Primary Care Dementia Nurse Specialist

The Dementia Clinical Nurse Specialist service inSouthwarkprovidescomprehensive clinical holistic assessment, review,and support for people, and theircarers, who are living with a diagnosis of dementia. Thenurse ledserviceprimarily offer home based assessmentsto supportplanning of care forpeople living with dementia in the community to stay living at home. To achieve this, we work closely with primary care, social care, and voluntary sector organisations in the borough to foster positive networks and co-working across the borough. Building and strengthening these relationships is a key part of this role, and this is done through network meetings, MDTs, and co-location of services. Alongside this; using knowledge as specialist nurses we promote health and wellness, as well as giving dementia education to other health professionals, social care, and voluntary organisations. We provide expert clinical guidance to our partner organisations and consult asrequired. South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust currentlyhastwo Dementia CNS services,based in Lewisham and Southwark, and the services work closely to ensure a parity of care and access across the two boroughs.The provision isvery smallso the two are joined and have shared meetings on the Lewisham site. 1. Undertake holistic clinical assessment of individuals living with dementia, provide expert advice and support to these individuals, whilstmaintaininga small short-term caseload of patients with dementia who may need follow up visits to achieve desired outcomes. 1. To work with health, social, and voluntary services,and engage with the wider Southwark community, to develop andmaintainworking relationships and cohesive care pathways across the borough for the defined patient group.,

• To undertake direct patient care at least70% of working hours. To practice at an advanced level,demonstratinga high levelof autonomy and clinical decision making.
• The post holder will liaise proactively with external organisations to provide and promote seamless patient-centred care.
• Identifysafeguarding concerns and report via agreed channels and seek advice through the safeguarding leadership structure
• To develop a detailed knowledge of services and agencies in the borough which can support people with dementia with a range of needs and effectively signpost patients, carers and GPs to these servicesand build professional links.
• To work alongside the voluntary sector organisations to provide expert clinical advice and guidance where there are concerns for their attendees and the services lack clinicalexpertiseor direct access to this.
• To ensure thatappropriate,consistentand realistic information is provided to patients and relatives.
• To provide support to carers of people with dementia
• To adhere with clinical care pathways for patients with dementia.
2)Practice and Service Development:
• To act as a clinical dementia expert to primarycare ,supporting GP practice nurses and others with practical advice, signposting to relevant community services. To actively involve service users in providing feedback of their experience of the current service and suggestions for improvements.
3)Education and Training
• To educateprofessionals in Southwarkon the range of services available for people with dementia and effective care planning, through carrying out joint work and feeding back actions from reviews
• To attend meetings and conferences, locally and nationally tomaintainown specialist knowledge ensuring that the post holder is fully conversant with current issues.
• Toparticipatein the training and education of nursing, medical and AHP staff within the Trust and Primary Care asrequired.
4)Quality Improvement and Service Evaluation
• To collect and presenthigh qualitydata on the effectiveness of theservice.
• To collect key outcome measures - including rates of completed care planning for people with dementia, referral and re-referral rates, and patient experience and carer experience data.
5)Other
• To undertake any other reasonable duties as requested by line manager.
  
  By coming to work at SLaM, you will join an organisation with a rich history and international reputation in mental health care, with access to professional development and the chance to work alongside world leaders in their field. Our close working relationship with King's Health Partners also opens up opportunities to get involved in academic research.
We're committed to a healthy work-life balance and ensuring our staff feel valued, with a comprehensive benefits package including:
• Generous pay, pensions and leave, dependent on role and length of service
• Flexible working, including part-time and job share options
• Career development, through mentoring, coaching, and leadership and talent programmes
• Car lease schemes at competitive rates
• NHS discounts of up to 10% with major retailers