Substance Misuse Nurse (Development Role)

at  Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Are you ready to unlock your potential within a challenging, creative and fast paced work environment? Do you want to escape your current job role and work with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past? Now is the time to break into offender healthcare and develop your career.
As part of the South West Prison Healthcare contract awarded to Oxleas NHS trust in 2022, we are able to expand recruitment and are looking for a compassionate, knowledgeable and motivated Registered Nurse to join our friendly team at HMP Elmley on a development programme to progress to a Band 6 Specialist Substance Misuse Nurse.
Our healthcare team have a real impact on promoting health and well-being to those in prison and we pride ourselves on using skills and strategies that instil hope for patients future resettlement back into the community. We directly deliver Mental Health, Physical Health, Pharmacy and Clinical Substance Misuse in an integrated healthcare delivery model to provide effective and responsive care to improve wellbeing and support better outcomes in the future.
As part of our Substance misuse team, you will enjoy all the benefits of NHS AfC employment (inc pension) with the opportunity to work within a forward-thinking service, who encourage career and personal development to all staff to increase their clinical and interpersonal skills.
As a registered nurse you will provide high quality primary care services and a range of specialist interventions for offenders. In this role you will have a specialist interest in supporting those with i dentified substance misuse / dependency and related physical health issues in a Local Remand prison.
At HMP Elmley, we deliver a nurse-led integrated primary care service and operate a specialist practice-based clinical model of care.
You will be delivering high quality clinical care within the Integrated Healthcare Service for the prison, demonstrating robust expert clinical skills and providing evidence-based nursing practice to those in prison.
A clear competency framework and time scale will be agreed with your line manager to ensure your personal and professional development can be met in order to uplift your role to a Band 6 once your development plan and goals have been met. You will work closely with the Substance Misuse Clinical Lead and Practice Development Nurse for BSGW to guide and support you on your development journey.
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.
We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.
Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
We’re Kind
We’re Fair
We Listen
We Care
Senior Nurse Developmental Role
We strongly encourage applications from newly qualified registered nurses, or those close to obtaining qualified status, who will initially be offered a preceptorship position (Agenda for Change Band 5) and then supported to be eligible to move into the Substance Misuse Nurse position (Agenda for Change Band 6).
We also encourage experienced Band 5 nurses looking for a career in offender healthcare, with a structured progression pathway. If you have an interest in working with Substance Misuse patients, this is a great opportunity for you.
Job descriptions and person specifications for both band 5 and band 6 are attached. Further professional development and training is strongly encouraged and supported.
Personal Development Plan
There will be a clear plan to support you in developing the competencies within the framework that will be agreed by your line manager. You will be supported and encouraged to take increasing autonomy over time.
Oxleas use a Personal Development Review (PDR) and Plan (PDP) process on an annual basis with all staff. In a preceptorship role, this structure will be used to support the agreement of a Personal Development Plan within the 12 weeks of starting your role with us. It will be reviewed more frequently than the usual PDR process, as agreed with your supervisor and manager e.g. every 6 months. Your Personal Development Plan will be agreed with your manager and supervisor who will support you in identifying areas of development and the associated activities and support required to work towards the competencies set out in the framework.
Summary of evidence
You will need to prepare a portfolio for documenting evidence of your skills and experiences to demonstrate your competence as a Senior Nurse. These competencies were derived from the NHSE and RCN competency framework.
Criteria for progression from Band 5 to Band 6
The developmental roles for newly qualified and experienced nurses have been introduced in Oxleas Forensic and Offender Healthcare to provide a framework that enables us to support colleagues to develop beyond their entry level role with a progressive and satisfying job plan. It is intended to support staff wellbeing, encourage the retention of quality staff and support individuals within the custodial setting with greater consistency of care.
It is expected that you will have the relevant post-qualification experience before applying to progress to Band 6.
A competency framework will be agreed with your clinical supervisor or line manager who will support you to achieve the competencies required of a Senior Nurse in Offender Healthcare.

Please refer the Job description for details