Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.
The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.
Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video
Job overview
An exciting opportunity for Band 7 Senior specialist nurses to join the All Age Eating Disorder team in Kent and Medway.
We are delighted to receive further transformation funding in the Kent and Medway All-Age Eating Disorders Service so we are extending our service offer to include TWO very exciting additions to our portfolio: Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is characterised by a pattern of eating that avoids certain foods or food groups entirely, and/or is restricted in quantity and driven by sensory or avoided consequence factors.
We are also seeking to develop an intensive home-based eating disorder treatment pathway in the form of an enhanced care pathway (Intensive Care Pathway - ICP). These forms of treatment have the potential to minimise inpatient admissions (including out-of-area placements), reduce length of stay in inpatient settings and improve experience of discharge from inpatient care as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Main duties of the job
The post-holders will be a qualified nurses who are fully registered with the NMC and ideally will have additional post-graduate qualifications relevant to the area.
The post holders will be required to assess and treat all age patients who present with an eating disorder. As the service is exclusively an outpatient service, the post holder will not hold an inpatient case load, but the post holder will work with adolescent units and adult units in order to maintain joint working and smooth transition into and out of inpatient beds. The post holder will be expected to attend and participate in MDT team meetings as well as CPA meetings of cases on their case load.
The post holders will support their peers as team leader and be an effective team member whilst working on their own initiative. They will supervise other staff members as required. They will have a commitment to collaborative working and actively supporting and liaising with other health and social professionals and agencies.
Working for our organisation
Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).
Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focussing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.
Use of 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.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
As part of the services' adult transformation objectives, there will a focus with these posts on all elements of the service, particularly in relation to liaison and collaborative working development links with acute wards, collaborative working links with adult community mental health colleagues and with specialist eating disorder Tier 4 units.
There are two main bases within Kent in Maidstone and Canterbury with a number of outlying clinics. Travel is required across sites in Kent.
This post will be subject to a six months probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).
If you are an overseas qualified nurse and wanting to start your journey to becoming a UK based registered nurse with the NMC, you can check whether you are eligible to be supported through NEU Professionals -Https://. Whilst NELFT is happy to welcome overseas nurses we are unable to consider your application directly. You should submit your interest and apply through the Capital Nurse London group.
Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for some job roles, and this will be identified through filtering questions at the start of any job application on the Trac recruitment system.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. Successful completion of a graduate training as a registered nurse with current NMC registration status
2. Further professional knowledge will have been gained through accredited courses workshops, study and in house training programmes
Experience
Essential criteria
3. Experience of working with patients with eating disorders Experience of carrying out generic assessment with other colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team Experience of initiating, organising and planning inter-agency meetings aimed at setting in place a treatment package tailored to the individual needs of the patient Experience of providing professional teaching and training for other professionals working with the client Experience of providing clinical interventions in different cultural contexts Experience of service development and demonstrates ability to managing change
Knowledge
Essential criteria
4. An awareness of NHS Plan, NSF and clinical governance priorities
5. High level knowledge of the theory and practice of working with eating disorders at a range of severities and complexities
6. Knowledge of legislation and guidelines in relation to eating disorders and safeguarding procedures and policies
7. Knowledge of NHS, Social Care and Education structures, national policies and frameworks, evidence based practice including NICE guidelines
8. Knowledge of research methodology and outcome research methodology and outcome research design and ability to critically interpret research findings
Skills
Essential criteria
9. Basic awareness of IT and IT skills
10. Ability to communicate clearly and effectively highly complex and sensitive matters to patients, which give rise to psychological distress
11. Specialist skill in the ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the eating disorder service.
12. Ability to tolerate anxiety without recourse to premature action whilst appreciating the role of the supervisor
13. Capacity to write clear records and observe policies, procedures and guidelines
Benefits
We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:
14. A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
15. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
16. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
17. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.