Clare Holland House provides specialist palliative care services across the ACT, including home-based, inpatient and outpatient services, as well as outreach to Residential Aged Care Facilities and North Canberra Hospital.

The Home Based Palliative Care (HBPC) team delivers expert, holistic care to patients with life limiting illnesses who require specialist symptom management, end of life care, and psychosocial support in their place of residence. Care is delivered in partnership with patients, families, carers, and the wider healthcare system to optimise comfort, dignity, and quality of life.

The Registered Nurse (Level 2) is a key member of the multidisciplinary team and is responsible for providing high quality, evidence based, and person centered nursing care in the community setting. The role requires a high level of clinical competence, critical thinking, autonomy, and effective collaboration across professional and service boundaries.

1. Deliver safe, compassionate, and high‑quality patient‑centred care using the nursing process, consistent with CHS values and contemporary palliative care standards.
2. Practice autonomously in the community environment, demonstrating effective time management, organisational skills, and flexibility to meet changing service and patient needs.
3. Collaborate effectively with the multidisciplinary team, patients, families, carers, general practitioners, and external service providers to support coordinated care delivery.
4. Undertake comprehensive clinical assessments, triage referrals, and prioritise workload in response to competing and often urgent clinical demands.
5. Provide timely telephone‑based clinical advice, assessment, documentation, and escalation in accordance with service protocols.
6. Apply critical thinking, problem‑solving, and negotiation skills to support complex clinical decision‑making and care planning.
7. Works across palliative care services at Clare Holland House and on call to meet operation demand when required.
8. Escalate clinical concerns appropriately and work operationally under the guidance of the Team Leader and Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC).
9. Participate in and contribute to education activities, including preceptorship, informal teaching, and education for staff, patients, families, and carers.
10. Contribute to quality improvement initiatives, including clinical audits, policy and procedure review and development, and implementation of evidence‑based practice.
11. Maintain accurate and timely clinical documentation and contribute to operational reporting and data collection requirements.
12. Comply with all organisational policies, procedures, professional standards, and legislative requirements.
13. Undertake other duties equal with the responsibilities and classification level that support the effective operation of the service.

• Practices independently and autonomously within scope, seeking guidance and support when required.
• Demonstrates the ability to manage and prioritise competing clinical demands calmly and effectively while maintaining high standards of care and accuracy.
• Applies evidence based practice and clinical guidelines to achieve positive outcomes for patients and families experiencing complex and unpredictable care needs.
• Provides leadership in clinical decision‑making and contributes actively to multidisciplinary team discussions and care coordination.
• Is accountable for the delivery of safe, high‑quality clinical practice and the provision of professional nursing advice.
• Identifies, selects, implements, and evaluates nursing interventions in situations with less predictable outcomes.
• Functions effectively in complex and emotionally challenging clinical situations, providing support, guidance, and reassurance to patients, families, and less experienced staff.
• Demonstrates understanding of risk identification, mitigation, and safe practice principles within the community and home based care environment.
• Adheres to professional standards, clinical protocols, policies, procedures, and relevant legislation at all times.
• Manages confidential and sensitive information ethically and professionally while working toward positive outcomes for people accessing the service.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Current registration as a Registered Nurse, or eligibility for registration, with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), with no conditions that would impede practice.
• Holds a current Australian Driver’s License and is willing and able to undertake travel required for community‑based care delivery.
• Demonstrated understanding of, or ability to apply, the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards relevant to the role.

Desirable

• Holds, or is actively working towards, a relevant postgraduate qualification (e.g. Palliative Care, Oncology, Community Health, or related field).
• Formal training or professional development relevant to specialist palliative care, symptom management, or end‑of‑life care.
• Knowledge of contemporary palliative care frameworks and models of care within a public health setting.

Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to the following.

Essential

• Demonstrated clinical nursing experience in a relevant healthcare setting, such as community nursing, acute care, aged care, oncology, or palliative care.
• Experience prioritising and responding to competing and often urgent clinical demands.
• Demonstrated experience in multidisciplinary team collaboration and care coordination.
• Experience or working knowledge of clinical governance, safety and quality frameworks, and risk identification within healthcare settings.
• Fulfil the responsibilities of this role in alignment to the CHS Exceptional Care Framework and all other related frameworks.

Desirable

• Previous experience in specialist palliative care, end‑of‑life care, home‑based care, or Residential Aged Care Facility outreach services.
• Experience providing telephone‑based clinical advice, triage, and documentation.
• Experience supporting patients and families through complex psychosocial, emotional, and end‑of‑life care needs.
• Experience delivering patient‑centred care to individuals with complex, chronic, or life‑limiting conditions.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously and manage a clinical caseload within a community or non‑traditional clinical environment.

• Pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.
• Work a rotating roster, including Monday to Sunday with morning and evening shifts

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

1. Demonstrated ability to deliver high quality, safe, evidence based nursing care, including comprehensive assessment and clinical decision making for patients with complex and/or deteriorating health needs in community settings.
2. Well developed interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build rapport, liaise effectively, negotiate, and manage sensitive situations with patients, families, carers, and multidisciplinary teams to achieve safe and appropriate outcomes.
3. Demonstrated ability to work flexibly and autonomously, with minimal supervision, to manage competing clinical priorities and respond effectively to changing and often urgent patient care demands.
4. Demonstrated ability to contribute to education delivery, quality improvement, and policy or procedure development, with strong verbal and written communication skills, including effective clinical documentation and use of digital systems.
5. Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to safety, quality, and Work Health and Safety (WHS) principles, with behaviours consistent with CHS values of being reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind, and a focus on positive patient and carer experiences.

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.

Administrative	Frequency
Telephone use	Frequently
General computer use	Frequently
Extensive keying/data entry	Frequently
Graphical/analytical based	Occasionally
Sitting at a desk	Frequently
Standing for long periods	Frequently

Psychosocial demands	Frequency
Distressed People e.g. Emergency or grief situations	Frequently
Aggressive & Uncooperative People e.g. drug / alcohol, dementia, mental illness	Occasionally
Unpredictable People e.g. Dementia, mental illness, head injuries	Occasionally
Restraining e.g. involvement in physical containment of clients/consumers	Never
Exposure to Distressing Situations e.g. Child abuse, viewing dead / mutilated bodies; verbal abuse; domestic violence; suicide	Occasionally

Physical demands	Frequency
Distance walking (large buildings or inter-building transit)	Never
Working outdoors	Never

Manual handling	Frequency
Lifting 0 - 9kg	Occasionally
Lifting 10 - 15kg	Occasionally
Lifting 16kg+	Never
Climbing	Never
Running	Never
Reaching	Occasionally
Kneeling	Occasionally
Foot and leg movement	Occasionally
Hand, arm and grasping movements	Frequently
Bending/squatting	Frequently
Bend/Lean Forward from Waist/Trunk twisting	Occasionally
Push/pull	Occasionally
Sequential repetitive movements in a short amount of time	Frequently

Travel	Frequency
Frequent travel – multiple work sites	Frequently
Frequent travel – driving	Frequently

Specific hazards	Frequency
Working at heights	Never
Exposure to extreme temperatures	Never
Operation of heavy machinery e.g. forklift	Never
Confined spaces	Never
Excessive noise	Occasionally
Low lighting	Occasionally
Handling of dangerous goods/equipment e.g. gases; liquids; biological.	Occasionally
Slippery or uneven surfaces	Occasionally