Job Advert
District Nurse/Nurse Practitioner – Foula (Ref: 185375)
Substantive Post
Full Time – 37 hours per week
Band 6 - Salary Range £37,831 - £46,100 per annum
Plus Distant Island Allowance of £2,256 per annum
Relocation Assistance of up to £8000 is available
Would you like to be part of a remote and rural island community, where you can deliver truly person-centred care and support to individuals across the life span? Then this may be the opportunity you have been looking for:
Foula: 16 miles west of Shetland, with its outstanding, unspoiled natural beauty, amazing resident and migratory birdlife, dramatic landscapes and equally dramatic weather, is home to around 35 hardy, creative, permanent residents. Hundreds of visitors are also drawn here through the summer months of seemingly endless days. Crofting is the mainstay of life: residents share the rugged, isolated landscape with an exclusive breed of multi-coloured, fine-woolled sheep, herds of free roaming Shetland Ponies, and an abundance of wildlife and botany. Sea mammals are frequently spotted from the hauntingly beautiful shores, and music is in the air, with tradition, culture and history coming alive to make up part of each day.
This is a unique opportunity to become a truly integral part of a forward-thinking, determined, resilient and hardworking remote island community, with a thriving primary school and transport links to and from the Shetland Mainland by ferry or by plane, (both weather dependent). You will be responsible for providing care in both planned and emergency situations, acting as first point of contact, providing effective nursing assessment and treatment during an emergency in liaison with the General Practitioners based in Walls on mainland Shetland or in collaboration with the Scottish Ambulance Service.
The post holder may also be expected to provide personal care for islanders, as required, in the absence of on-island based social care provision. There is a small clinic in the centre of the island, and a car for the use of the post holder and visiting healthcare professionals. A full UK driving license is an essential requirement for this post.
You will be an experienced District Nurse or Nurse Practitioner and utilise your Advanced Clinical Assessment Skills and Non-medical prescriber status to “see and treat” individuals with a minor illness/minor ailment independently without regular recourse to a medical practitioner.
Clinical support and supervision is available via the wider Community Nursing team and GPs based at Walls Health Centre. A high degree of personal resilience is required to undertake this remote island post.
General IM&T skills, including the ability to record, retrieve and update on clinical systems as well as use Near Me to support clinical consultations are required. The post holder may also be required to undertake work remotely for other practice areas throughout Shetland based on the post holder’s clinical expertise. This will be through technology-enabled systems such as Ask My GP, Near Me, and will be subject to effective telecommunications in order to facilitate this.
The post holder is expected to work a 5 day working week, flexibly over the 7 day period in order to meet the health and care needs of the islanders. The standard working week will predominantly be a Monday to Friday, day time service 9am-5pm. Support and access to healthcare in the out of hour’s periods will be via NHS24. Service redesign work is currently ongoing with the community to develop a service model which can best support the needs of islanders across the 24/7 time period, this includes looking at increasing overall community resilience. The post holder is expected to contribute the development of the new service model.
Rise to the challenge and seize the opportunity! Foula is a truly delightful place to live and work offering an unpolluted environment, and complete tranquillity. To find out more about living and working in Foula go to:
https://www.facebook.com/p/Foula-Heritage-100069348495262/ Foula Fest 2018 - YouTube
For further information on the post please contact Jayne Stopher-Walker (Clinical Team Leader) on 07584618098 or for an informal discussion on island life in general please contact : Fran Dyson-Sutton fran.dysonsutton@googlemail.com or Magnus Gear: 01595 753207 magnus_gear@yahoo.co.uk
Closing date 23/06/2024
Interview Dates 12/07/2024
If you require assistance or encounter any technical issues with your application, please e-mail support at helpdesk@helpmeapply.co.uk including the vacancy reference number and “NHS Shetland” in the subject line.
In promoting equal opportunities, we welcome applications from all sections of the community