• Nurs­es Award 2020 (Cth) Lev­el 4 and gen­er­ous iso­la­tion allowance up to $180K depend­ing on qual­i­fi­ca­tions and experience
• 2 weeks iso­la­tion leave every 8 weeks work­ing. Annu­al leave extra.
• Job shar­ing arrange­ments welcome

The Organ­i­sa­tion – Spinifex Health Service

Paupiyala Tjarut­ja Abo­rig­i­nal Cor­po­ra­tion (PTAC) is the com­mu­ni­ty con­trolled organ­i­sa­tion respon­si­ble for the day-to-day oper­a­tion of com­mu­ni­ty ser­vices in Tjun­tjun­t­jara. The health ser­vice is a busi­ness unit of PTAC and trades as Spinifex Health Ser­vice (SHS).

SHS is respon­si­ble for the deliv­ery of com­pre­hen­sive pri­ma­ry health care ser­vices incor­po­rat­ing clin­ic ser­vices aimed at acute care, pre­ven­tion and ear­ly inter­ven­tion as well as health pro­mo­tion and broad­er pub­lic health response activ­i­ties. Key pro­gram areas include child and mater­nal health, chron­ic dis­ease, sex­u­al and repro­duc­tive health, aged care and dis­abil­i­ty, alco­hol, tobac­co and oth­er drugs and men­tal health/​social and emo­tion­al well-being. The organ­i­sa­tion endors­es the use of the Remote Pri­ma­ry Health Care Man­u­als suite (CARPA) and a num­ber of local pro­to­cols for the pro­vi­sion of nurse-led, col­lab­o­ra­tive care.

Tak­ing a holis­tic view of health, the SHS recog­nis­es the impor­tance of the upstream social, cul­tur­al and envi­ron­men­tal deter­mi­nants of health and under­takes an advo­ca­cy role to address these. The organ­i­sa­tion also recog­nis­es the impor­tance of sus­tain­able staffing mod­els that pro­mote the estab­lish­ment of long-term ther­a­peu­tic rela­tion­ships and a deep­er under­stand­ing of com­mu­ni­ty, ben­e­fit­ting both staff and com­mu­ni­ty. Sim­i­lar­ly, the safe­ty of staff is a pri­or­i­ty and staff are sup­port­ed to ensure that no call-outs are attend­ed alone.

The Role

This posi­tion involves pro­gram man­age­ment, team lead­er­ship and clin­i­cal care deliv­ery, includ­ing par­tic­i­pa­tion in the on-call, after-hours ros­ter. Using and pro­mot­ing evi­­dence-based, cul­tur­al­ly safe and trau­ma informed approach­es to the pro­vi­sion of care, the Clin­i­cal Ser­vices Man­ag­er is respon­si­ble for co-ordi­­nat­ing, lead­ing and super­vis­ing the clin­i­cal team and day-to-day oper­a­tions of the clin­ic. A key respon­si­bil­i­ty of the posi­tion is to address clin­i­cal gov­er­nance needs at an oper­a­tional lev­el and main­tain a pro­gram of con­tin­u­ous qual­i­ty improve­ment in the workplace.

Key Respon­si­bil­i­ties

• Cul­tur­al Safety
• Engage with indi­vid­u­als in a cul­tur­al­ly safe and respect­ful man­ner, fos­ter­ing open and hon­est pro­fes­sion­al rela­tion­ships through both-ways approach­es to learning 
• Pro­vide holis­tic care that free of bias, racism, and chal­lenges assump­tions, ensur­ing cul­tur­al safe­ty and respect­ful for Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peoples.
• Advo­cate for and active­ly work to facil­i­tate equi­table access to qual­i­ty and cul­tur­al­ly safe health ser­vices for Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peoples.
• Recog­nise and respect the impor­tance of fam­i­ly, com­mu­ni­ty, part­ner­ship and col­lab­o­ra­tion in health­care deci­­sion-mak­ing for Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peoples.
• Devel­op a crit­i­cal con­scious­ness of your own social loca­tion and pow­er, under­stand­ing how this may impact pro­fes­sion­al relationships.
• Sup­port and assist oth­ers in rais­ing aware­ness and devel­op­ing cul­tur­al­ly safe and respect­ful ways of work­ing with­in the health­care setting.
• Clin­i­cal Care
• Man­age and pro­mote the devel­op­ment of a best-prac­tice com­pre­hen­sive Pri­ma­ry Health Care (PHC) service.
• Pro­vide clin­i­cal super­vi­sion and lead­er­ship to Remote Area Nurs­es (RANs) & Abo­rig­i­nal Health Prac­ti­tion­ers (AHPs)/Aboriginal Health Work­ers (AHWs) to pro­mote evi­­dence-based nurse-led pri­ma­ry health care, acute and emer­gency care.
• Demon­strate and pro­mote the use of the RAN Mod­el of Consultation.
• Lead and co-ordi­­nate the pro­vi­sion of com­plex, care co-ordination.
• Direct and sup­port the SHS Clin­i­cal Team to in ensure effec­tive man­age­ment of patient trav­el and logis­tics relat­ed to exter­nal appointments. 
• Co-ordi­­nate vis­it­ing med­ical spe­cial­ist and allied health team visits.
• Co-ordi­­nate and del­e­gate the pro­vi­sion of Immu­ni­sa­tion ser­vices, ensur­ing adher­ence to the WA Immu­ni­sa­tion Sched­ule and COVID-19 Immu­ni­sa­tion rec­om­men­da­tions are fol­lowed, where possible.
• Ensure the cold chain process is rig­or­ous­ly adhered to, and report any breach­es in a time­ly manner.
• Act as the clients’ advo­cate and pro­tect the rights of indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing open dis­cus­sions as part of the Aus­tralian Open Dis­clo­sure Framework.
• Main­tain over­sight of order­ing and stock man­age­ment process­es, ensur­ing the health cen­tre and phar­ma­cy are ade­quate­ly and appro­pri­ate­ly stocked with med­i­cines, med­ical and non-med­i­cal sup­plies, and immunisations
• Ensure con­fi­den­tial­i­ty is main­tained in accor­dance with the Pri­va­cy Act 1998 (Cth).

Con­tin­u­ous Qual­i­ty Improve­ment & Qual­i­ty Assurance

• Estab­lish a team approach to con­tin­u­ous qual­i­ty improve­ment (CQI).
• In col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Clin­i­cal Gov­er­nance Com­mit­tee par­tic­i­pate in the review and imple­men­ta­tion of organ­i­sa­tion­al clin­i­cal poli­cies ensur­ing com­pli­ance with evi­­dence-based guide­lines and rel­e­vant nation­al standards.

Health Infor­ma­tion Management

• Utilise the SHS Clin­i­cal Infor­ma­tion Sys­tem (Com­mu­ni­care) for the record­ing of all client health infor­ma­tion, includ­ing recalls, refer­rals and communication.
• With sup­port of the Clin­i­cal Gov­er­nance Com­mit­tee, main­tain over­sight of all cur­rent Com­mu­ni­care user del­e­ga­tions and permissions.
• Con­duct reg­u­lar Com­mu­ni­care user audits in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Health Ser­vice Man­ag­er and Med­ical Direc­tor to ensure com­pli­ance with rel­e­vant stan­dards and guidelines.
• Co-ordi­­nate and/​or pro­vide reg­u­lar Com­mu­ni­care upskilling/​training for staff.
• Reg­u­lar­ly review ser­vice deliv­ery data to ensure com­pli­ance with pro­gram key per­for­mance indicators.
• Assist the SHS Health Ser­vice Man­ag­er with the col­lec­tion and analy­sis of pro­gram relat­ed per­for­mance, out­puts and out­comes for the pur­pos­es of pro­gram mon­i­tor­ing, report­ing and evaluation.
• Ensure that all Health Infor­ma­tion is man­aged in accor­dance with rel­e­vant leg­is­la­tion, prac­tice stan­dards and organ­i­sa­tion­al poli­cies and procedures.

Pro­gram Delivery

• Man­age the clin­ic staff ros­ter and after hours ros­ter to ensure ade­quate and equi­table staffing as per pro­gram requirements.
• Co-ordi­­nate the ori­en­ta­tion and induc­tion of all new clin­i­cal team mem­bers, includ­ing train­ing in the use of Communicare.
• Main­tain over­sight of Medicare Ben­e­fit Scheme (MBS), PIP, WIP claim­ing process­es and pro­mote increased under­stand­ing and use of MBS items by clin­ic staff. 
• Assist PTAC and SHS Man­age­ment and clin­i­cal teams in plan­ning and deliv­er­ing spe­cial pro­grams on the Spinifex Lands (i.e. Women’s health camps, on-coun­try par­ent­ing sup­port pro­grams, health pro­mo­tion activ­i­ties etc.). 
• Estab­lish and lead reg­u­lar clin­ic team meetings.
• Co-ordi­­nate the allo­ca­tion of key health pro­gram activ­i­ties to direct reports based on ser­vice deliv­ery require­ments, staff skills and knowledge.

Edu­ca­tion

• Enhance the knowl­edge and skills of RANs and AHP/​AHWs in the pro­vi­sion of com­pre­hen­sive pri­ma­ry health care.
• Pro­vide high qual­i­ty, evi­­dence-based health edu­ca­tion to indi­vid­u­als and groups.
• Col­lab­o­rate with SHS staff to source and/​or devel­op appro­pri­ate, cul­tur­al­ly safe and inno­v­a­tive health education/​promotion resources to improve health literacy.
• Estab­lish a reg­u­lar staff in-ser­vice train­ing pro­gram util­is­ing indi­vid­ual exper­tise and lever­ag­ing the knowl­edge of oth­ers, includ­ing the Med­ical Direc­tor, KWHA Vis­it­ing health team, and online edu­ca­tion ses­sions pro­vid­ed by Rur­al Health West, WAPHA, and WACHS)Communication

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion

• Com­mu­ni­cate effec­tive­ly and cour­te­ous­ly with con­sumers, staff and inter­nal / exter­nal stakeholders.
• Com­mu­ni­cate rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion to SHS man­age­ment and the SHS clin­i­cal team regard­ing clin­i­cal and organ­i­sa­tion­al issues.
• Devel­op and main­tain con­nec­tions with oth­er agen­cies to con­tribute to improved ser­vice deliv­ery and out­comes in remote pri­ma­ry health care.
• Attend rel­e­vant inter­nal and exter­nal stake­hold­er meet­ings (in per­son or via tele­con­fer­enc­ing) and pro­vide input when­ev­er possible

Pro­fes­sion­al Development

• Demon­strate an ongo­ing com­mit­ment to pro­fes­sion­al development.
• Atten­dance at train­ing ses­sions offered by SHS, PTAC and Pila Nguru.
• Annu­al­ly, reflec­tive­ly map own prac­tice against the Nation­al Frame­work for Rur­al and Remote Gen­er­al­ist Nurs­ing domains and capa­bil­i­ty prac­tice levels.
• Ini­ti­ate own per­for­mance appraisal and set objec­tives in liai­son with the SHS Health Ser­vice Man­ag­er and Med­ical Director.
• Achieve annu­al manda­to­ry com­pe­ten­cies and CPD require­ments, assum­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty for record maintenance.
• Plan and con­duct pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment reviews with direct reports, with sup­port from HR and the Health Ser­vice Manager.
• Assist RANs in under­stand­ing the Nation­al Frame­work for Rur­al and Remote Gen­er­al­ist Nurs­ing Domains and capa­bil­i­ty prac­tice lev­els to iden­ti­fy pri­or­i­ties for pro­fes­sion­al learn­ing and support

Occu­pa­tion­al Safe­ty and health

• Pro­mote a safe work­ing envi­ron­ment and cul­ture in accor­dance with leg­isla­tive requirements.
• Adheres to Work, Health and Safe­ty leg­is­la­tion and guide­lines and ensure col­leagues do the same.
• Recog­nise haz­ards in the work­ing envi­ron­ment and take appro­pri­ate action.
• Report all inci­dents as per organ­i­sa­tion­al inci­dent report­ing pro­ce­dures and com­plete all documentation.

Oth­er Duties

• Rep­re­sent SHS in all mat­ters in a pro­fes­sion­al, eth­i­cal and client focused manner.
• Per­form oth­er duties rel­e­vant to the posi­tion as direct­ed by the SHS Gen­er­al Man­ag­er or Med­ical Director.

SELEC­TION CRITERIA

Essen­tial

• Cur­rent AHPRA reg­is­tra­tion and annu­al prac­tic­ing cer­tifi­cate as a Reg­is­tered Nurse.
• At least two year’s expe­ri­ence in the man­age­ment and/​or co-ordi­­na­­tion of clin­i­cal ser­vices or programs.
• Sig­nif­i­cant, recent expe­ri­ence in the pro­vi­sion of com­plex chron­ic care co-ordination.
• Recent expe­ri­ence and capa­bil­i­ty in the pro­vi­sion of acute and emer­gency care.
• Self-mapped Nation­al Rur­al and Remote Nurs­ing Gen­er­al­ist Frame­work Domains of Prac­tice at Inter­me­di­ate or Pro­fi­cient lev­el for major­i­ty of capabilities.
• Recent and proven sig­nif­i­cant expe­ri­ence in work­ing in remote Abo­rig­i­nal com­mu­ni­ties or sim­i­lar cross-cul­­tur­al settings.
• Demon­strat­ed expe­ri­ence in the pro­vi­sion of edu­ca­tion and train­ing and the abil­i­ty to trans­fer knowl­edge and skills to col­leagues in the mul­ti-dis­­­ci­­pli­­nary health team, health care con­sumers and com­mu­ni­ty members.
• Demon­strat­ed under­stand­ing of pri­ma­ry health care, pub­lic health and com­mu­ni­ty devel­op­ment principles.
• An under­stand­ing of trau­­ma-informed approach­es to care.
• Proven abil­i­ty to be self-direc­t­ed, self-moti­­vat­ed as well as effec­tive­ly lead­ing a team.
• High lev­el of inter­per­son­al, writ­ten and oral com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills.
• Demon­strat­ed under­stand­ing of Medicare Ben­e­fits Sched­ule as it applies to pri­ma­ry health care.
• Cur­rent Advanced Life Sup­port (ALS1) cer­tifi­cate (or abil­i­ty to obtain before employ­ment commences).
• Com­ple­tion of WA approved Immu­ni­sa­tion provider train­ing (SA Health Under­stand­ing Vac­cines and the Nation­al Immu­ni­sa­tion Pro­gram) with­in pre­vi­ous 2 years or will­ing­ness to obtain before com­mence­ment of role.
• Abil­i­ty to trav­el to remote loca­tions on the Spinifex Lands by 4WD when required.
• Knowl­edge and com­mit­ment to evi­­dence-based prac­tice and qual­i­ty improvement.
• Demon­strat­ed com­mit­ment to pro­fes­sion­al self-care.
• Abil­i­ty to work out­side nor­mal work­ing hours when required.
• Com­put­er and elec­tron­ic health infor­ma­tion sys­tem literacy.
• A cur­rent West­ern Aus­tralian Work­ing with Chil­dren Check.
• A Nation­al Police Clear­ance (not more than 2 years old).
• Aus­tralian cit­i­zen­ship, per­ma­nent res­i­dence sta­tus or appro­pri­ate work visa.
• A cur­rent man­u­al driver’s licence.

High­ly Desirable

• Expe­ri­ence as Com­mu­ni­care Sys­tems Administrator.
• Post-grad­u­ate qual­i­fi­ca­tions in Remote Health Prac­tice, Health Management/​Leadership, Pub­lic Health, Pri­ma­ry Health Care or relat­ed field.
• Some lan­guage skills in Pit­jan­t­jat­jara or will­ing­ness to learn the language.
• Past par­tic­i­pa­tion or expe­ri­ence in health ser­vice accred­i­ta­tion processes.

Addi­tion­al Information

The Peo­ple – Spinifex People
For more than 600 gen­er­a­tions and over 20,000 years the Great Vic­to­ria Desert, strad­dling the WA/SA bor­der, has been occu­pied by South­ern Pit­jan­t­jat­jara peo­ple, known con­tem­porar­i­ly as the Spinifex Peo­ple. Knowl­edge of coun­try and cul­ture is alive and well among Spinifex Peo­ple and has sup­port­ed a con­nec­tion to coun­try that remained large­ly unbro­ken through the con­tact era of the 1950s to 1970s – bar­ring a 25-year absence (or so it was thought) result­ing from the Mar­alin­ga Atom­ic Tests of the 1950s that caused a move­ment and relo­ca­tion of peo­ple to mis­sions in WA and SA – to this day. Even dur­ing that 25-year peri­od, a Spinifex fam­i­ly remained on Coun­try liv­ing a nomadic, tra­di­tion­al exis­tence until they were met by Elders mov­ing back to Spinifex Coun­try in 1986. This fam­i­ly of 7 tru­ly are the last of the nomads. Now based in the remote com­mu­ni­ty of Tjun­tjun­t­jara, the Spinifex Peo­ple main­tain incred­i­bly strong con­nec­tions to coun­try and culture. 

The com­mu­ni­ty — Tjuntjuntjara

Tjun­tjun­t­jara is a small, very remote (MMM7) Abo­rig­i­nal com­mu­ni­ty locat­ed on the Spinifex Lands in the West­ern Desert region of West­ern Aus­tralia, its remote­ness is one of its strengths. The com­mu­ni­ty has a con­stant pop­u­la­tion of around 200 peo­ple. The com­mu­ni­ty is ser­viced by dirt and 4wd dri­ve tracks to Kal­go­or­lie (at the south­west), Ceduna (at the south­east) and the Anne Bead­ell high­way to the north. There are twice week­ly light air­craft flights into the com­mu­ni­ty oper­at­ed by Char­tAir. Com­mu­ni­ty infra­struc­ture includes the Spinifex Health Ser­vice Clin­ic, a Home and com­mu­ni­ty care cen­tre, a Women’s and Fam­i­ly cen­tre, an art cen­tre, a small store, oper­at­ed by Out­back Stores, a Com­mu­ni­ty Resource Cen­tre, the Paupiyala Tjarut­ja Abo­rig­i­nal Cor­po­ra­tion offices, a work­shop, a Ranger sta­tion and a remote com­mu­ni­ty school. Liquor restric­tions apply in the com­mu­ni­ty. Tjun­tjun­t­jara is a com­mu­ni­ty with a strong cul­tur­al base and good devel­op­ment prospects. 

For fur­ther details please con­tact: Chris Wil­son, man­ag­er, 0466 832 185, manager@​spinifexhealth.​org.​au