Clinical Nurse Specialist, Candidate, Respiratory Acute Integrated Care, University Hospital

Details of Service

Cork University Hospital (CUH) has approximately 800 beds and this will increase further to 1,000 beds on completion of the transfer of additional services to the CUH campus. CUH currently employs approximately 4,571 (WTE) staff of multiple professions and is the primary teaching hospital for the Faculty of Health and Science in University College Cork (UCC). UCC is the Academic partner of the South/South West Hospital Group. CUH has very strong relationships with each of the six schools within the Science Faculty of UCC and this is a key area for future development to maximise the opportunities for both the service and academia.

CUH is a recommended Major Trauma Centre for the Republic of Ireland due to the wide range of specialties delivered by the hospital – including Neurosciences, Cardiac Services, Orthopaedics, General Surgery, Renal, Internal Medicine, Vascular, Ophthalmology, Urology, Plastic Surgery, Maxillary-Facial, Paediatrics, Intensive Care, Oncology, Haematology, Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Neonatology and Emergency Medicine.

CUH is the tertiary referral centre for the HSE Southern area, and the supra regional area of Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny. CUH therefore acts as a regional centre for secondary and tertiary care for the catchment population of approx. 550,000 served by the HSE Southern area and a supra-regional centre for a total a population of 1.2 million.

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 will become part of HSE South West health region from 3rd March 2025.

Purpose of the Post

The post holder will be clinically responsible for the safe, effective and efficient delivery of Respiratory nursing care, and the education of staff and family/carers.

The cCNS post holder will deliver care in line with the five core concepts of the role set out in the Framework for the Establishment of Clinical Nurse Specialist Posts, 4th edition, National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery (NCNM) 2008.

Caseload

The cCNS will focus initially on the following service user groups: Any adult of 16 years and older requiring the Respiratory Acute Integrated Care Service.

The concepts are:

· Clinical Focus (Direct and Indirect Care)

· Service user/client Advocacy

· Education and Training

· Audit and Research

· Consultancy (including leadership in clinical practice)

The role of the cCNS will differ according to the needs and configuration of established respiratory services at each site. The purpose of the post is to provide expertise and specialist nursing services to patients with a respiratory condition both in the ward, hospital outpatient settings and in primary care. The post holder will liaise between acute respiratory services and integrated respiratory services in the community along with other agencies to deliver effective evidenced based care. They will use resources efficiently to achieve the best possible outcomes in keeping with the NCP Programme model of care and HIQA standards.

The post holder will work in the overall integrated respiratory service. This post is 50% acute based and 50% community based to work with the Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, Lead in Integrated Respiratory Care and General Internal Medicine in further development of integrated care services. The post holder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team delivering coordinated evidence based care for respiratory patients. Please note a portion of the appointees work will be carried out “offsite”. This means that the appointee will travel to the hubs to perform duties related to the role.

The post holder will work with colleagues across the integrated care services to develop and implement ambulatory care pathways to improve the transition of patients between primary and secondary care. The post holder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team and in close liaison with their associated Consultant Respiratory Physician to deliver coordinated evidence based care for patients.

In order to ensure continuity of service to patients the cCNS may be required to rotate/cover other parts of the integrated respiratory service such as Respiratory Integrated Care and Outreach. This will also promote service integration and enhance skillset development. It will be dependent on identified service needs at each site. If deemed appropriate, site rotation should occur within the first 3-6 months of taking up the post. The cCNS/CNS caseload will focus initially on the following patient groups.

• COPD
• Asthma
• General Acute Respiratory

Informal Enquiries

We welcome enquiries about the role.

Contact Nora Twomey – Assistant Director of Nursing, nora.twomey@hse.ie 087 2186170 for further information about the role

Contact Ann-Marie O’Keeffe- People Resourcing, Annmarie.okeeffe2@hse.ie – for enquiries relating to the recruitment process