Clinical Nurse Specialist (CAMHS Eating Disorder Pathway)

Job responsibilities

Dimensions and Context of Role

The CAMHS Eating Disorder Pathway delivers a specialist service for children and

young people aged 5-18 who are experiencing eating disorders. Evidence shows that early identification and treatment significantly reduce the severity and duration of illness.

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Clinical Specialist Nurse to join our CAMHS Eating Disorder Pathway. This is an exciting opportunity to work within a supportive, skilled and dedicated multi-disciplinary team committed to delivering high-quality care.

You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) within the Eating Disorder Pathway, and in close collaboration with other CAMHS teams and external agencies. The team operates within the ITHRIVE model of care, promoting recovery through timely, evidence-based interventions and holistic support.

As part of our team, you will play a key role in providing specialist assessment, treatment and support for children and young people experiencing eating disorders, working closely with their families to promote recovery and wellbeing.

In addition, you will act as a senior clinical resource, guiding and supporting both junior and senior colleagues within the MDT to ensure best practice, safe care, and effective decision-making.

The service currently operates 5 days per week, Monday to Friday, 9am5pm. The post holder will contribute to the Eating Disorder Duty Rota which operates daily, Monday to Friday, providing senior support for colleagues when needed. You will be required to work flexibly in hours of clinical availability.

Key Responsibilities of the Post - Service Delivery

Provide comprehensive assessment and deliver evidence-based therapeutic interventions, including one-to-one, family and group work, in line with NICE guideline NG69 and nationally recognised models for eating disorder treatment, including Family Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa - FTAN/Maudsley-based interventions, CBTE, DBT-informed approaches and systemic therapy, to support recovery for children and young people and their families. Care will be delivered in line with the Access and Waiting Time Standard for Children and Young People with an eating disorder (Commissioning Guide, July 2015), ensuring timely assessment and commencement of treatment.

Manage a defined caseload of clinical work, undertaking care coordination responsibilities for children and young people with eating disorders and co-existing conditions within a community setting.

Embed Routine Outcome Monitoring into clinical practice to ensure interventions are effective and tailored to individual needs. Work safely and proactively around the physical risks associated with eating disorders, following MEED guidelines, and provide guidance and supervision to support staff in applying best practice in these areas.

Champion best practice that reflects national and local priorities, while actively responding to the needs and views of children, young people and their families.

Build and maintain strong collaborative links with GPs, schools, colleges, paediatric services, mental health services, partner providers and statutory/non-statutory agencies to ensure seamless care planning and a coordinated approach to treatment.

Develop and maintain professional networks that enable consultation and joint working with other agencies and partner organisations.

Take a senior specialist role within the multi-disciplinary team, leading clinical case meetings and safeguarding processes (safeguarding supervision skills required). Support the presentation and discussion of cases at pathway MDT, guiding decision-making and ensuring best practice.

Embed nursing as a key element of the treatment pathway, providing leadership and expertise across the service.

Demonstrate exceptional skills in risk assessment and management, ensuring prompt and accurate communication of concerns. Lead and support both junior and senior colleagues in coordinating multi-agency responses when required, providing expert guidance and promoting best practice in safeguarding and risk management.

Provide expert consultation to colleagues within CAMHS and across partner agencies, contribute to the Eating Disorder Duty Rota (Monday to Friday), and support education and professional development within the MDT, including CPD activities.

Provide consultation and supervision to healthcare workers and other professionals in the community and within a paediatric hospital setting.

The Clinical Nurse Specialist will provide direct guidance, planning and clinical supervision to Healthcare Assistants within the Intensive Support Service who deliver mealtime support as part of the eating disorder pathway. This will include enhancing the support offered to young people, parents and carers within the family system to promote recovery and wellbeing.

The Clinical Nurse Specialist will provide caseload and line management to team members within the eating disorder pathway, ensuring effective allocation of work, clinical oversight and professional development.

Act as Practice Assessor or Supervisor to nursing students and trainees and provide supervision to other team members. Offer and access supervision to ensure good practice within the team.

Participate in team meetings (allocation, supervision, reflective practice, case discussions), audit and quality improvement activities.

Organise your own workload under the guidance of the Clinical Pathway Manager, maintain health records to Livewell Southwest standards, and contribute to the development of team protocols and clinical practice.

Contribute to audit and service development initiatives and keep up to date with national developments in CAMHS and eating disorder care to ensure best practice within the service.

Demonstrates personal resilience and emotional stability, with the ability to tolerate and manage the demands of working with highly complex and challenging cases. Maintains professionalism, compassion and sound clinical judgment under pressure and in emotionally charged situations.

Maintain high standards of clinical recording at all times.

Adhere to anti-discriminatory practice, promote equity of opportunity and use your professional position to empower others and challenge power imbalances.

(Please see full job description - The above is not an exhaustive list of duties, and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by your changing role within the organisation and the overall business objectives of the organisation.)

Skills

Essential

• Crisis management and ability to planning care for acutely psychiatrically ill patients with support from team processes.
• Motivation and engagement
• Car owner / driver, valid driving license with business insurance. Ability to travel between bases and within the community and with Devon and Cornwall if required for the post.
• Ability to make complex clinical decision-making
• Mental health and risk assessment, care planning, evaluation and intervention
• Case management and prioritisation
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Strong organisational and time management.
• Competent IT skills and database knowledge.
• Ability to manage complex clinical situations within a defined caseload.
• Self-motivated and able to work on own initiative.
• Commitment to anti-oppressive practice
• Ability to work collaboratively across agencies and professional backgrounds.
• Commitment to ongoing learning and professional development.
• Reflective practice.

Desirable

• Able to use across system organisational IT systems.
• Culturally competent assessment and intervention skills
• Specific therapeutic skills relevant to working with children and families
• Consultation skills
• Training skills

Knowledge

Essential

• Extensive professional knowledge acquired through clinical practice in a Community Mental Health setting managing highly complex cases autonomously underpinned by training at degree level/diploma level specialist training or equivalent experience
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and documents pertaining to children, e.g., Children Act 2004, Child Protection, National Service Framework, Every Child Matters etc. Learning Disability specific legislation and documents, Aiming High for Disabled Children, Valuing People, Mansell report, and Mental Capacity Act.
• Knowledge of a range of mental health problems and disorders affecting children and young people who are in care.
• Knowledge of the impact of crisis on mental health difficulties.
• Evidence based practice
• Understanding of Mental Health Act
• Good knowledge of current NHS and Social Care Policy
• Evidence of CPD
• Understand the Principles of Governance, particularly in relation to their Service area.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate and adapt effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to CYP, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups.

Desirable

• Working with people in Crisis
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Knowledge of different models of therapy, e.g., CBT, DBT, solution focussed therapy etc.
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Relevant and significant experience of working on an inpatient setting

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Ability to work as part of a team and autonomously.
• Willingness to work flexibly.
• Ability to embrace change and have capacity to thrive in demanding situations.
• Ability to communicate/listen formally and informally, verbally and in writing.
• Highly reflective, confident, and articulate.
• Flexible and resourceful in coping under pressure and with conflicting demands.
• Excellent time management skills.

Desirable

• Sensitivity to working within a multicultural framework.
• An awareness of own strengths and limitations

Qualifications

Essential

• Core qualification to degree level in any mental health modality (e.g., Nursing, Social Work - with significant and relevant post qualifying experience in Secondary Mental Health and within a community setting).
• Appropriate Registration relevant to Professional Qualification.
• Post graduate training qualification in methods of working with children with mental health problems, e.g., counselling, systemic practice or postgrad diploma in child and adolescent mental health.

Desirable

• Teaching/Assessing courses such as mentorship module or equivalent.
• Intermediate family and systemic practice.

Experience

Essential

• Experience (both work and life related)
• Experience of working in a multi-agency and/or multi-disciplinary context.
• Significant and relevant post-qualifying experience.
• Experience of working with the care systems both directly with Children and young people and professionals within the care system.
• Ability to manage system change
• Experience of post-registration working with children and young people who have experienced mental health difficulties.
• Experience in assessment, including risk, care planning, intervention, and evaluation.
• Demonstrates personal resilience and emotional stability, with the ability to tolerate and manage the demands of working with highly complex and challenging cases. Maintains professionalism, compassion and sound clinical judgment under pressure and in emotionally charged situations.
• Maintaining own safety in Community settings by working within relevant policy and having completed or be willing to complete breakaway training or equivalent.
• Experience of effective working with families of diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Experience of working within multi-agency safeguarding systems e.g., child protection conferences, child-in-need meetings
• Be able to give unwelcome news sensitively.
• Show respect and treat people with dignity.
• Evidence of transferable clinical, risk management and leadership skills.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups.
• Experience of delivering teaching and training.
• Maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse, and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of managing others.
• Wide experience of multi-disciplinary team working.
• Extensive clinical experience in mental health care, crisis management and positive risk taking.
• Ability to frequently travel independently and in a timely manner between Livewell Southwest sites and community locations including areas not served by public transport.

Desirable

• Experience of managing risk.
• Experience working with eating disorder patients and families across the lifespan.
• Experience of supervision of MDT staff.
• Senior management experience.
• Experience of managing a high level of risk.
• Performance management.
• Experience of implementing competencies and essential training for a team.
• Experience working with eating disorder patients and families across the lifespan.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, inpatient, and residential care settings.
• Further specialist training/experience in an evidence-based treatment for eating disorders.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).