Junior Clinical Nurse

Haven House Children's Hospice is recruiting a Band 6 Junior Clinical Nurse Specialist to join our Integrated Nursing Team at a pivotal time of service development across North East London. Following the closure of Richard House Children's Hospice, Haven House is expanding hospice, community and Hospice at Home services to ensure children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions continue to receive safe, responsive and compassionate care.

Main duties of the job:

• As a Band 6 Junior Clinical Nurse Specialist, you will provide specialist clinical care to children and young people with complex needs and their families across hospice, home and community settings.
• The role includes participation in the on-call rota and requires confident clinical judgement, strong communication skills and a compassionate, family-centred approach.

Main responsibilities include:

• Delivering high-quality specialist nursing care to children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.
• Undertaking holistic assessments and contributing to advance care planning.
• Providing skilled symptom management and end-of-life care.
• Coordinating care with acute, community and hospice colleagues.
• Supporting safe discharge and step-down from hospital.
• Maintaining high standards of documentation, quality and safety.

About you:

You must be a Registered Nurse with current NMC registration, confident managing complex clinical situations, able to work autonomously with appropriate escalation and be calm, resilient and values led. Experience in palliative or end-of-life care is desirable, but we welcome applicants with transferable experience who are motivated to develop their specialist practice.

About us:

As an employee you will be entitled to the following range of benefits:

• Retention of your NHS pension (if applicable and subject to meeting NHS criteria).
• Agenda for Change long service holiday (if applicable).
• Pension Scheme (employer matching up to 7% if applicable).
• Free onsite parking.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Eye care voucher scheme.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Interest free season ticket loan.

Haven House is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. Employment is subject to receipt of satisfactory references and an enhanced DBS check.

Job responsibilities:

The Band 6 Junior Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) is an experienced children's nurse who provides high-quality, specialist clinical care to children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions and their families. Working under the supervision of the Senior Clinical Nurse Specialist (Band 7), the post holder plays a key role in end-of-life care, crisis response, anticipatory planning and symptom management, across hospice, home and community settings.

The role has a strong clinical focus, contributing specialist assessment, care coordination and clinical decision-making, while supporting continuity of care and preventing avoidable hospital admissions. The post holder will contribute to the on-call rota as required and act as a specialist clinical resource to families and the wider multidisciplinary team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Specialist Clinical Practice:

• Deliver high-quality specialist nursing care to children and young people with complex, life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.
• Undertake holistic assessments, identifying clinical, emotional and psychosocial needs.
• Provide skilled symptom management, including pain, respiratory distress, seizures and end-of-life care.
• Support families to care for their child safely at home, including anticipatory guidance and crisis prevention.
• Contribute to advance care planning and end-of-life decision-making in partnership with families and MDT colleagues.

• Act as a key clinical contact for a defined caseload of children and families.
• Coordinate care across hospice, hospital, community and social care services.
• Liaise closely with acute paediatric teams, community nursing, GPs and specialist services.
• Support safe hospital discharge and step-down care.
• Ensure care plans are clearly documented, shared and regularly reviewed.

• Participate in the delivery of responsive end-of-life and crisis nursing support.
• Contribute to the on-call rota in line with service requirements.
• Provide timely clinical assessment and intervention to prevent deterioration where possible.
• Support families during periods of acute distress with compassionate, skilled care.

• Practice in accordance with Haven House policies, procedures and clinical guidelines.
• Contribute to incident reporting, reflective practice and learning.
• Participate in audit, service evaluation and quality improvement activity.
• Maintain accurate, timely and confidential clinical records.
• Escalate clinical concerns appropriately to the Senior CNS or nurse in charge.

• Act as a role model for excellent clinical practice and professional behaviour.
• Support junior staff and students through informal supervision and clinical guidance.
• Participate in mandatory training, safeguarding supervision and clinical supervision.
• Maintain professional registration and ongoing professional development.

Professional Responsibilities:

• Adhere to the NMC Code of Conduct, Performance and Ethics.
• Maintain confidentiality in line with data protection and Caldicott principles.
• Promote equality, dignity and respect for children, families and colleagues.
• Uphold Haven House values at all times.

General Requirements:

• To attend staff meetings, training and supervision as required.
• To work flexibly across hospice and community settings.
• To support service delivery during periods of increased demand.
• To behave at all times in line with Haven House values and behaviours.
• To uphold privacy, dignity and respect for children, families and colleagues.
• To actively promote equality, diversity and inclusion.

This job description is not a definitive or exhaustive list of responsibilities but identifies the key responsibilities and tasks of the post holder. The specific objectives of the post holder will be subject to review as part of the individual performance process.

Haven House is committed to Equal Opportunities in Employment and therefore it is our aim to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on grounds of gender, disability, religion, race, colour, sexual orientation, and nationality, ethnic or national origins or is placed at a disadvantage by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

Employees must take reasonable care and be aware of the responsibilities placed on them under the Health & Safety at Work Act (1974) and ensure that agreed safety procedures are carried out to maintain a safe environment for employees, patients and visitors.

Haven House is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. Employment is subject to receipt of satisfactory references and an enhanced DBS check.

Person Specification:

Experience:

• Experience of caring for children with complex or life-limiting conditions.
• Experience of community, hospice or acute paediatric nursing.
• Experience of end-of-life or palliative care.
• Knowledge of symptom management and anticipatory care.
• Experience of multidisciplinary working.
• Post-registration specialist training.

Personal Qualities:

• Compassionate, calm and resilient.
• Values-led and family-centered.
• Flexible and adaptable.
• Commitment to safeguarding and equality.
• Willingness to contribute to on-call services.

Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent clinical assessment and decision-making skills.
• Ability to manage complex and emotionally demanding situations.
• Strong communication skills with children, families and professionals.
• Ability to work autonomously with appropriate escalation.
• Good organisational and time-management skills.

Qualifications:

• Registered Nurse (RN Child / RSCN / RGN) with current NMC registration.

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.