Dental Nurse
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£2.1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 14,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.
We encourage all our staff to have a healthy work/life balance. In doing so, you can apply for flexible working from the beginning of your employment. We offer a range of options which are designed to suit different circumstances and priorities in line with service requirements.
Job overview
King’s College Hospital’s Department of Community Special Care Dentistry is split into 3 geographical Lots and covers the boroughs of Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Merton Sutton and Croydon, Kingston and Richmond and Wandsworth. The main roles of our service are:
• The monitoring of the dental health of all age groups in the population.
• The provision of dental health education and preventive programmes.
• The provision of facilities for a full range of treatment to patients who have experienced difficulty in obtaining treatment in the general dental service, or for whom there is evidence that they would not otherwise seek treatment from the general dental services. Including one or more of the following;
- physical disability
- complex medical condition
- learning disability
- severe mental health condition
- Severe anxiety/phobia.
- Children with complex dental needs
We also provide domiciliary care to people unable to leave their home and our mobile dental unit visits shelters for people without housing.
You would be expected to:
• Provide a high level of dental nursing care for all patients. Explain dental procedures/treatment to patients or carers
• Deliver a high standard of chairside assistance supporting all grades of clinicians. Maintaining a high level of infection control.
• Responsible for the day-to-day running of the dental clinic.
• Working across all King’s sites, whilst Dental Nurses are based in one clinic they are expected to work across multiple sites
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Main Duties and Responsibilities
Clinical Responsibilities
• Receiving and preparing patients for their visit; at any setting, and for any appointment type including treatment under conscious sedation.
• Assisting clinicians in the full range of dental treatment and procedures, ensuring that relevant information about the patient, including any change in his/her condition, is reported to the dentist.
• Checking patients' fitness for discharge after extractions/sedation. Providing pre and post-operative care.
• Preparation and participation in domiciliary care for elderly and patients who have difficulty in leaving their homes. Being aware of your surroundings and the property of the patient.
• Giving patients, parents or carers oral hygiene instruction and advice.
• Supporting patients with compassion and empathy throughout their dental journey.
• Processing and mounting of radiographs. To clean, maintain and test processor according to agreed procedures.
• Management of surgery clinical waste, dealing appropriately and safely with hazardous or toxic waste materials
• Disinfecting and packaging dental laboratory work and arranging collection
• Monitoring, maintaining, testing and reporting faults on equipment and medical devices including decontamination equipment
Working for our organisation
The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King’s to another level.
We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.
King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Administrative Responsibilities
• Undertake general reception duties including arranging transport and appointments, dealing with
complaints compassionately.
• Ordering and receipting stock for the clinic. Maintaining appropriate stock controls.
• Ordering pharmacy items and emergency drugs for the dental clinics.
• Ensuring all pharmaceutical items and emergency drugs are within expiry dates, stored at appropriate
temperatures and locations and reviewed weekly.
Operational Performance
• Acting as relief dental nurse at other clinics on occasion.
• Being an active participant in audit, daily huddles, clinic meetings, staff meetings, performance
review and training.
• Assisting in dental screening and epidemiological fieldwork in schools.
• Working with and supporting/supervising anyone visiting the clinic in a training capacity.
• Any other duties as directed, delegated or requested.
Education and Training
• Maintain statutory and mandatory training records including, Basic Life Support, Fire, Manual
Handling, Health & Safety, Infection control and Safeguarding
• Maintain up to date and accurate records of all CPD training
• Annually submits a CPD declaration to the General Dental Council; maintaining fitness to practice.
• Annually renews registration with the GDC and provides a copy of the certificate on request
• Participate in ongoing performance review.
Governance / Quality Control
• Participate in audit
• Adhere to department infection prevention control and decontamination policy and follow the uniform
policy
• Keeping your DBS certificate valid.
General
• The post holder has a general duty of care for their own health, safety and wellbeing and that of work
colleagues, visitors and patients.
• To observe the rules, policies, procedures and standards of King's College Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust together with all relevant statutory and professional obligations.
• We want to be an organization where everyone shares a commitment to delivering the very best
care and feels like their contribution is valuable and valued.
• At King’s we are a kind, respectful team:
Kind. We show compassion and understanding and bring a positive attitude to our work
Respectful. We promote equality, are inclusive and honest, speaking up when needed
Team. We support each other, communicate openly, and are reassuringly professional
• To observe and maintain strict confidentiality of personal information relating to patients and staff.
• This job description is intended as a guide to the general scope of duties and is not intended to be
definitive or restrictive. It is expected that some of the duties will change over time and this description
will be subject to review in consultation with the post holder.
• All employees must hold an 'nhs.net' email account which will be the Trust's formal route for email
communication.
• Everyone is responsible for promoting inclusion no matter their role or team. At King’s, we want to
create an environment where everyone feels valued, respected and welcomed
IMPORTANT
- Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you
- If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications
- To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert
- Please provide email addresses for referees where possible
- Click here to see the range of benefits we offer
- Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust’s criminal records checking policy
- All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
- Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
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Relying too much on AI can negatively impact your chances of success because automatically generated answers:
- might not be specific or relevant enough to address the criteria in the recruitment profile
- often seem generic and not personalised enough – an AI response won’t show your unique voice and perspective
- could misrepresent information about you, such as your qualifications, skills and experience
We monitor applications for any behaviour that could create an unfair advantage, and we check all references carefully. You are likely to be tested on your experience at interview, so be honest and make sure all the information in your application is correct.
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Annual Reports and Other Corporate Publications
King's Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre Website
King's College Hospital is part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), a pioneering collaboration between King's College London, and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts.