Job summary
We are offering an opportunity for a registered professional with experience and expertise in supporting people with a diagnosis of Dementia. This is a fixed term post from January - October 2025
You will have skills and competence to support staff across Ipswich Hospital to provide care for people who experience challenges resulting from symptoms of Dementia.
This support will involve direct interventions with patients and their carers/families and indirect support through staff training, education and consultancy. There will be an expectation for you to undertake assessments where required to inform multi-agency care planning, provide advice and sign-posting to enable people to access appropriate support at times when it is required, co-ordinate patient centred care and safety planning and liaise and collaborate with partner agencies to support good outcomes for patients with this diagnosis.
The post involves delivery of training in both formal and informal forums to support acute hospital staff in developing confidence and skills to deliver care safely and effectively.
They will support the understanding and application of appropriate legal frameworks and ensure that patients' rights are protected when such frameworks are necessitated.
They will also provide direct line management to our dementia specialist support worker who will work closely with you to ensure continuity in the provision of this service.
Current ESNEFT Staff will be offered on a secondment basis.
Main duties of the job
1. Apply specialist knowledge and expertise to support positive clinical outcomes and compassionate care for patients with dementia
2. Promote best practice and evidence based approaches to caring for people with dementia
3. Co-ordinate care and safety planning for people who require additional support or restrictive interventions as a result of symptoms associated with dementia and support clinical teams to follow these and respond to escalation in concerns
4. Deliver training and education to staff in order to enable higher levels of confidence and competence by staff across the hospital when they work with people with this diagnosis
5. Encourage, lead and participate in multi-agency working to ensure that people's needs are met holistically and discharge planning is effective.
6. Provide line management supervision to the specialist dementia support worker
About us
We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.
We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.
We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.
Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.
Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.
We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.
If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.
Find out about living and working here -
Job description
Job responsibilities
For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
7. Significant post-registration clinical experience of working with people with dementia and delirium in different settings
8. Experience of recent involvement in practice/ service development.
9. Experience of working with groups and individuals in a variety of roles and settings
10. Demonstrated experience of working as an autonomous practitioner
11. Demonstrated ability to lead and manage services
12. Experience of professional supervision of staff
13. Experience of audit/ evaluating clinical practice
Desirable
14. Experience of undertaking staff performance reviews and planned development of staff
15. Experience of working with patients/ clients to develop practice
Qualifications
Essential
16. Registered Nurse or Health or Social Care professional
17. Post registration qualification / training in dementia
18. Formal knowledge of dementia/ older people acquired through clinical post-graduate education
Desirable
19. Additional nursing qualification.
20. Degree/ Masters level qualification in dementia / older people's care
21. Mentorship Qualification
22. Relevant teaching qualification
Knowledge
Essential
23. Incorporating and demonstrating competencies including person-centred care, therapeutic skills, sharing knowledge, best practice, and critical reflective practice at enhanced specialist level
24. Ability to use a range of therapeutic skills
25. Effective role-modelling
26. Understanding practice and promoting person-centred and relationship-centred care
27. Collaborative and multi-agency working
Desirable
28. Knowledge of research methods and methodologies.
29. Understanding of competency frameworks
30. Experience of supporting systematic practice development/ quality improvement