Clinical Nurse Specialist

The Addiction Recovery Community (ARCH) helps people in Hillingdon who want to break a cycle of addiction to substances such as heroin, club drugs, other types of stimulants or long term alcohol addiction. It represents the bringing together of a variety of services under one roof to provide a better service to service users.

An exciting opportunity has become available at ARCH to work within the Addictions Team as an experienced Band 6 Clinical Nurse Specialist.

• Provide specialist addiction nursing support in the form of assessment, engagement and intervention for patients with substance use needs.
• Support integration into the community, preventing reoffending and facilitating engagement with the local community substance misuse team ARCH.
• Work with a wide range of services and communicate effectively.
• Work as part of a multidisciplinary team and also as an individual in various environments; supervision and consultation are available to support practice.
• Be an experienced registered nurse with knowledge of mental health and substance misuse disorders with demonstrable experience in specialist assessment and decision making.
• Support training and development of nurses' skills and prioritise helping applicants learn new skills in working with service users in addictions support.
• Utilise opportunities to develop essential clinical skills such as motivational interviewing, relapse management and clinical skills including venepuncture, ECG, dry blood spot testing and FibroScan training.
• Continuously assess the psychological, emotional, social and rehabilitative needs of clients/patients, considering family and local community needs, and develop systematic care plans and evaluation of treatment plans.
• Assess and case manage clients who inject drugs, including injection site assessment and harm minimisation principles.
• Use agreed Treatment Outcome Monitoring Tools (TOP) and other relevant quality measures.
• Counsel individuals about their substance use and related behaviours using motivational interviewing, relapse management and other evidence-based interventions.
• Provide clinical advice and support to other colleagues within the health care setting and to other agencies concerned with substance misuse.
• Be responsible for the safe and effective storage and administration of drugs, with custody and maintenance of statutory records in accordance with Trust Policies/Procedures on the supply and carriage of drugs in the community.
• Ensure full risk assessments and risk management are delivered effectively.
• Undertake dry blood spot testing for BBV and urinalysis when required.
• Screen clients at risk of, or affected by, blood borne diseases and plan and agree service responses accordingly.
• Provide education and actively promote Hepatitis B vaccination for clients at risk; administer Hepatitis B vaccination in line with CNWL policies and protocols.
• Provide pre and post test discussion to clients screened for blood borne viruses in accordance with CNWL guidelines.
• Ensure CNWL Hepatitis care plan is used for all clients and promote attendance at hepatology clinic for clients affected by liver disease.
• Collaborate with statutory, non-statutory teams, GPs, Primary Care Services, Virology, Chemical Pathology and Liver/Gastroenterology Departments; provide expert care without direct medical supervision using clinical guidance documents and patient group directions as agreed by the Trust.
• Assist in the transfer of individuals between the service and Hepatology/Gastroenterology and other relevant agencies.
• Be familiar with Trust and local Resuscitation, Infection Control and Needle Stick Injury Policies and Procedures.
• Attend mandatory yearly updates on CPR and Anaphylaxis training.

We are looking for an experienced registered nurse with knowledge of mental health and substance misuse disorders and demonstrable experience in specialist assessment and decision making.

We are a forward facing trust who believes in training and development of nurses' skills and can prioritise supporting prospective applicants to learn new skills in working with providing service users addictions support. We have ample opportunities to gain a greater understanding of essential skills underpinning clinical practice such as motivational interviewing techniques, relapse management and clinical specialist skills.