Special Needs School Nursing
Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism and community based services for the populations we serve.
As an integrated mental health, learning disability and community Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including:
- Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, forensic services including low and medium secure care.
- Specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
- Community physical health and well-being services for children and adults.
The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,000 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health and general nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers.
Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust supports flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, home/remote working, and flexi-time.
For more information visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.
Job overview
You will be a highly motivated and enthusiastic RN child, RSCN trained nurse with relevant paediatric and special needs school nursing experience, wishing to expand your knowledge and skills of working with children within the special needs school setting.You will impart specialist knowledge and advice across a range of health and social care issues, utilising evidence based research. As a Band 6, senior nurse for Special Needs School Nursing you will manage your own defined safeguarding caseload in conjunction with the Band 5 nurses, acting as a key worker for vulnerable children instigating safeguarding procedures as required.
You will work primarily within the Pennine special school nursing team, working closely with the named school nurses but as part of the role there may be the requirement at times to work across the LSCFT special school footprint. You will have line management responsibilities for the Band 5 staff nurses working within the designated schools in the named locality with support from the team leader.
It is essential that you have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, enabling you to work in partnership with the child’s parents’, teachers and other health care professionals, offering support and advice to education staff on health related issues that affect the children within the school setting.
Car driver with access to a vehicle for work purposes is essential.
Main duties of the job
To work as part of the children’s complex needs nursing team providing a service for children referred for assessment and intervention within the special needs school nursing team.
To be responsible for a caseload of children and young people with complex and/or additional needs.
To undertake comprehensive assessment of children and young people with variedpresentations, using self-determined investigative and analytical skills, to formulate
hypotheses in order to determine appropriate interventions and goals.
To establish individualised management and treatment plans, using clinicalreasoning and utilising a range of evidence based treatment skills and options to
formulate interventions and programmes of care.
To participate in the co-ordination, development and delivery of training programmes
and information packages for colleagues in health, education, social care, and voluntary sector Organisations, and parents/carers.
Act as special needs school nursing lead for safeguarding issues within designated schools
To participate in identifying service development needs and delivering service development projects.
To engage with and support team leaders within professional development activities.
To provide specialist advice to Team Colleagues in area of own practice regarding specific service delivery issues.
To provide clinical and management supervision to junior colleagues.
Working for our organisation
Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.
The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks.
We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.
For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Registered nurse qualification/RSCN
- Current Professional Registration with NMC
- Evidence of formal training / self-study / specialist experience to post graduate level
- Evidence of continued professional development
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Knowledge of a broad range of assessment tools for children with diverse needs.
- Knowledge of a range of therapy techniques and programmes for children with diverse needs/ related to client group
- Knowledge of professional clinical local and national guidelines.
- Knowledge of research, evidence-based practice and current issues relating to client group
Experience
Essential criteria- Evidence of recent and relevant post graduate experience encompassing the specialist field of practice. that demonstrates an in depth knowledge of specialist area
- Experience of working with children with complex needs and their families in community/non clinical setting
- Safeguarding of children and implementation of policy and procedures with evidence of training/updates
- Evidence of leading and implementing clinical change
Please note that further communication from Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft) will normally be to the email address given on the application form. You should also ensure that email addresses and telephone numbers are provided for your referees, to enable LSCft to contact them.
Please be aware the use of artificial intelligence (AI) when submitting an application is monitored and if you have used AI to generate an application, you are required to declare this on your application form. AI-generated content may lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description.Personalisation is essential when submitting an application form to convey your skills, knowledge, and experiences effectively.
Please ensure that you read the person specification attached below as your application will be measured against this document. Applications from job share partners are welcome and other forms of flexible working will be considered for all posts.
For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).
You are advised to consider applying for LSCft vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within three weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.
LSCft is committed to celebrating difference as an asset and we know that recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds helps to create a more flexible, creative and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from people regardless of age, disability (particularly those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion or belief or sexual orientation.
Our goal is for the Trust to be truly representative of the communities we serve so we are particularly keen to receive applications from people in under-represented groups. If there is anything you’d like to discuss in relation to your application then please ask.