Research Nurse, CYP

A highly motivated registered Child Nursing or Mental Health nurse is sought to join our Research & Innovation Service at Mersey Care, to increase the number of Children and young people participating in clinical studies at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

You will support the development of research that is aimed at improving health outcomes for children and young people in mental health services. The post will contribute to the assessment and management of the care pathways for Children and Young people and carers participating in clinical studies. This will include the recruitment, education, monitoring of research participants, the collection and documentation of accurate data.

You will be working with senior nurses and multidisciplinary teams within the Trust as well as the wider research teams assisting with the management of a caseload of clinical studies patients. The post will assess and carry out clinical procedures for patients/participants and will be considered part of the clinical team during the participants’ involvement with the study.

You will have a specialist knowledge in research and/or clinical practice enabling the post holder to work independently e.g. either previous experience as a clinical research nurse or specialist knowledge within a specific disease area meeting the service needs such as Children and young people’s mental health services.

Main duties of the job

• Working autonomously to assist in the management of a caseload of clinical trial patients, whilst working as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Maintain effective communication with patients, carers and professionals to ensure high quality service delivery.
• Manage and oversee a portfolio of research studies in various disease sites.
• Training and assessing research staff as competent in line with the research competencies framework.
• Identifying suitable patients for entry into clinical studies by attending clinics (screening notes) and relevant Multi-disciplinary Team meetings.
• Use relevant clinical knowledge to identify patients suitable for clinical research using inclusion and exclusion criteria and utilising NHS records, visiting wards and outpatients.
• Act as a resource and role model for all aspects of research clinical practice in order to optimise patient care and clinical practice.
• Carry out physical assessments, taking blood/urine samples and processing according to protocol.

Working for our organisation

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.

Person specification

Values

• Accountability
• Support
• High professional standards
• Responsive to service users
• Engaging leadership style
• Transparency and honesty
• Discreet
• Change oriented

Knowledge/ Experience

• Demonstrable experience in children and young people’s services
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Specialist knowledge of research legislation, Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and National Framework or equivalent
• Knowledge of clinical and Research Terminology
• Experience of assessment in Mental health - including risk management
• Demonstrable knowledge within a required disease site e.g., Children and young peoples services/mental health
• Evidence of previous patient/client and Multi-Disciplinary Team contact within work environment
• Experience of undertaking clinical research and/or extensive clinical experience in a specific area
• Experience of delivery of research studies in children and young people’s services

Skills

• Ability to make independent decisions and advise others on appropriate action.
• Ability to communicate complex information to patients/ carers/ members of MDT.
• Team player whilst possessing ability to work independently.
• Well organised and able to plan own workload.
• Diplomatic.
• Ability to practice within the scope of the NMC professional code.

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse – Current registration with NMC: Children’s Nursing or Mental Health