Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist: Sponsorship Available

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

Job summary

We are looking to recruit an experienced Diabetes Specialist Nurse to join our team at Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

Are you a DSN who is enthusiastic, highly motivated and forward thinking, would you be keen to help us drive improvements in service delivery around in-patient care, antenatal, diabetes technology including insulin pump therapy?

Do you have experience of working as a diabetes specialist nurse with proven clinical skills / knowledge, acquired from time working as a DSN in diabetes clinics, in-patient care or community?

Or, do you have strong transferable skills and knowledge from a current band 7 role in areas such as oncology, stroke, liver, renal, spoke nursing, complex care and want to use these capabilities to support patients with diabetes.

The ideal candidate will already be a DSN or have strong transferable skills to step into an independent band 7 role. Be self-motivated, organised, computer literate and able to demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills and committed to service provision whilst maintaining own continual professional development.

This role will specifically support our in-patient service.

Main duties of the job

We aim to offer diabetes specialist nurses the opportunity to work in any area of our service over time, to ensure a broad range of diabetes knowledge, experience and skills. Our service covers in-patient, out-patient and community diabetes CNS roles, so a unique place to work for any Diabetes CNS wishing to progress in the professional.

Responsibilities include:

To work as an autonomous practitioner and effectively co-ordinate and deliver an expert nursing service within diabetes To manage patients/client caseloads To ensure that patients and their families are fully informed and supported by providing clinical and social support To be involved in the development of evidence based clinical nursing practice in line with current research and guidelines To work collaboratively with colleagues To establish clear lines of communication with primary healthcare.

To be involved in research/audit

We are a friendly team and a team who would support anyone new to our service.

If you are interested in applying for this role, please do contact the Diabetes CNS Lead for further details and/or to arranged an informal visit.

We ask that when completing your application, you clearly demonstrate where your skills and experience meet criteria for the role and your specific experience, skills and knowledge acquired since you became a DSN / PN or Spoke nurse.

Person Specification

Qualification

Essential

  • Level 1 NMC Adult Registered Nurse
  • Relevant post registration qualification
  • One of the following as a minimum – Diabetes Diploma/certificate or willingness to undertake, Non-Medical Independent Prescriber/ or willingness to undertake, teaching qualification or equivalent expert experience

Desirable

  • Experience of managing diabetes in specialist clinics,( renal. pregnancy/gestational , pump, YAC)
  • DAFNE qualification
  • Mentorship qualification or willingness to undertake
  • Counselling qualification or willingness to undertake
  • Non-Medical Independent Prescriber/ Willingness to undertake.

Experience/Knowledge

Essential

  • Post registration experience.
  • Extensive knowledge of diabetes having previous experience in a DSN role.
  • Ability to work independently and as part of a team within diabetes.
  • Experience of clinical supervision and mentoring junior staff/nursing students.
  • Able to demonstrate understanding and empathy
  • To contribute to the development of policies and protocols to improve patient care
  • Critical application of detailed knowledge in the field of diabetes.
  • Diabetes ward / practice experience and a willingness to develop using the Trend Career competency document.
  • A working knowledge of the management of Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetes
  • Knowledge of diabetes specialist clinical treatments and technology

Desirable

  • Experience with implementing change
  • Knowledge of key resources
  • Willingness to learn and acquire skills, training to meet needs of service.
  • Knowledge of NSF and NICE Guidance for diabetes.
  • Experience of teaching and presenting

Skills

Essential

  • Excellent oral and written communication skills.
  • Computer literacy
  • Good clinical assessment skills or willingness to develop these
  • Good listening, observational and interpretive skills.
  • Demonstrate effective teaching skills
  • Excellent interpersonal skills.
  • Have awareness of own limitations and when to seek advice from senior members of the team

Desirable

  • Effective presentation skills
  • Experience of undertaking research/audits programmes.
  • Project management skills

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Closing Date: 2 October 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.