County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Job summary
County Durham and Darlington
NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest integrated care providers in
England, serving a population of around 600,000 people. We are a high
performing organisation with a track record of success and have been rated as
Outstanding by the CQC for our Palliative and End of Life Care. This
substantive permanent Band 7 post offers an exciting opportunity for a suitably
qualified and experienced Registered Nurse to work within the Specialist
Palliative Care in the Community setting.
The post covers core
hours of 09:00-17:00 and works across a seven day period, weekends and bank
holidays are rostered across the team as per CDDFT policy. Core hours are
09:00-17:00.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will provide a consistent high
quality specialist palliative care service for patients and families. With
significant post registration experience including recent experience in
palliative care.
As a Clinical Nurse Specialist within the Specialist
Palliative Care Community team the post holder will need to be able to:
Demonstrate excellent communication and leadership skills
and will need to be committed to developing practice.
Working collaboratively as part of a team and building
effective relationships with the role colleagues, you must also be able to work
on your own initiative.
Assess, plan, implement and evaluate care for patients and
carers.
Provide specialist advice.
Provides day to day
supervision and/or clinical supervision to others
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Experience working as a Nurse
- Relevant post registration experience, in cancer, palliative care or relevant specialty
- In-depth specialist experience
- Experience of multi professional working
- Leadership and management experience
- Experience of teaching
Desirable
- Demonstrates proactive approach to palliative and end of life care
- Previous experience of working as a clinical nurse specialist
- Experience of audit and research Understanding of Macmillan Cancer Support and its role across the UK
Statutory Registration
Essential
- Active 1st Level NMC Adult Registration
Special Requirements
Essential
- Able to travel across Trust sites to meet the requirements of the post
- Well presented application
- Assertive and confident yet approachable and supportive manner
- Professionally credible
- Flexibility in approach to work and in range of duties/ hours of work
- Demonstrates initiative and enthusiasm
- Diplomatic
- Calm and objective
- Self Motivated
- Recognition of own limitations
- Driving posts musty have valid Full UK driving licence
Qualifications
Essential
- Highly developed knowledge of Palliative Care Pain and Symptom control management
- First level degree in related subject
- Post-basic qualification in cancer/palliative care or relevant subject
- Sound knowledge of national and regional policies influencing palliative care services
- Advanced communication skills training or willing and able to undertake
- Knowledge of cancer treatment modalities & implications
- Independent Nurse Prescriber or able and willing to undertake
- Evidence of teaching qualification (Cert Ed or equivalent)
- Good understanding of organisational priorities of relevant organisations
- Awareness of current political and organisational climate
- Evidence of Masters level learning or prepared to work towards
Desirable
- Degree level qualification in Palliative care.
- UCPD in Physical Assessment skills
- Post registration qualification in cancer nursing.
- Evidence of Counselling qualification
- Understanding of audit methodologies
- Research qualification
Special Skills & Knowledge
Essential
- Ability to think strategically and see the bigger picture
- Ability to demonstrate track record of practice development
- Excellent communication and counselling skills both in clinical settings and with other healthcare professionals
- Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing at all levels of understanding.
- Ability to work autonomously and as part of an integrated team
- Well developed influencing negotiation and facilitation skills
- Organised and able to prioritise and work to deadlines
- Ability to respond sensitively to situations of conflict
- Confident & effective teaching / presentation skills
- Flexible and innovative
- Skills in supervision and mentorship
- Commitment to continuing personal development
- Ability to lead and influence change
- Well developed IT skills
- Ability to obtain and critically evaluate information to enable decision making
- Ability to motivate, inspire and lead
- Ability to deal with difficult and complex situations with sensitivity & compassion
- Ability to think and plan strategically
- Well developed leadership skills
Desirable
- Demonstrates proactive approach to palliative and end of life care Previous experience of working as a clinical nurse specialist
- Experience of audit and research
Closing Date: 16 October 2026
To apply for this job please visit www.jobs.nhs.uk.