Psychological Nurse Specialist

We are seeking a resilient and passionate Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN) to join the Psycho-oncology Team at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust for a 12-month maternity cover (also available as a secondment). This is a full-time role (37.5 hours per week), working Monday to Friday (08:30-16:30). You will provide specialist interventions for patients facing complex mental health difficulties within a world-leading oncology setting. The Role As a key member of our multidisciplinary team-alongside psychiatrists, psychologists, and counsellors-you will deliver high-quality psychological support and contribute directly to service development. This role requires excellent interpersonal skills and the emotional resilience to manage complex and distressing clinical situations effectively. Why Join Us? As a CQC-rated 'Good' Trust, we pride ourselves on a culture that prioritises clinician wellbeing and professional growth through:

• Comprehensive Supervision: Access to regular team supervision, individual clinical supervision, and dedicated time for reflective practice.
Informal Visits & Enquiries We highly encourage interested candidates to contact us for an informal discussion or to arrange a visit to the department to meet the team and see our service in action., As a Psychological Nurse Specialist, you will:
• Clinical Caseload: Autonomously manage a specialist oncology caseload, providing high-quality assessments and interventions for patients with complex mental health difficulties.
• Operational Leadership & Escalation: Lead day-to-day service operations and team coordination; act as the primary contact for operational issues, escalating strategic or high-level governance matters to the Psycho-oncology Lead Nurse.
• MDT Collaboration: Work integrally with psychiatrists, psychologists, and counsellors, while fostering strong links with the broader oncology teams and external stakeholders to ensure seamless care for both inpatients and outpatients.
• Service Development: Collaborate with the Lead Nurse and Clinical Leads to drive service improvements, staff education, and mental health promotion.
• Professional Growth: Maintain high clinical standards through regular supervision, reflective practice, and specialist professional development., 1. Perform comprehensive assessments of patients' mental health and psychological needs and plan, implement, and evaluate care delivery according to changing health care needs to ensure continuity of effective patient care.
2. Perform advanced clinical skills in psychological and mental health assessment, diagnosis, and interactions to enhance the patient experience. 3. Provide guidance to nursing colleagues regarding the management of patients with specific mental health needs. 4. Collect, collate, evaluate, and report information, maintaining accurate patient records in line with clinical governance and risk-management. 5. Involve patients and cares/relatives in the planning and delivery of care and development of services to enhance the patient/carer experience. 6. Work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to ensure patient needs are met. 7. Use advanced communication skills in a variety of settings. 8. Monitor health, safety and security of self and others and promote best practice in the clinical area. 9. Promote patient and public involvement activities in the specialist area, leading to service improvement. Managerial 1. Ensure the effective and efficient use of physical and financial resources in conjunction with finance and the service manager. 2. Lead on the writing of protocols relevant to the Psychological Nurse Specialist role. 3. Contribute to and coordinate the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and guidelines within the Trust in line with national guidance; and contribute to these activities at network and national level. 4. Organize daily work schedule and off duty rotas ensuring appropriate and effective skill mix and deployment of staff appropriate to patient needs. 5. Be aware of Health and Safety issues and ensure relevant risk assessments for the department are undertaken. 6. Report and record all incidents and complaints according to the agreed policy, investigating promptly and compassionately. 7. Ensure all existing Trust policies and procedures are adhered to and new ones are implemented as necessary. 8. Report to Clinical Lead or DACN on clinical matters/activity and staff development. Professional 1. Highlight areas of improvement/development within the department and undertake relevant projects. 2. Keep abreast of issues influencing the Trust both internally and externally and ensure senior colleagues and the team have a good understanding of the same. 3. Undertake clinical supervision of health care professional colleagues on an individual or group basis. 4. Be fully aware of the divisional objectives and the Trust's corporate plan. 5. Demonstrate a pleasant and approachable manner and help create and promote good working relationships. 6. Show professional and courteous manner whilst practicing excellent communication skills at all levels. 7. Show respect for members of the team and endorse the philosophy of giving mutual support. 8. Being aware of one's own limitations, maintain confidentiality and adherence to NMC Professional Code of Conduct 9. Cooperate in own performance review by indicating learning goals and support needs. 10. Actively seek mentorship / supervision to enable reflection and development within the role. 11. Exercise effective leadership using sound organization skills and judgement, upholding equality and diversity of colleagues and patients. Education and Development 1. Provide specialist, expert clinical knowledge to clinical colleagues, patients, and carers/relatives both within and outside the Trust. 2. Identify learning needs, plan, implement and evaluate programs of education to meet identified needs. 3. Participate in the education of pre- and post-registration health care professionals/medical staff 4. Educate and support staff in the general hospital in how to manage medically ill inpatients with psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, delirium, dementia. 5. Sustain up to date skills and knowledge and maintain awareness of professional issues. 6. Ensure own compliance and compliance of others with regard to mandatory training. Research & Audit 1. Identify need for, and undertake, research/clinical audit/benchmarking, to improve effectiveness of patient care. 2. Contribute to relevant research projects in Psycho-Oncology being conducted at Trust, Network, or national level. 3. Disseminate research and audit findings through presentation to professional groups and publication. 4. Evaluate service delivery- identify areas for improvement and initiate change. The closing date for this post may be extended if there are insufficient applicants or brought forward if there is a high volume of applicants. Application Information - If you have not heard from us within four weeks of the closing date, I regret that on this occasion your application will have been unsuccessful. Sponsorship Information - We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website. Pre-Employment Checks - To confirm your suitability for the role, we will carry out pre-employment checks in line with NHS Employment Check Standards. These include: + Identity verification

The Christie is one of Europe's leading cancer centres, treating over 60,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 15% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country. We provide radiotherapy through one of the largest radiotherapy departments in the world; chemotherapy on site and through 14 other hospitals; highly specialist surgery for complex and rare cancer; and a wide range of support and diagnostic services. We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We run one of the largest early clinical trial units in Europe with over 300 trials every year. Cancer research in Manchester, most of which is undertaken on the Christie site, has been officially ranked the best in the UK., + Disclosure and barring service (DBS)/Criminal record check (dependent on role, payment of this will be the applicants responsibility) + Professional registration and/or qualification check + Occupational health assessment + Employment history and reference validation All applicants external to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust will be required to provide their HMRC employment history to cover the most recent three years employment. This information will used to validate employment history and references. If you require sponsorship, we will assess your eligibility based on current government guidance. If the role is not eligible and you cannot demonstrate your right to work, your conditional offer may be withdrawn. If You're Offered the Role - you will be agreeing to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system. Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there. The Inter-Authority Transfer (IAT) process is a critical and beneficial component of ESR and will form part of the recruitment process. In the event that you are successful following interview your previous NHS employment data, if applicable will be transferred from your current / most recent employer. Sponsorship Information - We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website. No Smoking Policy - You should be aware the Trust operates a No Smoking Policy and therefore employees are not permitted to smoke at work. Additional Information - We want to ensure that everyone who works at the Christie or uses our services is welcomed, valued and treated with dignity and respect. The Christie values diversity and is committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all and fair representation across the organisation at all levels. In support of these commitments, we particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority people and people with disabilities for this post. Appointment will be only on merit. We are committed to creating a balanced and diverse workforce. As such we welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Together we will foster inclusion and tackle inequity and health inequalities in cancer care. As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy. The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in all our activities. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery in any of its forms, including slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour, and human trafficking. We are fully committed to acting ethically and with transparency in all our business dealings and relationships, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our organisation or supply chains.