Senior Nurse

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About Us

EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:

• We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
• We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.

EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.
Our vision and values

Our Vision

"To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care".

Our Purpose

"We care for people every day. What we do together, matters".

Our Values

• We Care
• We Learn
• We Empower

Our strategic objectives

• We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
• We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
• We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
• We will help our communities to thrive.

Our services

• Mental Health Services
• Community Health Services
• Learning Disabilities Services
• Social Care

Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory.

Job overview

We are looking for an experienced mental health practitioner (senior nurse) with experience in the community and forensic fields to join the Specialist Community Forensic Team (SCFT). This is a developing service that has been set up in response to the NHS New Care Models to improve the care of service users within the forensic mental health system. The SCFT works with mental health offenders from the Essex area who are being cared for within medium and low secure mental health units, primarily in Essex. This role will involve holding a small caseload of high risk complex service users (3-5) in the community. Provide operational leadership and management responsibility for the Specialist Community Forensic Mental Health team covering Essex. You will be responsible providing effective leadership and standards of clinical practice and services working closely with the Clinical Lead to establish and maintain service standards.

Main duties of the job

The SCFT provides a period of 'in-reach' work with our service users for six to nine months prior to discharge with the aim of building good therapeutic relationships; with the aim to engage in them, in care planning, relapse prevention work and addressing potential challenges after discharge.

The successful candidate will oversee the day to day running of the service offering support to the care coordinators/social supervisors and work with the rest of the MDT. You will also act as social supervisor/care coordinator for a small caseload of service users through the care system pathway from secure placement to community setting in self-contained accommodation, 24 hour supported care and intensive enablement placements.

The successful candidate will be expected to cover the Clinical Lead at meetings and undertake other managerial aspects including HR relates issues, management of staff rota's, caseload allocation, assessments of referred service users to SCFT, chair meetings, give clinical guidance to junior staff and act as a role model.

Working for our organisation

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;

• Season Ticket Loans
• NHS discounts for staff
• Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
• Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
• The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
• Day One Flexible Employer

The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment

Join our Staff bank

What is Staff Bank?

Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.

All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.

If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The main duties include providing expert knowledge and skills to support the multi-disciplinary team. Manage and co-ordinate the team caseload of patients with often complex social, forensic and rehabilitation needs and the associated intervention programs they require. Oversee care provision and ensure that staff maintain accurate risk assessments, care planning and record keeping in order to maintain a safe and effective service. Provide expert leadership to the multidisciplinary team including staff from partner organisations. Ensure staff receive probation, support, supervision and appraisal in a regular and consistent way to support development. Work in close liaison with in-patient forensic services, Social Care, Housing Commissioners and other partners to achieve and maintain smooth care pathways for service users. Act as a social supervisor for restricted patients, providing high-quality and timely reports to the Ministry of Justice as requested. Work within Safeguarding Children and Safeguarding Adults legislation at all times, promoting the wellbeing of children and vulnerable adults. Work collaboratively with third sector organisations to identify suitable placements in the community to support transition from secure settings. Co-ordinate and liaise with referrers, including other Trust services, Court services, HM Prison Service Probation, MAPPA, MARAC, CMHTs and wider liaison duties with local statutory and non-statutory bodies.

Person specification

Education/ Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Professional Qualification in Mental Health nursing (RMN) at degree/masters level or relevant experience.
• Evidence of post qualification training.

Desirable criteria

• HCR-20 qualification.
• Formal management qualification.
• Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Brief Solution Focused Therapy, or similar.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• In-depth knowledge of adult forensic mental health.
• In-depth knowledge of the Mental Health Act 1983/2003

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of Ministry of justice requirements and how they relate to offenders for mental health

Skills / Experience

Essential criteria

• Literate in IT/Computer Skills
• Good oral communication skills based on fluency on the English language
• Minimum five years post qualification / post graduate experience
• Minimum of two years leadership experience in an MDT environment.
• Experience of working closely and developing relationships and working in partnership with other statutory agencies
• Experience in managing change and problem solving both clinically and within employee relationships.
• Evidence of post qualifying continued learning and proven awareness of developments criminal justice mental health

Desirable criteria

• Experience in other NHS or local authority adult services.
• Experience in offender mental health setting
• Experience of working in other statutory or voluntary agencies

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Shares the Trust's Beliefs and models this in their attitude and behaviour
• Ensures that the organisational values of open, compassionate and empowering are demonstrated by self and others every day and that any matters of concern are addressed in a timely way, either directly; or raised with the relevant Line Manager; or through the relevant processes within the Trust as appropriate.
• Ability to contain the emotional impact of work with adults' mental health problems
• Appreciation of the many aspects of diversity amongst people who use services, and of how structural inequalities affect life experiences, with the ability to adapt your own practice so as to challenge discrimination, reduce inequalities, and promote inclusion.
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to contain and hold the stress of others.
• Ability to balance competing priorities and multi-task.
• Ability to manage unpredictable work patterns
• Ability to deal with frequent exposure to highly distressing situations and family breakdown and provide support to staff in these situations

Additional Requirements

Essential criteria

• Fitness Analysis as appropriate
• Current driving licence
• Ability to travel across sites and across Trust boundaries to attend meetings, etc.

Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered 'suitable alternative employment' to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Important Professional References

Make sure that as a part of your application you have professional references with business contract information covering your last three year employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post, the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Applications for Job Share are positively welcomed.

Equal Opportunities Employer

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email epunft.recruitment.adverts@nhs.net and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Covid Vaccination

Although Covid vaccinations are no longer a mandatory requirement within the NHS we continue to encourage and support the vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against Covid19. The safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for us at EPUT.

If you would like to book a Covid vaccination or would like more information please contact us by emailing epunft.cv19hr@nhs.net.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• Job Description (PDF, 640.3KB)
• Person Specification (PDF, 312.6KB)
• EPUT Pledge - Step into Health (PDF, 211.0KB)
• Candidate Privacy Policy (PDF, 336.6KB)
• Right to Work Information (PDF, 293.6KB)
• Employer Recognition Scheme - Gold Award (PDF, 27.7KB)
• Trust Vision and Values (PDF, 168.9KB)
• Values of the NHS Pension (PDF, 151.3KB)