Enhanced Care Sister / Charge Nurse, Band 7

at  Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

We are excited to offer a unique opportunity to lead an Enhanced Care team of Healthcare Support Workers on a 12-month fixed-term basis. If you are a registered Nurse or registered Mental Health Nurse with a passion for providing person-centred care, this role is for you.
This innovative project focuses on enhancing care for individuals with additional needs, and secondment opportunities are available. We’re looking for a compassionate and adaptable leader who excels in a focused care environment, working closely with a small group of patients or offering 1:1 support.
You will work with teenagers, young adults, individuals with learning disabilities or autism, and older adults with dementia or delirium, playing a crucial role in improving their care experience. If you are patient, resourceful, and dedicated to making a meaningful impact in the lives of vulnerable individuals, we’d love to hear from you.
The proposed interview date is 26th November

Provide a specialist enhanced care nursing service to inpatients, who have an enhanced level of mental and psychological health need during their stay.
Be responsible for linking with the Mental Health Liaison Team (MHLT) and Admiral Nurse and developing a management plan to maintain safety, comfort and support for the service users who have an enhanced care need. The post holder will be professionally and managerially responsible for the delivery and ongoing development of the service.
Work within the multi-disciplinary team (MDT), providing clinical leadership for junior staff. Provides specialist support and guidance, including risk assessments to improve the quality of life for people with an enhanced care need whilst they are in hospital.
Lead and acts as a specialist resource to ensure Mental Health Act (MHA) legislation is adhered to, using expert knowledge to develop pathways in meeting the MHA Code of Practice.
Lead the operational and clinical management of the Enhanced Care Team, providing day to day management, leadership and line management to staff.
Undertake specialist assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of nursing care in an in-patient setting for service users with severe / complex mental health conditions
Work in partnership with service users, carers, MHLT and other agencies to ensure effectiveness of outcomes
This is a new opportunity to work in a completely new team. The concept is that as the team manager you will allocate Enhanced Care HCSWs to patients who meet the Enhanced Care criteria for additional staff availability.
We are committed to improving patient experience, as we want patients to rest and recover from their illness or injury, not leave hospital more tired than when they arrived. The vision is that this team will work to structure a patient’s day to ensure that they get sufficient rest between care episodes and that their overnight sleep is maximised.
It can be both immensely rewarding and emotionally draining to look after patients with additional needs, so you will need to ensure the team have access to regular clinical supervision.
Everyone will be new to the team so there is considerable scope to be creative and innovative to improve the experience of the patients the team are caring for and for the other patients on each ward, who are not able to sleep because one patient in their bay is agitated.

Leads the delivery of the enhanced care nursing service across all-inpatient settings including paediatric inpatient departments, responsible for delivering high quality enhanced care and treatment, whilst overseeing and ensuring effective and consistent services.

• Maintain clinical databases, audits and the coordination of enhanced care staffing.
• Ensures the service successfully meets national, local and departmental quality and clinical standards.