Specialist School Nurse

Job overview

Essex Partnership University NHS Trust (EPUT) are seeking to recruit a Specialist School Nurse.  This is a two year fixed term position. You will join an existing team of highly motivated and experienced Specialist School Nurses, an Epilepsy Nurse Specialist, Specialist School Nurse Assistants and 2 Associate Practitioners who provide a respite service to our most complex children.  We are looking for a highly skilled paediatric nurse, with  an understanding of children with complex health needs. You will need to be flexible and dynamic to meet the increasing demands to support children with disabilities and complex long term health needs to access education and achieve their best outcomes.   If you have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to work as a team player, the initiative to work autonomously, we would like to hear from you. You should have good organisational skills and evidence of continued professional development. The candidate must either be a Children’s Nurse or Learning Disability Nurse with recent experience of working with children. Previous experience of special school nursing would be desirable. This is a two year fixed term position. 25 hours per week. Working pattern can be discussed at interview.

Main duties of the job

You will require exceptional, communication, organisational skills, collaboratively working with children, families, carers, school staff and the wider multi-disciplinary team within the education setting to ensure a supportive and caring learning environment.

The nurse will be responsible for providing clinical skills and ensuring a holistic, family centered approach to assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating the health needs of the children within specialist education. This opportunity will provide excellent experience of working with children within the special school setting.

To communicate effectively to facilitate high level of cooperation and coordination within the multidisciplinary team to ensure delivery of coordinated services.

The Specialist School Nurse will work in partnership with Social Care and other statutory agencies in assessing and providing quality care to children within a selective caseload.

The Specialist School Nurse will work in collaboration with Children’s Centres, Extended Schools; voluntary and other statutory agencies to achieve good health gain outcomes for school aged children with additional needs and their families.

The role will include teaching/training, representing at meetings and maintaining the health needs of the children, this may involve a range of complex care, such as enteral feeding, and tracheostomy care.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To assume responsibility and accountability for a caseload of children/young people with diverse presentations/conditions. Prioritising and managing the caseload, taking into account clinical risk and liaising with relevant agencies as appropriate.
• To assist in meeting the health needs of children with additional needs both in special and occasionally mainstream settings, liaising with the paediatric community team, paediatricians and the wider multi-disciplinary team to support their healthcare needs.
• To act as the key worker for some children or service coordinator for children with additional or complex health needs.
• To work within the specialist school nursing service to develop and deliver a training programme for staff and carers within special needs schools in order to support education staff and carers so to deliver the appropriate care for children with additional or complex health needs.
• To assist in developing an individual health care plan for each child within the caseload, and ensuring carers within the school environment are trained and assessed in the implementation of health care delivery such as gastrostomy feeding, administration of medication
• To act as an advocate for child/young person when involved with decision-making relevant to a child/young person’s health management.
• Lead on assessment and care plan development for the new intake of school children.