinical governance, incident learning, policy development and pathway improvement.
• Maintain high-quality written and electronic records, including service activity, incident reporting and clinical documentation.
• Manage own workload effectively and contribute to safe caseload oversight, prioritising referrals, advice requests and crisis response.
• Role model compassionate, inclusive and collaborative practice in line with hospice values.
• Contribute to palliative and end of life care education for nursing, medical, allied health and wider professional groups.
• Act as a visible resource, mentor and role model for colleagues, students and new team members.
• Maintain professional registration and keep clinical knowledge, prescribing practice and specialist skills up to date.
• Participate in appraisal, supervision, reflective practice, learning opportunities and evidence-based service development.

Additional Requirements of Postholder

• Sensitivity and professionalism when interacting with individuals in our care, their loved ones and members of the public who are at the end of life or recently bereaved.
• Maintain confidentiality, security and integrity of information relating to individuals and their loved ones, staff and other hospice matters during the course of duty.
• Be aware of obligations in respect of the Data Protection Act 2018.
• Promote and adhere to equal opportunity measures adopted by the hospice.
• Familiarity with section 2 of the Health & Safety Policy, Organisation of Health and Safety.
• Wear hospice ID badges at all times whilst on duty.
• Comply with the hospice No Smoking Policy.
• Compliance with professional registration and code of conduct requirements.
• Adherence to Working Time Regulations 1998.