Psychological Nurse Specialist

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical

• Perform comprehensive assessments of patients’ mental health and psychological needs and plan, implement, and evaluate care delivery according to changing health care needs to ensure continuity of effective patient care.
• Perform advanced clinical skills in psychological and mental health assessment, diagnosis, and interactions to enhance the patient experience.
• Provide guidance to nursing colleagues regarding the management of patients with specific mental health needs.
• Collect, collate, evaluate, and report information, maintaining accurate patient records in line with clinical governance and risk-management.
• Involve patients and cares/relatives in the planning and delivery of care and development of services to enhance the patient/carer experience.
• Work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to ensure patient needs are met.
• Use advanced communication skills in a variety of settings.
• Monitor health, safety and security of self and others and promote best practice in the clinical area.
• Promote patient and public involvement activities in the specialist area, leading to service improvement.

Managerial

• Ensure the effective and efficient use of physical and financial resources in conjunction with finance and the service manager.
• Lead on the writing of protocols relevant to the Psychological Nurse Specialist role.
• Contribute to and coordinate the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and guidelines within the Trust in line with national guidance; and contribute to these activities at network and national level.
• Organize daily work schedule and off duty rotas ensuring appropriate and effective skill mix and deployment of staff appropriate to patient needs.
• Be aware of Health and Safety issues and ensure relevant risk assessments for the department are undertaken.
• Report and record all incidents and complaints according to the agreed policy, investigating promptly and compassionately.
• Ensure all existing Trust policies and procedures are adhered to and new ones are implemented as necessary.
• Report to Clinical Lead or DACN on clinical matters/activity and staff development.

Professional

• Highlight areas of improvement/development within the department and undertake relevant projects.
• Keep abreast of issues influencing the Trust both internally and externally and ensure senior colleagues and the team have a good understanding of the same.
• Undertake clinical supervision of health care professional colleagues on an individual or group basis.
• Be fully aware of the divisional objectives and the Trust’s corporate plan.
• Demonstrate a pleasant and approachable manner and help create and promote good working relationships.
• Show professional and courteous manner whilst practicing excellent communication skills at all levels.
• Show respect for members of the team and endorse the philosophy of giving mutual support.
• Being aware of one’s own limitations, maintain confidentiality and adherence to NMC Professional Code of Conduct
• Cooperate in own performance review by indicating learning goals and support needs.
• Actively seek mentorship / supervision to enable reflection and development within the role.
• Exercise effective leadership using sound organization skills and judgement, upholding equality and diversity of colleagues and patients.

Education and Development

• Provide specialist, expert clinical knowledge to clinical colleagues, patients, and carers/relatives both within and outside the Trust.
• Identify learning needs, plan, implement and evaluate programs of education to meet identified needs.
• Participate in the education of pre- and post-registration health care professionals/medical staff
• Educate and support staff in the general hospital in how to manage medically ill inpatients with psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, delirium, dementia.
• Sustain up to date skills and knowledge and maintain awareness of professional issues.
• Ensure own compliance and compliance of others with regard to mandatory training.

Research & Audit

• Identify need for, and undertake, research/clinical audit/benchmarking, to improve effectiveness of patient care.
• Contribute to relevant research projects in Psycho-Oncology being conducted at Trust, Network, or national level.
• Disseminate research and audit findings through presentation to professional groups and publication.
• Evaluate service delivery- identify areas for improvement and initiate change.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Registered Mental Health Nurse
• Current NMC Registration
• Degree in Nursing or health-related subject

Desirable criteria

• Master’s Degree (or working towards)
• Non-medical prescribing qualification

Experience

Essential criteria

• Post-registration experience in acute adult mental health nursing, including risk assessment
• Post-registration experience at a senior clinical level, managing a caseload autonomously
• Experience in liaison psychiatry or a clinical specialty involving serious physical illness
• Experience of assessing and working with mental health presentations across the full spectrum of complexity, including functional and organic presentations
• Experience of applying psychologically informed approaches in clinical practice
• Experience of contributing to service development or implementation of change
• Experience of effective multidisciplinary team working across professional and organizational boundaries

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working within an oncology setting
• Experience of working within a complex care pathway
• Experience of effective and imaginative use of resources within service constraints

Skills

Essential criteria

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Emotional resilience and ability to maintain compassion in challenging situations
• Able to analyse information and produce clear written reports
• Able to work autonomously and make sound clinical decisions
• Experience of teaching, supervising, or mentoring others (including non-mental health professionals)
• Demonstrates leadership skills
• Intermediate IT skills

Desirable criteria

• Evidence of involvement in quality improvement or audit activity

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Specialist knowledge of the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act
• Knowledge of professional and NHS issues and policy relating to specialist area
• Evidence-based knowledge in relevant clinical specialty
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Able to demonstrate wide knowledge of current trends in nursing and application to practice

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of Psycho- Oncology

The closing date for this post may be extended if there are insufficient applicants or brought forward if there is a high volume of applicants.

Sponsorship Information – We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the

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