Nursing jobs

Rewarding and satisfying nursing careers in general practice

Across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, there are many opportunities for nurses who want to work at the heart of progressive general practice.

Practices here set out to create working environments where nursing is rewarding and satisfying, with family friendly hours in a close-knit and supportive team where you will be valued and supported. General Practice also offers the opportunity to get to know patients and see the impact your care has on the lives of them and their families.

And while teams and roles vary from surgery to surgery, practice nurses share a particular set of qualities that enable them to work efficiently and effectively:

• Highly organised
• Flexible and able to juggle priorities
• Observant and good decision makers
• Good listeners and communicators
• Confident problem solvers

Plus, you’ll get to do it all in a region that offers lots of lifestyle choices. Whether you prefer life in the city or by the seaside, in a market town or chocolate box village, you can choose the location that suits you best and still enjoy a good commute to work and good connections across the region and beyond. Explore everything Bristol, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire have to offer.

Practice nurses

Practice nurses work at the heart of the multidisciplinary practice team to provide a range of nursing services, that may include:

• Cytology and sexual health screening
• Travel Health
• Long term conditions management (Asthma, COPD, Diabetes, Hypertension, CVD etc)
• Wound care
• Removal of sutures
• ECGs
• Family planning advice and contraceptive services
• Routine immunisations / child immunisations
• COPD management
• Health promotion and support for patients to make lifestyle changes
• Assisting with minor surgery
• Collection of pathological specimens like blood samples, swabs and smears

Practice nurses often develop their role over several years, for example by completing training in long term conditions management or prescribing, or taking on leadership responsibility.

Nurse Practitioners

Nurse practitioners receive additional training to grow their skills into additional services that help to support GPs. These can include:

• Assessment and diagnosis
• Prescribing
• Research
• Health promotion
• Minor illness
• Telephone triage
• Specialist support for patients with long term conditions
• Managing practice nurses and other colleagues in the practice team

Advanced Nurse Practitioners

Advanced nurse practitioners have Master’s level training and a prescribing qualification. In addition to the duties performed by a nurse practitioner, advanced nurse practitioners can also:

• Take a full patient history
• Carry out physical examinations
• Identify a likely diagnosis
• Request tests (blood tests, x-rays, scans)
• Refer patients to a specialist (in the practice or hospital)
• Prescribe medicines and non-medical treatments
• Arrange follow up and ongoing treatment management

Mental Health Nurse Specialists

Bringing specialist mental health nursing skills into general practice provides essential expert care to patients, particularly those with low mood, anxiety and depression.

Patients benefit from focused care that delivers better outcomes, while everyone benefits from improved access to GPs who can use their time even more effectively.

Mental health nurses in general practice work as part of the multi-professional team, focusing on mental health needs that often co-exist with physical problems. They can:

• Independently assess, treat and refer patients predominantly with low mood, anxiety and depression
• Liaise with primary and secondary mental health services, voluntary and public sector agencies and community support groups
• Carry out annual health reviews for adults on the practice mental health register
• Provide specialist advice and support to practice colleagues in relation to patients with mental health issues

Learning and development for nurses

Wherever you join us and in whatever nursing role, you’ll be supported and encouraged to maintain and update your skills, offered a range of continuing professional development courses, and even progress into a specialism or to a leadership role. Training is available to help you become:

• A nurse prescriber
• A specialist in a clinical are such as diabetes, COPD, chronic disease management or minor ailments
• A nurse practitioner or advanced nurse practitioner
• Mental health nurses also benefit from being part of a professional network of colleagues, all sharing experiences and putting learning into practice.

Search and apply for nursing jobs in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. 

Healthcare assistants

Healthcare assistants are essential members of the team in every practice. Supervised by a practice nurse, they care for patients directly and carry out assessments, diagnostic tests and some treatments. Their work supports and enables the care delivered by the rest of the team.

Healthcare assistant duties may include:

• Undertaking health checks / new patient checks
• Restocking consulting rooms
• Processing lab samples
• Taking blood samples
• Other health promotion or health education work
• Maintaining patient records
• Ongoing monitoring of patients with long term conditions
• Vaccinations and other routine injections
• Routine measurements such as blood pressure, height, weight, ECG, spirometry and peak flow

Learning and development for Healthcare Assistants

Healthcare assistants are encouraged and supported to grow their skills and qualifications. This may include in-house or external training as part of your overall continuous professional development. The CEPN also offer many development opportunities for healthcare assistants: https://www.cepnbnssg.co.uk

Search and apply for healthcare assistants jobs in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.