Job summary
We are seeking a passionate and experienced Advanced Diabetes Specialist Nurse to join Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust. This is an exciting opportunity to deliver expert diabetes care across community settings, working closely with Adult Community Nursing Teams.
You will be responsible for undertaking regular patient assessments and reviews, facilitating multidisciplinary huddles, and providing clinical guidance to enhance the management of people living with diabetes. A key part of your role will involve close collaboration with hospital teams to ensure smooth transitions of care following discharge, promoting continuity and safe self-management for patients.
The successful candidate will coordinate care pathways, support complex medication management, and provide education to healthcare professionals, patients, and carers. We are looking for an autonomous practitioner with advanced diabetes knowledge, excellent communication skills, and a commitment to improving patient outcomes across the community.
If you are passionate about diabetes care and looking for a role that offers both challenge and reward, we would love to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
In this role, you will provide expert clinical leadership and act as a specialist resource to clinicians within Adult Community Nursing Teams, supporting the planning, development, and delivery of high-quality community diabetes services. You will work collaboratively with service users and partner agencies to improve and innovate diabetes care pathways.
Key responsibilities include contributing to service reviews, data collection for performance monitoring, and supporting service development in line with local and national commissioning priorities. The role involves undertaking clinical risk assessments, ensuring safe environments for patients and staff, and linking closely with secondary care teams to promote a whole-system approach to diabetes management.
You will lead on quality improvement initiatives, support clinical audits, and act on findings to enhance service delivery. You will supervise and appraise Band 6 and 7 nursing staff, ensure robust clinical governance processes are in place, and oversee effective management of referrals, including triage and urgent appointments.
Additionally, you will identify training needs and deliver ongoing education to healthcare professionals, maintain up-to-date knowledge of diabetes care developments, and contribute to strategic planning to continually improve patient outcomes and service effectiveness.
About us
We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.
Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.
Why work for us?o Positive 2024 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeingo Varied environments: community hospitals, patients' homes, and bases across Sussexo Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retiremento Excellent training, development, and research opportunitieso Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brightono Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networkso Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trusto Beautiful Sussex location near the South Downs and coast
Our values--Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence--guide everything we do.
We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.
This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.
Job description
Job responsibilities
This role offers the flexibility to work virtually, enabling you to deliver expert diabetes care and support to patients and teams across the community in a responsive and accessible way.
You will work autonomously, managing a caseload of patients requiring senior specialist diabetes intervention, maintaining contemporaneous patient records in line with legislation and policy. You will facilitate patient-centred education programmes, support efficient delivery of the Adult Community Nursing service, and contribute to service development in accordance with commissioner requirements.
Key responsibilities include supervising and appraising junior staff, delegating tasks appropriately, and assisting with recruitment, induction, and performance management processes. You will maintain specialist clinical competence through supervision, continuing professional development, and peer review. Where qualified, you will independently prescribe and review medication to optimise patient outcomes.
You will also contribute to policy development, support departmental audits, and assist in managing patient safety, complaints, and risk management issues. Acting as a clinical leader and change agent, you will influence the development of integrated community diabetes pathways, challenge non-evidence-based practices, and lead service innovation.
Through active participation in team meetings, national networking, and collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, you will disseminate specialist knowledge, provide support in complex clinical situations, and act as a role model to foster advanced practice in diabetes care.
Job description
Job responsibilities
This role offers the flexibility to work virtually, enabling you to deliver expert diabetes care and support to patients and teams across the community in a responsive and accessible way.
You will work autonomously, managing a caseload of patients requiring senior specialist diabetes intervention, maintaining contemporaneous patient records in line with legislation and policy. You will facilitate patient-centred education programmes, support efficient delivery of the Adult Community Nursing service, and contribute to service development in accordance with commissioner requirements.
Key responsibilities include supervising and appraising junior staff, delegating tasks appropriately, and assisting with recruitment, induction, and performance management processes. You will maintain specialist clinical competence through supervision, continuing professional development, and peer review. Where qualified, you will independently prescribe and review medication to optimise patient outcomes.
You will also contribute to policy development, support departmental audits, and assist in managing patient safety, complaints, and risk management issues. Acting as a clinical leader and change agent, you will influence the development of integrated community diabetes pathways, challenge non-evidence-based practices, and lead service innovation.
Through active participation in team meetings, national networking, and collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, you will disseminate specialist knowledge, provide support in complex clinical situations, and act as a role model to foster advanced practice in diabetes care.
Person Specification
Qualifications and/or professional registration
Essential
- RGN first level nurse
- Masters level degree or equivalent qualification/training in diabetes
- Independent prescribing
Experience
Essential
- Extensive clinical experience in Diabetes management
- Evidence of up-to-date based knowledge and skills in managing patients with diabetes
- Making differential diagnosis
- Evidence of ability to maintain and monitor high standards of care
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable
- Experience of project/service development
Skills and knowledge
Essential
- Experience of using clinical software programmes e.g. SystmOne, PAS, PACS
- Experience of clinical audit
- Experience with the development of protocols, guidelines, policies and procedures
- Clinical Leadership Experience
- Ability to travel between sites, car owner/driver with access to a vehicle for work purposes
Skills and knowledge
Essential
- Physical assessment and holistic history taking
- Ability to empower patients by appropriate health teaching and advice
- Knowledge of health and safety within clinical practice and associated areas
- Knowledge of local and national policies relevant to Diabetes
- Knowledge of clinical standards, i.e. IC, CQC and evidence of implementing and monitoring these in practice
- Able to recognise clinically when a patient required referral in both the emergency and planned situation
- Evidence of ability to direct and co-ordinate programmes of care working autonomously and collaboratively
- Able to analyse complex situations and problem solve as necessary
- Evidence of knowledge and experience of team dynamics/ leadership role
- Evidence of ability to work with a multidisciplinary team
- Evidence of working in partnership and collaboration with other professionals
- Evidence of effective team leadership and organisational skills
- Evidence of embracing and implementing change to provide high quality health outcomes
- Evidence of the ability to champion patient issues
- Evidence of the ability to work in a changing, stressful situation
- Ability to appropriately challenge a variety of professionals about an individual's care
- Ability to resolve or diffuse conflict
- Able to assess competence of other staff
- Evidence of ability to identify training needs of self and team to provide relevant and appropriate experience to all learners
- Ability to provide supervision
- Evidence of advanced communication skills, able to understand blocks to communication and ways of developing strategies to overcome these.
- Assertive and able to negotiate in complex situations.
- IT literate and experience
- Able to maintain a calm manner in fast changing and emergency situations
- Ability to work in flexible way and respond positively to change.
- Ability to work autonomously and make own decision
- Demonstrate a high level of understanding of self and able to identify personal limitation and shows openness to address them
- Ability to write publications and associated information for patients and staff
Desirable
- Evidence of knowledge and experience of working between acute and Primary Care settings
- Evidence of one to one mentoring skills
- Evidence of teaching patients and carers
- Able to design and deliver individual and group education and training packages
- Published article in professional publications
Other requirements
Essential
- An understanding of the principles of equal opportunities in relation to staff and patients
Person Specification
Qualifications and/or professional registration
Essential
- RGN first level nurse
- Masters level degree or equivalent qualification/training in diabetes
- Independent prescribing
Experience
Essential
- Extensive clinical experience in Diabetes management
- Evidence of up-to-date based knowledge and skills in managing patients with diabetes
- Making differential diagnosis
- Evidence of ability to maintain and monitor high standards of care
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable
- Experience of project/service development
Skills and knowledge
Essential
- Experience of using clinical software programmes e.g. SystmOne, PAS, PACS
- Experience of clinical audit
- Experience with the development of protocols, guidelines, policies and procedures
- Clinical Leadership Experience
- Ability to travel between sites, car owner/driver with access to a vehicle for work purposes
Skills and knowledge
Essential
- Physical assessment and holistic history taking
- Ability to empower patients by appropriate health teaching and advice
- Knowledge of health and safety within clinical practice and associated areas
- Knowledge of local and national policies relevant to Diabetes
- Knowledge of clinical standards, i.e. IC, CQC and evidence of implementing and monitoring these in practice
- Able to recognise clinically when a patient required referral in both the emergency and planned situation
- Evidence of ability to direct and co-ordinate programmes of care working autonomously and collaboratively
- Able to analyse complex situations and problem solve as necessary
- Evidence of knowledge and experience of team dynamics/ leadership role
- Evidence of ability to work with a multidisciplinary team
- Evidence of working in partnership and collaboration with other professionals
- Evidence of effective team leadership and organisational skills
- Evidence of embracing and implementing change to provide high quality health outcomes
- Evidence of the ability to champion patient issues
- Evidence of the ability to work in a changing, stressful situation
- Ability to appropriately challenge a variety of professionals about an individual's care
- Ability to resolve or diffuse conflict
- Able to assess competence of other staff
- Evidence of ability to identify training needs of self and team to provide relevant and appropriate experience to all learners
- Ability to provide supervision
- Evidence of advanced communication skills, able to understand blocks to communication and ways of developing strategies to overcome these.
- Assertive and able to negotiate in complex situations.
- IT literate and experience
- Able to maintain a calm manner in fast changing and emergency situations
- Ability to work in flexible way and respond positively to change.
- Ability to work autonomously and make own decision
- Demonstrate a high level of understanding of self and able to identify personal limitation and shows openness to address them
- Ability to write publications and associated information for patients and staff
Desirable
- Evidence of knowledge and experience of working between acute and Primary Care settings
- Evidence of one to one mentoring skills
- Evidence of teaching patients and carers
- Able to design and deliver individual and group education and training packages
- Published article in professional publications
Other requirements
Essential
- An understanding of the principles of equal opportunities in relation to staff and patients
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.
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).
Additional information
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.
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).
