Senior Nurse Practitioner (Learning Disability Complex Care - HMP) in Liverpool

A Vacancy at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is the health provider for the delivery of the Integrated Mental Health Team (IMHT) at HMP Liverpool. The service is designed to support the holistic mental health and learning disability needs of our client group, in partnership with our Physical Health providers and HMPPS colleagues. HMP Liverpool is a Category B, male only, local prison, in the Liverpool area. The service provides individual and group-based interventions based on the clinical needs of the population. The service is developing and will adopt the biopsychological model to inform practice and tailor interventions accordingly. These interventions will be individualised, and trauma informed, alongside comprehensive risk assessment and management.

Core aims of the service are to improve mental and psychological wellbeing via a range of interventions, build the development of independent core skills, reduce risk, and advocate for mental health and learning disabilities within the wider prison. The post holder will be joining a dedicated team of clinical staff from a range of backgrounds and experience. Team members have high levels of skill, passion and enthusiasm (and humour) and are committed to ensuring the on-going successful development of the service and the opportunities it provides for our population.

We are now recruiting a Senior Learning Disability Nurse Practitioner to join our team. The successful candidate will work alongside a fellow Learning Disability Nurse and the wider IMHT to support those in custody with Learning Disability and Autism needs. The post holder will have clinical responsibility via the application of relevant assessments and facilitating individual and group based interventions based on the holistic needs of the client group. The post holder should have considerable experience of working with individuals with complex clinical and risk presentations including within institutional settings and as part of a multi-disciplinary team. This should include work with clients whose needs may mean that they find it difficult to engage with services. Experience of working in complex service and organisational settings is required alongside an ability to constructively manage the personal, professional and ethical opportunities and challenges such work can involve.

Within the IMHT’s, we prioritise the development of our staff team and have proven that we value and nurture diverse clinical interests. We are committed to creating an empowered staff team. We strive to be reflective and supportive of each other which is vital given the challenges this work can entail. Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands. We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities. At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so. Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Principal Responsibilities:

• To carry a clinical caseload within the prison with individuals who present behaviour that challenges or where there is a risk of offending.
• Under direction undertake a thorough assessment of new referrals using a range of tools.
• Under direction provide comprehensive risk assessment of offending and/or other complex behaviours.
• Under supervision carry out initial assessments with service users.
• Under the supervision of senior staff complete comprehensive risk assessment of offending and/or challenging behaviours.
• Under the supervision of senior staff, develop Risk Management Plans including strategies and recommendations.
• Contribute to the development of a formulation of offending behaviour and/or risk.
• Under the direction of senior staff support the implementation of specialist therapeutic interventions.
• To evaluate the outcome of any interventions.
• Develop detailed care plans when planning release from prison settings or when seeking alternative placements in community settings.
• To encourage the ethos of the Positive Behavioural Support model in delivery of care.
• To provide advice and support to teams to maintain consistency in the overall management and response to risky or challenging behaviour.
• To undertake on occasions urgent or emergency assessments, including risk assessments.
• To provide recommendations for a gate keeping assessment where appropriate.
• To provide advice, consultation and support to partner agencies regarding complex challenging behaviour and offending.
• To support and lead on the development of contingency plans for crisis and relapses.
• To organise own workload and work schedule.
• To provide clinical and managerial supervision to junior members of staff.
• To act as supervisor, assessor and mentor for students, nurses and junior staff.
• To facilitate the education of service users, relatives and other agencies concerned with provision of learning disability services in the prison service.
• To be involved in the development of training / information resources for partner agencies in the area of Learning Disabilities.
• To ensure Safeguarding requirements are upheld.
• To organise and chair regular staff meetings and other forums as appropriate.
• To provide statistical information as required by the Trust.
• To ensure effective communication between services, and the co-ordination of other services as appropriate.
• To undertake duties as may be delegated by the Service Manager.
• To utilise theory, evidenced based literature and research to support practice.
• To contribute to the evidence base by leading and participating in research and audits whenever possible.
• To develop and review protocols, policies and procedures.

This advert closes on Wednesday 18 Feb 2026.