Nurse for Children in Care

Job overview

An exciting new opportunity has arisen to join our expanding team of nurses within the Integrated Children in Care (CIC) Service at Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust. We are looking for compassionate, motivated, and enthusiastic nurses who are committed to improving outcomes for children and young people in care.

The successful post holders will work closely with the Specialist Nurses and wider multidisciplinary health team to deliver a high-quality, evidence-based service that promotes, protects, and improves the health and wellbeing of Children in Care. The role includes undertaking statutory health assessments, identifying health needs, and supporting the delivery of holistic, child-centred care.

Working collaboratively with partner agencies and the wider children’s workforce, the post holder will contribute to safeguarding, health promotion, and ensuring children and young people receive timely and appropriate health interventions. The role also provides an opportunity to act as a resource and advocate for best practice across Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Main duties of the job

 The post holder will be required to provide specialist advice.    The post holder will be required to work with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, including social workers, foster carers and the wider children’s workforce.    The Post holder will be based in a locality with a defined Caseload of Children   The Post holder will assess, plan and evaluate the health needs of children on their caseload, challenging and escalating concerns where needed to ensure that the needs of the child are paramount.   The post holder will ensure that the voice of the child clearly informs the delivery of services and their own practice.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical:   To be responsible for an allocated caseload of children in care, ages range from (0-18 years). Some of these children will have significant complex health needs that require in depth knowledge of how previous experiences have impacted current and future emotional and physical  health needs   Able to recognise needs based on the history and assessment of a child/young person  and to initiate appropriate health interventions and communicate effectively the  complex interplay of factors for a child with multi-agency colleagues.    Able to analyse holistic health chronologies and provide a written comprehensive report  detailing the implications of the information for the child’s current and future health  and wellbeing.   Able to confidently manage, provide or ensure supervision is provided from a health perspective for looked after children where safeguarding issues arise within the care system   To be responsible for overseeing their allocated caseload placed out of county. To ensure a structured plan is in place, which will include regular timely assessments and a review of health needs, in particular where there are regular placement changes and complex needs.    To be responsible for the provision of health passports and/or a health summary with the aim to promote independence and ensure the child is aware of their health history.   Be a point of support to Foster carers and children in care at times of transition, especially where there are complex health needs   Be a point of contact for social workers, foster carers and the wider support network where there may be issues accessing or understanding health services to meet specific health needs   Able to advise other agencies regarding the health management of individual looked after children   Able to work in line with regional, national and local policy documents/reports and their implications for looked after children’s health and service provision   Able to participate in relevant audits of service provision, including multiagency audits in conjunction with others  Professional:   Prepare and deliver training programmes which are aimed at supporting social workers and Foster carers to have a better understanding of children’s health needs.   Contribute to the induction and support of new team members   Develop and provide clinical learning opportunities and programmes for students, mentors/educators and staff   Be an active member of multi-disciplinary CPD meetings to ensure a holistic perspective on the children’s health and wellbeing, share best practice and prepare and provide updates for other members of the Team.    To maintain and update own professional specialist knowledge over a range of domains. i.e. clinical, leadership, research and development as well as maintaining a professional portfolio.   Maintain NMC registration through ongoing CPD and reflective practice and adhere to the Code of Professional standards of Practice and behaviour for Nurse, Midwives and Nursing Associates  Leadership:   Create and foster relationships with colleagues across health and social care. This will include working across professional boundaries, liaising with a number of different agencies to ensure the health needs of children in care are considered and remain a priority for everyone.   Participate in co-production of service initiatives and developments with children and young people directly, to ensure the “voice” of the child and young person is central to shaping and developing future pathways.   Contribute to the planning, development and delivery of service and quality improvements in line with local and national priorities    Nurture key relationships across the organisations to help promote genuine partnership working across children services   Communicate clearly with multi agency partners, teams and individual staff ensuring that all individuals are aware of the service offer and how this supports children and young people.   Represent a health perspective at key Multi-agency meetings where the health needs of Children in care need to be considered.    The ability to effectively manage conflict within and outside the workplace