Job Description

The Team Leader role comprises clinical practice delivering person centered care, frailty screening and comprehensive assessment for people with frailty across the Frailty Pathway at King's College Hospital.



They manage a small team of Frailty Practitioners and work closely with our Consultant Team and our Dementia and Delirium Specialists in the day to day delivery of the service. We are also carrying out an extended evaluation of the Frailty Service using a Quality Improvement approach.



To lead a team of Frailty Practitioners (nurses and therapists) in the delivery of the King's Frailty service, providing day-to-day line management and support.



To provide expert advice to older people and their families



To actively contribute to service development and transformation work across the pathway, managing data collection and evaluation



To contribute to the development of King's Frailty Training program



King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of 1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and around 15,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King's College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in Bromley.



King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus.



The trust-wide strategy Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (EDI) at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we can take Team King's to another level



King's is dedicated to embracing the broad diversity of our staff, patients and communities and stand firmly against all forms of prejudice and discrimination. This includes, but is not limited to, racism, ableism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexism, ageism, religious discrimination, and any other prejudiced behaviour that undermines the rights, wellbeing and identity of our staff, and patients.



Clinical Practice



To provide expert advice and support to older people and people with frailty, their families and other healthcare professionals applying comprehensive assessment of the older person and frailty management. This can include:



Managing a patient caseload



Ordering diagnostic tests



Making and receiving referrals



Assessing and facilitating timely discharge for patients



Preventing unnecessary admissions to an acute bed by providing appropriate support and direction for health care professionals, patients and their families across the frailty pathway, including the Emergency Department, Frailty Unit and Acute Medical Unit setting



To coordinate a seamless service through the development of enhanced interdisciplinary team processes and communication.



To lead the identification and development of clinical protocols and strategies to enhance both the continuity and standard of specialist care whilst ensuring equity of access to the service



To ensure operational policies are reviewed annually by national standards



To ensure all assessments are under agreed protocols.



To liaise with the ward staff to ensure and support appropriate and timely discharge/follow-up arrangements for patients



To identify, implement and maintain a suitable mechanism for referrals to other agencies or health care professionals.



To network with local community, social services and voluntary organisations to develop existing services for older people, carers



To actively involve service users in providing feedback on their experience of the current service and suggestions for improvements.



Education and audit



To lead and coordinate the development, implementation and evaluation of care pathways and systems of interdisciplinary documentation. This includes evaluation of an extended Frailty Practitioner service and reporting of Key Performance Indicators



To provide information for patients, carers and health professionals about all aspects of the frailty service



To ensure appropriate information and educational literature is available to help patients make informed choices as to their treatment plan and continuing management developing and regularly updating literature



To initiate, lead and develop programmes of education for staff across the frailty pathway, including the Trust wide Frailty Program



To act as a clinical expert and advise on educational opportunities that will facilitate the development and support of specialist knowledge and skills to ensure development of clinical practice



To evaluate the service in terms of clinical effectiveness, clinical excellence and value for money.



To work in partnership with bed manager, ward managers and other clinical staff to identify areas where opportunities exist to improve treatment and support for older people.



To actively participate in educational events provided by the Trust and primary care sector



To attend meetings and conferences as appropriate ensuring that you are fully conversant with current issues both within the Trust and within the specialist services locally and nationally



Management and leadership



To lead a team of Frailty Practitioners (nurses and therapists) in the delivery of the King's Frailty service, providing day-to-day line management and support



To develop policies and protocols to improve patient care.



To liaise effectively with all other disciplines within the Trust and at a local level.



To initiate and participate in the management of change to improve standards and communication links from Acute trust through to Primary Care



To work with and support managers and clinical staff to identify areas where changes in practice are required.



To introduce measures to actively manage and reduce risk to patients. Ensure the formal reporting and recording of adverse incidents in line with Trust policy.



To utilise and maintain information systems to aid audit and to provide regular active analysis reports.



To maintain contemporaneous and accurate records, submitting relevant statistics, reports and activity data as requested.



To forge effective links within primary secondary and tertiary care to ensure effective communication.



To ensure compliance with the Trust's Equality and Diversity Policy, supporting the delivery of the Trust's Race Equality Scheme and the Trust's duty to positively promote race equality and equality of opportunity for disabled people ensuring services are responsive to the needs of equality groups.



Personal Professional Development



To demonstrate and further develop clinical expertise in care for older people and people with frailty



To keep up-to-date with current evidence and research within the speciality.



To attend mandatory study sessions as required.



To undergo and actively participate in your performance appraisals



To hold or be working towards a Master's degree.



In carrying out the duties of the post, the employee is required to work by the policies and procedures of King's College Hospital, including Health and Safety, confidentiality, data protection and equal opportunities. King's College Hospital operates a no-smoking policy.



People Management and Performance



Lead, coach and manage the performance of the team in line with good people management practices. Ensuring excellence is recognised and underperformance is addressed.



Participate in regular performance appraisal meetings and ensure each member of the team has a clear set of objectives and development plans.



Ensure the team is compliance with all statutory, mandatory training together with any professional training requirements, ensuring they are up to date and fully compliant.



Manage team absences including sickness in line with Trust policy ensuring the appropriate return to work meetings occur, e-roster is updated and productivity is at keep to the highest possible level.



Identify and fill any vacancies that arise within the team in line with the Trust's recruitment policy and process.



Identify talent and support the internal talent management process in order attract and retain and succession plan for your people.



Review skills mix at regular intervals in order to identify any potential opportunities to maximise resource utilisation / allocation, ensuring job descriptions are kept up to date.



Ensure overall wellbeing of the team is maintained. Continuously support in improving the morale of the team and implementing a culture of zero-tolerance for bullying and harassment.



General



The post holder has a general duty of care for their own health, safety and wellbeing and that of work colleagues, visitors and patients within the hospital, in addition to any specific risk management or clinical governance accountabilities associated with this post.



To observe the rules, policies, procedures and standards of King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust together with all relevant statutory and professional obligations.



We want to be an organisation where everyone shares a commitment to delivering the very best care and feels like their contribution is valuable and valued.



To observe and maintain strict confidentiality of personal information relating to patients and staff.



To be responsible, with management support, for their own personal development and to actively contribute to the development of colleagues.



This job description is intended as a guide to the general scope of duties and is not intended to be definitive or restrictive. It is expected that some of the duties will change over time and this description will be subject to review in consultation with the post holder.



All employees must hold an 'nhs.net' email account which will be the Trust's formal route for email communication.



Safe Guarding



The Trust takes the issues of Safeguarding Children, Adults and addressing Domestic Abuse very seriously. All employees have a responsibility to support the organisation in our duties by;



attending mandatory training on safeguarding children and adults



familiarising themselves with the Trust's processes for reporting concerns



reporting any safeguarding child or adult concerns appropriately



Infection Control Statement



The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene procedures and requirements when in clinical areas.



The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to make to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene requirements of this role.



These requirements are set out in the National Code of Practice on Infection Control and in local policies and procedures which will be made clear during your induction and subsequent refresher training. These standards must be strictly complied with at all times.