Children & Young People’s Continence Associate Practitioner in Crawley

The post is an Associate Practitioner role within Sussex Community Foundation Trust (SCFT) Children's Community Nursing Service, focused on the clinical and associated public health nursing of children and young people with continence needs. The post holder will also become competent and proficient in their area of practice by undertaking competency assessments specific to their area of clinical practice. The Associate Practitioner will be both directly and indirectly supervised by a Registered Nurse dependent upon the specific skill being practised and the level of competency achieved. The post holder will protect, safeguard and promote the well-being of children in accordance with 'The Children Act' (1989 & 2004) and 'Working Together to Safeguard Children' (HM Gov 2013).

Main duties of the job:

• Deliver a high standard of clinical and therapeutic care to a specific caseload of patients.
• Demonstrate good working knowledge of children's development, particularly in relation to toileting skills and attaining continence.
• Undertake continence assessments of an identified caseload.
• Form a professional judgement of an individual's potential to toilet train and presence of toileting skills and/or continence issues.
• Advise and support families to promote continence of children and young people based on the individual assessment.
• Monitor and evaluate agreed individualised care plans with supervision from a CYP Continence Nurse Specialist as required.
• Initiation and management for the ordering of appropriate continence products for children and young people in line with Trust policy.
• Take part in the induction, training and development of others.
• Participate in nursing research and audit projects pertinent to clinical community practice in conjunction with CCNT service's quality and standards forum.
• Ensure when aware of clinical incidents in practice that these are reported via the correct channels and assist with the implementation of relevant recommendations.
• Assist with general duties appropriate to the clinical area as required.

About us:

We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays. Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.

Why work for us?

• Positive 2024 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeing.
• Varied environments: community hospitals, patients' homes, and bases across Sussex.
• Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retirement.
• Excellent training, development, and research opportunities.
• Accredited Living Wage Employer, we ensure fair pay for all our staff.
• Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brighton.
• Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief network.
• Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trust.

Our values—Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence—guide everything we do. We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.

This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.

Job responsibilities:

• Demonstrate responsible use of resources, with an awareness of budgetary restraints with regard to continence product provision and the contracted provider, by maintaining and improving services and systems, monitoring costs and activities against the budget to enhance value.
• Be responsible for their own personal, professional development, including keeping up to date with Mandatory training and training relevant to the area of practice.
• Attend organised training sessions and complete all relevant competencies within agreed time frames.
• Undertake a link role with other Teams and departments to support clinical practice and Team working.
• Comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures and be involved in the reviewing and updating as appropriate.
• Responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work within the scope of their role and competency.

Person Specification:

• Diploma or equivalent appropriate qualification or NVQ Level 3 qualification plus short courses or relevant experience to diploma level AND relevant experience with children and young people.
• GCSE grades A+-C Maths & English or equivalent.

• Significant experience working with children and young people in a supportive role or clinical role / Health Care Assistant post.
• Experience of communicating with people from diverse backgrounds and with a range of alternative and augmented communication methods.
• Patient assessment skills with the ability to implement and evaluate interventions relevant to role.
• Experience of safeguarding children and working with vulnerable people of all ages and backgrounds.

• Good understanding of child physical and emotional development.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and engage with children and families who may be experiencing difficult circumstances or distressing news.
• Ability to respond to changing individual needs and preferences to empower children and families in their health care.
• Evidence of problem solving and using initiative.
• Team worker able to work flexibly to cover service needs.
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of child and adult safeguarding and take appropriate action to safeguard within scope of role.
• Awareness of professional responsibilities and boundaries.
• Ability in and working knowledge of IT and new technologies - electronic records and databases.
• Self-motivated and able to work without direct supervision with the ability to recognise when referral to a registered health professional is needed.
• Able to work collaboratively with multi-disciplinary interagency teams and to liaise effectively with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Able to present information, written and orally in an accurate clear and logical manner.
• Willingness and commitment to ongoing learning.
• Ability to multitask.

• Ability to travel as required to meet the needs of the service on a daily basis.

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.