Clinical Nurse Specialist

Job overview

An exciting opportunity for the post of Clinical Nurse Specialist has become vacant within Adult Community Mental Health Services in St Albans

• Taking responsibility for making a significant contribution to the nursing input, participating fully in the referral and allocation process, assessments, treatment, risk management, safeguarding vulnerable children and adults, care coordination of service users as well as contributing to case discussions and service related meetings.
• offering consultations and supervision to colleagues and students as well as staff in other services.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will take responsibility for making a significant contribution to the delivery of high quality nursing care within the service. The role involves full participation in referral triage and allocation processes; undertaking comprehensive assessments; planning and delivering evidence based treatment and care interventions; and leading on risk assessment, risk management.

The post holder will provide senior clinical governance and leadership for nurse led clinics, including Depot, Clozapine, Olanzapine, and Physical Health Clinics.

Work in partnership with Matrons to ensure consistent, high quality nursing practice and the safe use of high risk medications.

Lead audit, quality improvement, and incident learning, ensuring clinical documentation and pathways meet professional, legal, and organisational standards.

The post holder will be responsible for professional decision making, including the investigation and management of safeguarding concerns, and oversight of safeguarding responsibilities for vulnerable children and adults.

The post holder will coordinate care for a defined caseload of service users, contributing to multidisciplinary case discussions, clinical decision making, and service related meetings, while supporting the ongoing development and effectiveness of the service.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Provide the nursing perspective to the clinical work of the team and to the delivery of all aspects of the service, advising on the appropriateness of referrals for a nursing oriented approach, and maintaining a small clinical caseload of highly complex and demanding cases.

To provide a highly specialist, holistic assessment of referrals in order to formulate and implement plans for the treatment and management of care based on an appropriate conceptual framework employing research based evidence.

To use highly specialist knowledge and experience to identify, analyse and interpret highly complex problem behaviour and inter-actionable patterns making appropriate 4 formulations to prioritise, engage and intervene effectively to assist service users, carers and families.

To provide highly specialist nursing (and multi-modality) guidance, advice and consultation to the multidisciplinary team, contributing expertise to the treatment formulations.

To support alternatives where possible, to prevent in-patient admission and possible disengagement with the service by specialist and flexible outreach in service users’ homes.

To provide a care package which offers the most effective therapeutic response to service users and their families and, where appropriate, working jointly and collaboratively with other clinicians in the multi-disciplinary team.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification attached herewith for full particulars.