Lead Nurse Children in Care

Job overview

The Children in Care team provide high quality proactive health care to children and young people to enhance their health and wellbeing. This is a statutory service provided by a small multi-disciplinary team but works closely with North Tyneside and Northumberland local authorities and integrated care boards.

The team delivers a high standard of clinical care and assessments to address health inequalities and promote a healthy lifestyle for all children in care.

We are looking for someone who can communicate and collaborate in an engaging way with young people. We want someone who can maintain emotional resilience and remain child-centred when working with vulnerable children and young people. Excellent organisational and problem-solving skills are a must as you will be working in an environment where creativity on increasing engagement with young people in their health choices is vital.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the team to experience and learn within the role for 1 year. We want someone with good professional practice who wants to make a difference to these young people's long-term health outcomes. We are a small friendly, flexible team with a passion for well-being and achieving a healthy life and work balance.

For more information about this role, please see the attached job description and person specification.

Main duties of the job

To provide both a direct clinical service to children in care and  advice and support to a range of professionals from statutory and voluntary agencies, carers and parents involved in their care

To provide a health promotion and advisory role for care leavers to promote an effective and smooth transition into adulthood.

To lead, manage and co-ordinate the assessment, planning, delivery and evaluation of health care provision to all children in care

To have key health worker responsibility for a small caseload

To support the Named and Specialist Nurses to provide services of a high quality that are evidence based and responsive to the needs of the population

To work with key stakeholders to improve the health outcomes and life chances for children in care

Assist in the development, delivery and evaluation of specialist training with regard to children in care to NHCFT staff, foster carers, young people, care leavers and staff employed by other agencies.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Communications and Relationships

Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive and contentious information from Multi agency partners daily.

Ability to communicate effectively, highly complex and highly sensitive information in a manner that is appropriate to the needs, of the following people:

Professional colleagues working in the multi-agency arena

Young people with additional needs

Families, carers and other members of the public

This will involve overcoming barriers such as lack of engagement, hostility and volatility from parents and young people and conflicting opinions with professional colleagues

Provide expert advice to staff employed by NHCFT and other agencies, e.g. Children’s Social Care including education, residential children’s homes, foster carers, and parents / carers. This is to ensure that the health needs of the child / young person are fully understood and that care plans reflect opportunities for optimum development through childhood and into adulthood

Liaise with Children’s Social Care and other agencies over health assessments and personal health plans for out of area placements

Ability to analyse information into written child health records in accordance with trust and NMC policy

Ability to manage hostile, unpredictable, antagonistic or volatile situations effectively and safely, using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills

Participation in regular Multi agency meetings to discuss the emotional well-being of children in care

Participation in regular supervision that will provide support and recognise the emotional impact of working consistently with this vulnerable group.

Analytical Skills

Contribute to an analysis of the range of health needs for children in care i.e. health needs analysis

Contribute to the production and analysis of health data

Contribute to the children in care audit plan

Provide a high level of clinical judgment and decision-making during assessment and case planning during health assessments, during supervision with staff and when giving advice

Use of skilled analysis of complex facts and situations which are highly emotive when making judgments to ensure the child’s safety and welfare for example when making extremely difficult decisions in relation to the future for children who have suffered or who are at risk of abuse or neglect. This will include giving a view on whether or not it is safe for the child to return to their carers and this view would need to be explained to the parents, the child and the professionals present at the meeting.

Work in partnership with other agencies, providing assessment and intervention as appropriate within the review process

Ability to explain and justify your professional opinion, including when professionals from other agencies may have differing views. The information discussed is frequently highly emotive and provided by various staff from several agencies and / or the parents or extended family members

Exercise accountability as set out in the NMC code of professional conduct.

Planning & Organisational Skills

Ability to plan and organise own tasks considering the service needs, diversity of travel and unpredictability of demand

Ability to plan and organise the tasks of the health administrators in the team as required

Ability to work flexibly to respond to competing priorities

Contribute to specialised training programs a year ahead, which includes multi agency training plans, considering changing demands

Act as an autonomous practitioner managing your own caseload, making decisions to prioritise client need, following trust and NMC guidelines and policy.

Manage and lead staff as appropriate within own team supervise their work and participate in appraisal process.

Be responsible for the safe use and security of equipment and resources used in the course of work

Physical Skills

Competent key board skills acquired through general use

Ability to carry to home visits (scales and height measurer)

To be aware of lone working policy and ensuring personal safety during home visits

It is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving licence and is either a car owner and able to use the car for work purposes or has a Trust personal lease vehicle which may be used for the role. However, the Trust would consider making reasonable adjustments to the role, if necessary, to enable a disabled person to undertake the role

Patient/Client care

Clinical Work with children, young people and cares

Key health worker responsibility for a small caseload consisting of children in care who are not attending school

Caseload responsibility for assessing, identifying need, implementing evidence-based interventions and evaluating the outcomes

Lead on the delivery of the Healthy Child program for the young people who are part of the caseload

Provide an expert young person and family centred public health response based on assessed and identified need and implement interventions to support the young person / family

Provide health interventions on an individual basis to young people, care leavers, parents and carers

Attend, submit reports and effectively contribute to multi-agency Child protection Strategy and Looked After Review meetings regarding the young people who are part of the caseload.

This will involve ensuring that the young person’s health needs are fully understood, contributing to the analysis of risk which involves the analysis of highly complex and highly sensitive information and the development / review of plans to protect the young person and promote their welfare. The risks to be analysed are often in relation to high risk-taking behaviour e.g. misuse of drugs, alcohol, sexual risks, ‘missing from home’ and domestic violence.

Work with staff employed by NHCFT and other agencies

Ensure implementation of health plans for individual children (special schools)

The post holder will be a source for professional knowledge, guidance and advice to staff employed by the Trust and those employed by other agencies; outcomes for the child / young person

Communicate daily with other agencies and NHS organisations to ensure that highly complex and highly sensitive health information is fully understood

Collaborate and liaise with other professionals demonstrating and providing knowledge across a wide range of work procedures and practices underpinned by theory, evidence base and relevant practice experience

Participate in the regular meeting with Psychologists to discuss the Emotional wellbeing of children

Policy & Service Development

Develop and update protocols and Standard Operating Procedures for use within the service and within other services provided by the Trust

Contribute to the development of audits to ensure that practice is quality assured, effective and in line with Standards and procedures. Propose and Implement action plans to strengthen and maintain service delivery.

Raise any area of concern relating to non-compliance with Standards and procedures with the staff member, escalating concerns as appropriate.

Contribute to the development of practice and procedures within the service and those that other NHCFT services provide

Financial & Physical Resources

Responsible for the safe use of equipment and resources including portable equipment e.g. laptops / mobile phone

Human Resources

Be involved in the recruitment and selection of staff

Manage and lead junior staff or admin as appropriate within own team supervise their work and participate in appraisal process

Information Resources

Record and update patient and staff electronic and paper records in line with NMC and Trust policy

Able to use and maintain multiple IT systems and data bases to support work and training

Assist in the provision of accurate performance data for children in care, including awareness of key performance indicators

Research & Development

Contribute to audit relevant for own role

Freedom to Act

Manage and prioritise own work following Trust policies and procedures

Act as an autonomous practitioner, using initiative and acting independently within Trust guidelines