Closing date: 18 November 2026
Salary: £47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum pro rata
Band: Band 7
Contract: Fixed term, 24 months
Working pattern: Full-time
Location: SMART Service, Medway Maritime Hospital, Windmill Road, Gillingham, ME7 5NY

We are recruiting for the SMART (Surgical Medical Acute Recovery Team) Service, Nurse Practitioner, who shares our ambition and vision to deliver the Best of Care by the Best People and has the drive to take the service and the Trust forward, by ensuring that we continue to be the first choice for patients.

This Nurse Practitioner role will allow a robust clinical decision to admit all adult patients, who would benefit from being treated at home in SMART virtual bed, as step up and step down straight from all front doors to the hospital and also from the community as admission avoidance.

Main duties of the job
The post holder will exercise complex levels of judgment, discretion and decision making in clinical care. They will monitor and improve standards of care through health assessment, examination, conducting treatments, and planning and evaluating care under the supervision of the Virtual Ward Acute Medical Registrar, Acute Physician Consultants and Clinical Nurse Lead.

The aim is to avoid hospital bed stays and encourage inpatient care at home.

This role ensures a patient-focused programme of care, which addresses the complex and changing health and well-being needs of the client group.

The post holder must have skills and knowledge to identify, assess, diagnose, treat and manage patients with Acute Medical and all surgical specialty needs who require treatment following optimisation on a virtual ward.

Our values are Bold, Every Person Counts, Sharing and Open and Together. It is important that you understand and refer to our values when completing your application and always reflect our values throughout your employment with the Trust.

We are committed to endorsing diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion; our policies and procedures ensure that all applicants are treated fairly at every stage of the recruitment process.

Job responsibilities

• You will triage, assess, plan and implement the care of patients who are transferred home under the care of the SMART service, into a virtual ward in the community. All our patients use remote patient monitoring, hence good clinical knowledge in analysing vital signs and escalating clinical concerns for urgent treatment via our virtual pathway is essential.
• The SMART Service is nurse led, therefore the ability to work autonomously as well as effectively within a team is essential. The work will include driving to visit patients in the community, therefore it is essential that you have a full driving licence and a car.
• Members of SMART work autonomously, therefore we are looking for someone with excellent evidence-based experience in the care of acute patients. Specific training will be provided to facilitate the pathways covered by SMART in the community. Confidence, good communication skills and the ability to make sound decisions are also vital.
• Work in an acute sphere of practice and have current experience of assessing, planning investigations, discussing possible provisional diagnoses, instigating and executing treatment pathways for acutely unwell adult patients from all specialties. We are always very keen to expand the service further, so any new ideas are welcomed.
• To work as a clinically independent and autonomous practitioner, participate in and manage a defined patient caseload, as an all-rounded Surgical and Medical Patient Care Nurse Practitioner in SMART.
• Works with ED/SDEC/Lister Assessment Centre/Hot clinics/SAU/ESAC/Theatre recovery/Interventional radiology and all speciality outpatient departments/inpatient wards and community Virtual wards, to initiate admissions onto the SMART virtual ward, encouraging early supportive discharge and admissions avoidance into acute beds.
• Carries out patient assessment and plans, implements and evaluates the best course of action.
• To provide expert clinical nursing assessment, plan, implement and evaluate comprehensive programmes of professional development, providing highly specialist advice and maintaining associated records, utilising Nurse Practitioner knowledge and skills.
• To provide specialised advice and care either via SMART remote patient technology or face to face in clinic or the patient's home.
• Prescribes for patients within Patient Group Directives (PGDs) according to local and national policies and procedures and as agreed by the SMART Acute Physician Consultant who will be responsible for the patients.

Person specification
Qualifications (Essential):

• RN1 Nurse on the NMC register
• BSc in Emergency Care or Acute Medicine
• Mentorship / teaching qualification

Skills (Essential):

• Clinical leadership skills
• Communication skills, both written, verbal and non-verbal
• Negotiation and conflict management skills

Knowledge (Essential):

• Up to date knowledge of current clinical and professional issues
• Knowledge of evidence-based practice
• Ability to organise and plan own time and that of junior staff and learners
• Clinical examination skills

Experience (Essential):

• Significant post registration experience
• Nurse-led management of acute on chronic conditions
• Able to manage immediate post operative surgical and orthopaedic procedures remotely using remote monitoring pathways

Disclosure and Barring Service check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled Worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (opens in a new tab).

UK registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see the NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer contact: Clinical Nurse Lead, Jackie Hammond, jacqueline.hammond1@nhs.net, 01634974171

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