Diabetes Nurse Specialist

Go back Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Diabetes Nurse Specialist

The closing date is 22 August 2025

We are looking to recruit a motivated and established Diabetes Specialist Nurse to support the Diabetes nurse team here at Southport hospital for maternity leave cover.

Work autonomously within trust policy, national and local guidelines and within own scope of professional practice.Support staff in reducing the length of stay for people with diabetesDevelop, deliver, implement, evaluate and modify individualised treatment plans, ensuring appropriate pathways of care. Recognise the need for referral to other agencies as required.Provide specialist education and training to other staff and students, including medical staff on all aspects of diabetes management

Contribute to the team in the development of clinical governance action plans, and in the planning, delivery and evaluation of diabetes services within secondary and primary care.Work autonomously in the provision of a specialist, evidence based and high quality service for people with diabetes.

Assess, plan and implement care for people with diabetes and contribute to the organisation and delivery of specialist education and training to other health care professionals, carers on all aspects of diabetes management

Main duties of the job

• To work in partnership with people with diabetes, their families/carers and other professionals, providing a specialist, evidence based and high-quality diabetes care.
• To organise and deliver ongoing education and training for professionals, carers in diabetes and contribute to the development of local diabetes care strategies and guidelines.
• To have continuing responsibility for the provision of a high-quality diabetes specialist nursing care.
• To provide effective leadership and support to other health care professionals, in the provision of the optimal standard of diabetes care for patients.
• To be responsible for professional diabetes education and training.
• To be accessible to patients and relatives and ensure support for them in the clinical environment, at home or via the telephone.

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Job responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

• Following a comprehensive assessment, devise the most effective and appropriate care programme strategy as agreed with the person with diabetes/carers, recognising individual diversity.
• Provide education and supports to patient with diabetes/carers to enable them where possible to effectively self-manage their diabetes.
• Establish effective communication to overcome specific barriers such as language / disability / ethnicity / cognitive ability / challenging behaviour.
• Act as a professional advocate for patients with diabetes and families/carers within the health care setting.

CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Organise care strategy for patients unable to self-manage utilizing other services to provide timely and appropriate care for the patient with diabetes in the most relevant setting.
• Ensure that appropriate action is taken to protect vulnerable adults and that they can access / receive diabetes care.
• Be aware of the procedures to follow if concerned regarding the protection of children and / or adults.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate guidelines of care for patients with diabetes for use within the specialist nursing service.
• Develop specific areas of clinical expertise within the diabetes nursing team.
• Undertake a non-medical prescribing role to enhance the medical management of patients.
• Act as an expert resource / advisor on diabetes issues to the person with diabetes, their family / carers and other health professionals across primary / secondary care.
• Contribute to the strategic developments in diabetes service for the local area by providing specialist advice on clinical and operational issues.

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Establish and maintain communication with the following: person with diabetes, family/carer; other health and social care professionals within primary and secondary care; prison service; mental health teams; Learning Disabilities teams; Nursing/Residential homes.
• Organise and co-ordinate complex care situations with multiple agencies considering sensitive or contentious information.
• Maintain confidential and comprehensive DSN service patient records in accordance with NMC Trust polices and local guidelines, including written and computer-generated records.
• Provide confidential written information to other disciplines when appropriate.
• Control working patterns to meet the needs of the service and its users.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide training and education to patients with diabetes/carers, which is delivered using various methods according to the patients individual needs e.g. 1-1, group work, to enable them where possible to effectively self-manage their diabetes.
• Provide practical skills training regarding the complexities of insulin delivery and blood glucose monitoring.
• Deliver specific diabetes education and training to other health care professionals tailored to meet their clinical need / area and health care setting.
• Contribute to the mentorship of qualified nursing staff and students within their professional development.
• Facilitate and contribute to the mandatory training of staff within local trusts for blood glucose monitoring and the auditing of the scheme.
• Actively contribute to the Health Promotion Agenda of the local community.
• Be instrumental in review, dissemination and where appropriate adoption of research based and innovative practice.
• Actively participate in the clinical supervision process.
• Be prepared to undertake training in order to fulfil further duties as identified by service developments or Individual Performance Review.
• Act as a resource for health professionals seeking support or advise relating to management of patients with Diabetes.

LINE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Be responsible and autonomous for a defined caseload.
• Be responsible for risk assessment and health and safety for self, team and service users in the health care setting.
• Maintain continuous autonomous clinical responsibility for a defined caseload involving the development of a specialised patient focused management strategy.
• Maintain continuous ongoing responsibility for facilitating the management of complexities of core episode without direct supervision.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policy/guidelines and procedures related to diabetes across local trusts.
• Participate in the recruitment process and development programmes of staff within the diabetes team.
• Produce accurate and detailed service information for auditing purposes.
• Be responsible for maintaining stock control and specialist diabetes supplies.
• Ensure that investigations into complaints / litigation / adverse incidents within agreed timescales ensuring that all documentation is completed to the required standard.
• Carry out clinical risk assessments as directed by the Clinical Risk Manager.

GOVERNANCE

Participate, co-ordinate and assist in the direction of care, so that high standards of care are always maintained. This will include:

• Effective management of all risks associated with the delivery of patient care with particular reference to Clinical Risk Management and any relevant Health and Safety legislation.
• Support the development of practice that is informed by the findings of research and clinical effectiveness.
• Ensure that the essential education and development needs of staff, including learners, are identified and met.
• Maintain own professional and educational development including compliance to PDR process.
• Participate in the education and training of staff / students / patients and relatives.
• Ensure that all adverse incidents and near misses are reported through the risk Management Reporting System and investigate as required.
• Be aware of and participate in the Trust responsibility to provide a safe environment for patients, visitors and staff.
• Ensure that all department equipment is clean and in safe working order, instigating reporting procedures in the case of problems.
• Ensure compliance with mandatory training as per Trust Policy.
• Comply fully with all policies and procedures approved by the Trust.
• Contribute to the Trust Quality Agenda including compliance e to Care Quality Commission (CQC) and nice guidance.

Person SpecificationQualifications

• First level registered nurse
• Degree in health-related area or working towards
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Management Qualification or evidence of managing staff
• Non-Medical Prescribing
• Counselling skills

Knowledge & Experience

• Post registration experience in the delivery if diabetes care
• Evidence of leadership - Level 77
• Experience in the developments of pathways, protocols
• Understanding of clinical governance framework and implications for Practice
• Experience of working in the community

Skills

• Demonstrate specialist expertise underpinned by theory acquired through personal knowledge and skills profile
• Multi-disciplinary/multi-agency working
• Demonstrable evidence of improving and developing service and Practice
• Able to work autonomously
• Able to analyse data and provide written reports
• Able to present information as to a variety of professional groups
• Is in possession of computer literacy skills
• Ability to Perform advanced clinical skills

Other

• The post holder will be required to exert occasional moderate physical effort for several short periods daily
• May be exposed to unpleasant working conditions/ hazard eg unhygienic home conditions exposure to body fluids
• Ability to communicate unpleasant/ sensitive information to patients in a variety of settings)
• May be exposed to unpleasant working conditions/hazards e.g. unhygienic home conditions, exposure to body fluids
• Responsible for personal safety in community settings
• Ability to manage changing workload, taking autonomous decision relating to patient care

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.

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

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