Children’s Clinical Nurse Specialist (Asthma)

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job overview

Join us at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust as we develop an exciting and forwardthinking Children’s Asthma Service. This pivotal Band 7 Clinical Nurse Specialist role offers the chance to shape highquality asthma care for children and young people.

As our Asthma CNS, you will work autonomously, managing your own caseload while collaborating closely with the Lead Paediatric Asthma Consultant and the wider multidisciplinary team. You will play a key role in developing clinical pathways, running nurseled clinics, delivering specialist assessments, and ensuring that children with asthma receive safe, timely, and evidencebased care in the most appropriate setting.

Your expertise will drive service improvement through audit, education, and research, helping to set standards that positively impact care across primary, secondary, and community services. You will be a visible resource for families, carers, and colleagues—advocating for best practice, leading on diagnostics such as FeNO and spirometry, and supporting consistent, highquality asthma management across the network.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a motivated, innovative nurse with respiratory expertise to influence service development, grow professionally (including the opportunity to become a nonmedical prescriber), and make a meaningful difference to the lives of children living with asthma.

Main duties of the job

• Lead and independently manage a caseload of children with asthma, providing expert assessment, planning and coordination of care.
• Run nurseled asthma clinics alongside and between consultantled clinics.
• Perform and interpret diagnostic tests including FeNO, spirometry, peak flow and basic lung function assessments.
• Develop and implement asthma care pathways to ensure safe, timely and effective management for children with complex or highrisk asthma.
• Work collaboratively across hospital, primary care and community services to support seamless care and strengthen the asthma network.
• Provide specialist education, training and advice to children, families, carers, and healthcare professionals.
• Participate in local and national asthma audits, data collection and relevant research activity to drive service improvement.
• Act as a key resource for asthma best practice, supporting referral pathways and offering expert guidance across the Trust.
• Contribute to safeguarding processes, ensuring concerns are escalated appropriately.
• Produce accurate clinical documentation and communicate effectively with MDT colleagues and external partners.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) is proud to care for the communities of West Essex, delivering safe, compassionate, and high-quality services. We are part of the Neighbourhood Wave—a national programme that’s changing how care is delivered by focusing on prevention, early support, and more joined-up services across health, social care, and the voluntary sector.

This means we’re working more closely with local partners to bring care closer to home and support people to live healthier, more independent lives.

We’re a supportive and inclusive organisation that values its people. We offer development opportunities, flexible working, and a strong focus on wellbeing. As a Disability Confident and equal opportunities employer, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and experiences.

Join us and help shape the future of care in West Essex.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As the Children’s Clinical Nurse Specialist for Asthma, you will take the lead in managing your own caseload of children and young people, providing expert assessment, care planning and ongoing review. You will work autonomously while collaborating closely with the Lead Paediatric Asthma Consultant and the wider multidisciplinary team to ensure that every child receives safe, timely and evidencebased asthma care. A key part of your role will involve running nurseled clinics that complement and bridge consultantled services, enabling smooth continuity of care for families.

You will be responsible for carrying out a range of specialist diagnostic assessments, including FeNO testing, spirometry, peak flow measurement and other lung function investigations. Preparing children and their families for these procedures—using clear, ageappropriate communication—will be essential in ensuring accurate results and building trust.

A central responsibility of the post is supporting the development and implementation of robust asthma pathways, particularly for children with complex or highrisk needs. You will work to ensure these children are managed in the most appropriate setting and will take a proactive role in auditing, reviewing and continuously improving the service. Your involvement in local and national audits, data collection and research activity will help drive innovation and raise standards of care across the organisation and wider network.

Education and training will feature heavily in your daytoday practice. You will provide specialist guidance to children, families and carers to improve understanding of asthma management and to support selfmanagement at home. Alongside this, you will offer education and advice to colleagues across the Trust, primary care, community services and schools, helping to spread best practice and raise asthma expertise across the whole system. As an expert resource, you will also contribute to the development of clinical protocols, care pathways and multidisciplinary documentation.

Collaboration across sectors will be vital. You will liaise regularly with paediatricians, community asthma nurses, GPs, health visitors, schools and tertiary providers to ensure seamless care and effective communication throughout the child’s journey. Participation in MDT meetings, ward rounds and case discussions will ensure that the nursing perspective remains central to patient management.

Strong communication skills will be essential as you provide clear, accurate documentation aligned with NMC standards and communicate effectively with families and partners across healthcare and education. You will also uphold safeguarding responsibilities, ensuring that any concerns are promptly escalated and managed in line with Trust policy.

Finally, you will maintain high professional standards, acting as a role model within paediatrics and supporting the development of colleagues. You will engage in reflective practice, maintain uptodate clinical knowledge and participate actively in your own professional development—potentially including NonMedical Prescribing where appropriate to the role’s future development.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• RN Child or RSCN
• Specialist course in respiratory nursing or asthma
• Evidence of professional development and leadership training.

Desirable

• Working towards relevant degree or masters
• MSc level of study in childrens physical assessment
• Independent Non-Medical Nurse Prescribing Course

Experience

Essential

• Significant post registration experience working with children who have asthma
• Previous knowledge/experience of assessing childrens lung function e.g. PEFR Spirometer and carrying out diagnostics (FeNO/sprirometry/reversibility)

Desirable

• Experience of change management.
• Previous experience as an asthma CNS
• Research and audit
• Working in the community setting
• Experience of caseload management

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.

Employer details

Employer name

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

Address

The Princess Alexandra Hospital

Harlow

Essex

CM20 1QX

Employer's website

https://www.pah.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)