Community Mental Health Nurse (Research Nurse)

at  Norfolk Suffolk Foundation Trust

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people’s and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.
At any one time, around 23,000 people in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving care and attention from the Trust. We believe in whole life care - seeing people in the context of their whole lives, understanding the importance of good physical health, friends, family, spirituality, culture, home, work, education and a sense of purpose and achievement to experience good mental health.
Nearly 3,800 full and part-time practitioners care for our service users in hospitals, in the community and in their own homes, whilst an additional 1,400+ staff provide non-clinical support, including cleaning, catering, delivering supplies, ward administration, information technology, human resources and financial services.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.
We are committed to delivering quality driven mental health services. Every individual makes a valuable contribution. We are proud of our staff who have been commended for the care they provide. Do you value working positively, respectfully and together? If so, we’d love you to join us!
We will consider flexible working arrangements for our roles, please indicate in your application if this is something you require

JOB DESCRIPTION/PERSON SPECIFICATION

Please read the job description/person specification carefully and ensure your application reflects the knowledge, skills and experience needed.

JOB OVERVIEW

Research Nursing is a rapidly growing specialty within the health service and there has never been a more important time to build research skills and capacity. As a Research Nurse in NSFT, you will join a national-award nominated research team which works nationally and internationally to set up and deliver research studies across Norfolk and Suffolk.
The post-holder will support the day-to-day running of NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) research projects in the area of mental health and dementia studies.
The post is available on a secondment/fixed term contract until 31st March 2025.
Please read the Job Description Supplementary Information Form for specific information about this role. For more information, please contact Claire Rischmiller (Lead Research Nurse) on Claire.Rischmiller@nsft.nhs.uk

APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service

MAIN DUTIES OF THE JOB

The post-holder will be undertaking delegated tasks to ensure that research participants’ recruitment procedures, treatments, assessments, follow-ups and data collections are delivered according to the approved research protocols. Involvement in the Trust’s REACH referral system to screen people into research will form the post-holder’s core roles.
The role will involve close liaison with Research Nurses, Study teams, Clinical services and Research & Development Leads to set-up and deliver research studies across the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
Experience of working with people living across the lifespan with mental health conditions in an empathetic person-centred ethical manner is essential, alongside good paper and data management skills to ensure key scientific integrity of research information.
The ideal candidate will be a registered Nurse who has experience of working with people with mental health needs. This post offers the opportunity to develop clinical and research skills, and to be part of a growing research community. Continuous professional development is seen as a priority and the post holder will be working within an extended team for support, so it is important that the candidate is interested in Research Nursing as a long-term career choice.

DETAILED JOB DESCRIPTION AND MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

• To identify and recruit participants to Clinical Research Network adopted studies according to specific protocols and guidelines.
• To assist clinicians and obtain informed consent from participants via face-to face or online means.
• To provide verbal and written information and welfare/wellbeing support to research participants and their carers for the duration of their involvement in the research project and to assist participants with the completion of questionnaires as necessary.
• Coordinate treatment, assessments and follow-ups as necessary in accordance with research protocols including physiological and psychological measurements.
• To undertake study specific training as required.
• Take relevant patient samples for studies such as blood and saliva samples and package and dispatch as per defined protocols.
• To assist with the creation and maintenance of study specific site files.
• To manage electronic patient/participant files, study specific databases and on-line data entry systems.
• Identify areas of low patient recruitment and work with other team members to identify mechanisms for improvement.
• To work at all times according to Good Clinical Practice, Research Governance and Trust guidelines.
• To attend team meetings and study-specific meetings to provide updates about study progress and any recruitment challenges.
• To maintain a working knowledge of relevant mental health practice and to disseminate up to date information, protocol amendments etc. to personnel working on research projects.
• To cover duties of other research staff when required.