Guys and St Thomas is among the UKs busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guys is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Marys Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Childrens Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions. 

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of Kings Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with Kings College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities and a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of good. Our adult community services achieved a rating of outstanding.

The commitment of our 22,000 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

You will be an autonomous practitioner with responsibility for a caseload whilst working alongside a dedicated team. As part of this, you would be part of the leadership team contributing to innovation and shaping the school nursing service. We are proud of our delivery of the school nursing service which includes: managing a safeguarding caseload, providing health promotion and supporting schools to manage the health needs of their students as well as line management of staff.

Important information – Candidates must have Specialist Community Public Health – School Nurse Qualification. Opportunities for current trainee Specialist Community Public Health School Nurse students can apply.

Closing Date: 15 June 2022

Interview Date: 22 June 2022

Main duties of the job

You will be an autonomous practitioner with responsibility for a caseload whilst working alongside a dedicated team. You will be part of the leadership team contributing to innovation and shaping the school nursing service. 

Our delivery of the school nursing service which includes: managing a safeguarding caseload, providing health promotion and supporting schools to manage the health needs of their students as well as line management of staff.

We have rolled out mobile working across our community trust giving us more time and flexibility to work in schools and improving our staffs work life balance.

Working for our organisation

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UKs best known hospitals Guys, St Thomas, Evelina London Childrens Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.

We are among the UKs busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart and lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.

We have a long tradition of clinical and scientific achievement and as part of Kings Health Partners we are one of Englands eight academic health sciences centers, bringing together world-class clinical services, teaching and research. We have one of the National Institute for Health Researchs biomedical research center’s, established with Kings College London in 2007, as well as dedicated clinical research facilities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities
To undertake first and continued health care assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation to the school age population and their families or carers.

To participate in the needs assessment of local populations and work collaboratively to improve public health

To be able to independently manage a caseload of children and young people who require targeted and specialist school nurse involvement.

To conduct health assessments on children and young people identified as
vulnerable and requiring additional support. For example, those under child
protection procedures.

To provide targeted interventions to those on Child in Need Plans and Child
Protection Plans, who have been identified as having outstanding health needs.

To attend safeguarding meetings independently in order to feedback any health or safeguarding concerns to parents, young people and other professionals.

To safeguard children and young people by completing referrals to childrens social care, keeping the child and family involved during the process throughout.

To seek out, offer and teach health promotion and preventative opportunities to children, young people their families and carers with the school nurse team and promote positive health management.

To maintain effective communication with children, young people, their families and carers and professionals and all other agencies involved in client care ensuring individualised client centred approach.

To actively support and empower children, young people, their families and carers in their chronic disease management and to work towards preventing the complications of long-tem conditions.

Please see job description for full details.

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria

  • Demonstrable post registration experience in schools as a Specialist Practitioner in School Nursing.
  • Ability to take full responsibility for caseload management and workload
  • Experience of mentoring students
  • Expereince of interagency working
  • Experience of direct supervision of qualified and unqualifed staff
  • Desirable criteria

  • Experience of innovative practice
  • Experience as a clinical supervisor
  • Skills

    Essential criteria

  • Able to evidence ability to manage staff and difficult situations
  • Able to evidence good organisational skills
  • IT literate
  • Ability to contribute to and develop new approaches to School Nursing
  • Knowledge

    Essential criteria

  • Current issues, policies and frameworks affecting primary care and community nursing services
  • Knowledge and understanding of the management and use of data in the NHS setting
  • Safeguarding knowledge & child protection procedures
  • All aspects of clinical governance and audit
  • Desirable criteria

  • Ability to justify decisions and actions
  • Ability to demonstrate reasoning to senior management if required
  • Values and Behaviour

    Essential criteria

  • Values and Behaviour
  • Guys and St Thomas celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or studys at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.