You MUST be clear on your level of competency and not exceed this as you will place your patient, colleagues, and yourself at risk. If you are asked to work outside your level of competency, you must escalate this to the Head of Nursing at ICG Medical/On Call Senior Nurse who will give you advice at the time – contact via 07496882532.
If you need training, you need to identify this and arrange to receive this BEFORE you carry out a task/function/role. If the training is specific to a Trust, then your agency can help arrange this if the Trust agrees, you may be responsible for any costs involved.
As part of your duty of candour, you must ensure you always inform your patient/client of any mistakes in their care caused by your actions and apologise to the person involved. These events must be clearly documented.
If there is an emergency in the area you are working in, you must assist within the boundary of your skill/knowledge and ensure you act in a way that keeps you and others safe.
You must ensure you raise and escalate concerns about patient or public safety and patient care using the reporting processes with the organisation the concern is happening in and to the Head of Nursing/On-Call Senior Nurse.
Where a concern is raised to you, pass this to the person in charge of your shift and ensure it is documented. Never practise behaviour which could hinder the escalation of a concern.
If you identify that someone is vulnerable and is or could be at risk, take all reasonable steps to protect them. Have the knowledge to be able to apply relevant law and local policies designed to protect a person and if you are unsure, escalate to a senior person for advice.
You must ensure that you advise, prescribe, supply or administer medication within the limits of your training/competency. You must follow all laws and professional, local and ICG policies on the storage, prescription, supply and administration of medication. This relates to all medication, including over-the-counter medications, which may interact with other prescribed medications, leading to a risk of harm. Document the reason why a medication is not administered in line with the local policy.
If you are unwell and pose a risk of passing infection to others, you should not attend work but notify your agency as soon as possible – even if this is at night. Your agency provides a 24/7 service.
If your symptoms are diarrhoea & vomiting, you must remain off-duty for 48 hours after your last symptom. You must comply with the current health advice on other forms of infection e.g. Coronavirus, flu, TB, etc. which can be found on the NHS website.
You must ensure that you are fit to work – this includes having sufficient rest between shifts and not working blocks of shifts that are too long. Your agency is not able to book more than 5 consecutive shifts unless the Head of Nursing has confirmed approval for this to happen.
