Community Heart Failure Nurse Specialist

Job Overview
A Band 7 Community Heart Failure Nurse Specialist (HFNS) opportunity has arisen as the previous postholder is relocating.
The successful candidate will have excellent communication skills, will be able to work autonomously and as part of a team. Professional supervision will be provided from an experienced nurse specialist or consultant cardiologists. We cover the multi-cultural and vibrant borough of Camden and aim to provide quality care for patients in their own homes and in clinic settings.
The team is based at Peckwater Health Centre, Kentish Town and operates from 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays.

Main duties of the job
The post holder will have the opportunity to work with a wide variety of the multi-disciplinary team aimed at reducing unscheduled hospital admissions and improving quality of life for people with heart failure, including:

• Rapid Access Service
• Consultant cardiologists from UCLH and The Royal Free Hospital
• Other Long Term Conditions teams
• Palliative Care
• Renal team
• GPs and community nursing and therapy teams, amongst others.
  The post holder will provide support to the Band 8a clinical lead and other team members, including student nurses on placement, support optimization of heart failure GDMT appropriately as per NICE Guidelines (2025), provide heart failure education, reduce unscheduled hospital admissions and ED attendance. They will promote co-production through working in partnership with patients and their families/carers.

Working for our organisation
All Band 7 nurses working for Central and North West London Foundation Trust are expected to be kind, responsive but professional, informative and contribute to the quality of the services we provide by:

• Keeping the people who use our services as safe as possible through the use of sound clinical skills and effective risk assessments
• Ensuring the best possible clinical outcomes by using up-to-date skills and adhering to evidence based policies and procedures
• Ensuring the people using our services have a good experience by respecting, empowering and working in partnership with people throughout the care planning process

Clinical Responsibilities
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Heart Failure team is expected to help meet the health needs of the population in Camden and as a Heart Failure Nurse Specialist, you are expected to understand those health needs. You will often work with people who have complex needs and you will be expected to contribute to the effectiveness of the service by:

• Being a confident, autonomous practitioner who takes responsibility for the care you give to patients and seeks advice when necessary
• Working within your own scope of practice
• Providing highly specialised clinical advice to support patients, GPs and other healthcare teams
• Reducing the risk of deterioration of heart failure patients by reviewing management plans, participating in MDT meetings and engaging with GPs
• Assessing patients with complex needs in collaboration with other services or teams
• Prescribing for patients (or work towards becoming a non-medical prescriber)
• Contributing to the development of the Team by ensuring that policies and procedures are up to date and evidence based
• Encouraging the team to learn from adverse events or respond to data analysis from audits or benchmarking exercises and implement sustainable initiatives which improve clinical outcomes

Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria

• Registered L1 Nurse Adult or equivalent
• Evidence of relevant Continuous Professional Development
• Educated to degree level with evidence of an established degree pathway
• Numeracy skills required for the safe administration of medicines
• Independent Prescriber or willing to undertake the non-medical prescribing module

Desirable criteria

• Practice Assessor/Practice Supervisor qualification
• Evidence of studying at masters level or willingness to undertake

Experience
Essential criteria

• Substantial previous experience as a Band 6 nurse in cardiology

Skills and Knowledge
Essential criteria

• Able to communicate with the multi-disciplinary team, present cases, take note of actions, update others in the team and use handover effectively. Speaking face-to-face, by telephone and writing letters and reports
• Able to talk to people about sensitive issues in a supportive manner but also challenge others assertively where necessary
• Work well with other members of the team including communicating effectively, being kind and considerate, reliable and enthusiastic
• Maintaining accurate, timely, concise and legible clinical records both electronic and handwritten which adhere to the CNWL policies
• Skilled at working across different multi-disciplinary teams, organizational boundaries, and different sectors.

Desirable criteria

• Expertise in the assessment and management of heart failure
• Supervision, Line management and appraisal training
• HR skills training e.g. recruitment, managing sickness absence