Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Candidate Specialist Palliative Care Service University Hospital

Details of Service

Kerry Specialist Palliative Care Service (KSPCS) is a HSE funded service which is managed by the Head of Service of UHK who reports to the IHA lead for Kerry. Kerry Hospice Foundation is a fundraising organisation who are core to development of KSPCS working in partnership with the HSE.

The Kerry Specialist Palliative Care Service (KSPCS) provided is currently led by three consultants, 24/7 on-call service which has proven of immense value to the hospital and community in improving palliative care services. The service is currently provided in the following settings:

• Specialist Palliative In Patient Unit

• Specialist Palliative Ambulatory Day Unit

• Specialist Palliative Community Care Service

• Specialist Palliative Acute Care Service

Specialist Palliative Care In Patient Unit

There is currently a 15 bed Specialist Palliative Care Inpatient Unit in Kerry which opened in December 2017 and it is co-located to UHK. KSPCS is currently in Phase 3 Development building works, which includes building 5 extra bedrooms. These works we hope will be completed in 2027. Patients are admitted to the Inpatient Unit for complex symptom management, rehabilitation and end of life care that cannot be met in other care settings. Staffing of the Unit includes a CNM II, CNM Is, RGNs, Healthcare Assistants, Porters, Administration staff, Allied Health Professionals including Pharmacist, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Pastoral Care, Speech and Language Therapy, Medical Social Workers and Dietician. There is a CNM3 responsible for the IPU and Day Service.

Community Specialist Palliative Care Service

The Kerry Community Specialist Palliative Care Service is delivered by one team divided in 2 due to the large geographical spread of the county and its population. There are 2 bases, one in the Specialist Palliative Care Unit UHK covering North Kerry and the second base in Killarney delivering a service to South Kerry. The community nursing team includes a CNM3, Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) and 2 Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioners (RANPs) for the Residential Care Facilities. In 2026, a new ANP will be recruited to join the community team. The RANPs are an integral part of KSPCS aligned to the community team and have strong integrated working relationship with Palliative Care RANP UHK.

The community service delivers a seven-day service to patients in their place of residence. This may be the patient’s home, community hospital or private nursing home. The team works closely with the General Practitioners, Public Health Nursing team and staff of Residential Care Facilities.

New development post ANP

This post will cross cover leaves for the existing ANPs supporting Residential Care Facilities. The post will also support the Community Nursing Team visiting patients in their home to provide an autonomous, evidence-based service, to complete episodes of care within scope of practice, referral pathways and protocols. The RANP will demonstrate in their practice advanced clinical and theoretical knowledge, critical thinking, clinical leadership and clinical decision making. Research, education, support to healthcare professional colleagues and collaborative development of integrated services is integral to the role.

Specialist Palliative Day Ambulatory Day Unit

The Specialist Palliative Care Ambulatory Day Unit is also co-located to UHK and opened in 2007. The service provides a mixed medical/social/supportive model of care. Staffing of the unit includes a CNM II, CNM1, RGNs, Healthcare Assistants, Porters, Administration staff, Allied Health Professionals including Pharmacist, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Pastoral Care, Speech and Language Therapy, Medical Social Workers, Dietician and Psychotherapist. There is a CNM3 responsible for the IPU and Day Service.

Acute Specialist Palliative Care Service- University Hospital Kerry

The Acute Specialist Palliative Care Service includes Consultants in Palliative Medicine, SPRs/Registrar, Senior House Officers, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Social Worker and Administration support. It provides 24/7 palliative care to UHK.

Six Health Regions have been established within the HSE, on the basis of the geographical boundaries agreed by the Government in July 2019 and they will be operational from 2024.

Each Health Region will be tasked with population specific planning resourcing and delivery of health and social care services for the needs of its unique population. This will result in improved accountability and governance in terms of finance and performance, while also bringing decision-making closer to the frontline.

Health Regions will enable and empower staff to provide services that are:

• Integrated, locally planned and delivered

• Easier to access and navigate

• Available closer to home

Health Regions are geographically based units with clearly defined populations. They align community and hospital services within specific areas. The HSE will retain a strong but leaner central organisation, with more service provision developed at a local level.

The HSE South West health region will manage and deliver all public health and social care services in Cork and Kerry. HSE South West includes all hospital and community healthcare services in the region.

This includes:

• South / South West Hospital Group S/SWHG

• Cork Kerry Community Healthcare CKCH

The Department of Population and Public Health is also now aligned with this health region

Services in the South West health region:

HSE Services working within this region include:

• Acute Hospitals

• Primary care services

• Community services

• Social care services

• Health and social care professionals

• Voluntary sector services

South / South West Hospital Group and Cork Kerry Community Healthcare became part of HSE South West health region on 3rd March 2025 and the transition to the new structures will continue throughout 2026

Purpose of the post

•The overall purpose of the post is to provide safe, timely, evidenced based nurse-led care to service users at an advanced nursing level. This involves undertaking and documenting a complete episode of care (assess, diagnose, plan, treat and discharge service users) according to collaboratively agreed protocols and scope of practice in the clinical setting, demonstrating advanced clinical and theoretical knowledge, critical thinking, clinical leadership and decision-making skills.

•The main purpose of the post is to develop the job description, scope of advanced practice to include referral to and from the advanced practice service alongside supporting documentation under the direction of the service’s Advanced Practice Stakeholder Governance Group. This will enable the individual nurse to meet the NMBI Criteria for Registration as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner as set out in Advanced Practice (Nursing) Standards and Requirements (NMBI, 2017).

•The individual will undertake the academic preparation and develop the clinical and leadership skills, competencies and knowledge required to meet the criteria to be registered as a RANP with NMBI. The scope of the cANP role must reflect the incremental development of expertise and as such, the cANP cannot deliver care as an autonomous practitioner.

•The individual will complete and submit the necessary documentation for registration as an RANP with NMBI.

•The value of the nursing contribution as a distinct profession must be safeguarded and articulated in the development of new services led by advanced nurse practitioners, complementing rather than replacing current services delivered by doctors (NMBI 2017 p.9).

•The advanced practice role demonstrates a high degree of knowledge, skill and experience that is applied within the nurse-patient/client relationship to achieve optimal outcomes through critical analysis, problem solving and accurate decision-making (NMBI, 2017).

•Central to this is the provision of quality care, a safe environment and processes for service users by the use of evidence based clinical guidelines that address service user expectations, promote wellness and evaluate care given.

•The role will provide clinical leadership and professional scholarship in order to develop nursing practice and health policy at local, regional and national level.

•The role will contribute to nursing research to shape and advance nursing practice, education and health care policy at local, national and international levels

Informal Enquiries

We welcome enquiries about the role.

Contact Mari O’Connell, Project Lead, Kerry Specialist Palliative Care Service,mari.oconnell@hse.ie /087 2116158 for further information about the role

Contact Meagan McGlynn - People Resourcing, meagan.mcglynn@hse.ie – for enquiries relating to the recruitment process