Psychological Nurse Specialist

We are seeking a resilient and passionate Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN) to join the Psycho‑oncology Team at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust for a 12‑month maternity cover (also available as a secondment). This is a full‑time role (37.5 hours per week), working Monday to Friday, 08:30‑16:30. You will provide specialist interventions for patients facing complex mental health difficulties within a world‑leading oncology setting.

The Role As a key member of our multidisciplinary team—alongside psychiatrists, psychologists and counsellors—you will deliver high‑quality psychological support and contribute directly to service development. This role requires excellent interpersonal skills and emotional resilience to manage complex and distressing clinical situations effectively. Main duties of the job As a Psychological Nurse Specialist, you will: Autonomously manage a specialist oncology caseload, providing high‑quality assessments and interventions for patients with complex mental health difficulties.

Lead day‑to‑day service operations and team coordination; act as the primary contact for operational issues, escalating strategic or high‑level governance matters to the Psycho‑oncology Lead Nurse. Work integrally with psychiatrists, psychologists, and counsellors, while fostering strong links with the broader oncology teams and external stakeholders to ensure seamless care for both inpatients and outpatients. Collaborate with the Lead Nurse and Clinical Leads to drive service improvements, staff education, and mental‑health promotion.

Maintain high clinical standards through regular supervision, reflective practice, and specialist professional development. Job responsibilities Perform comprehensive assessments of patients’ mental health and psychological needs and plan, implement, and evaluate care delivery according to changing health‑care needs to ensure continuity of effective patient care. Perform advanced clinical skills in psychological and mental‑health assessment, diagnosis, and interactions to enhance the patient experience.

Provide guidance to nursing colleagues regarding the management of patients with specific mental‑health needs. Collect, collate, evaluate, and report information, maintaining accurate patient records in line with clinical governance and risk‑management. Involve patients and carers/relatives in the planning and delivery of care and development of services to enhance the patient/carer experience.

Work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to ensure patient needs are met. Use advanced communication skills in a variety of settings. Monitor health, safety and security of self and others and promote best practice in the clinical area.

Promote patient and public involvement activities in the specialist area, leading to service improvement. Managerial Ensure the effective and efficient use of physical and financial resources in conjunction with finance and the service manager. Lead on the writing of protocols relevant to the Psychological Nurse Specialist role.

Contribute to and coordinate the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and guidelines within the Trust in line with national guidance; and contribute to these activities at network and national level. Organise daily work schedule and off‑duty rotas ensuring appropriate and effective skill‑mix and deployment of staff appropriate to patient needs. Be aware of Health and Safety issues and ensure relevant risk assessments for the department are undertaken.

Report and record all incidents and complaints according to the agreed policy, investigating promptly and compassionately. Ensure all existing Trust policies and procedures are adhered to and new ones are implemented as necessary. Report to Clinical Lead or DACN on clinical matters/activity and staff development.

Professional Highlight areas of improvement/development within the department and undertake relevant projects. Keep abreast of issues influencing the Trust both internally and externally and ensure senior colleagues and the team have a good understanding of the same. Undertake clinical supervision of health‑care professional colleagues on an individual or group basis.

Be fully aware of the divisional objectives and the Trust’s corporate plan. Demonstrate a pleasant and approachable manner and help create and promote good working relationships. Show professional and courteous manner whilst practicing excellent communication skills at all levels.

Show respect for members of the team and endorse the philosophy of giving mutual support. Being aware of one’s own limits, maintain confidentiality and adherence to NMC Professional Code of Conduct. Cooperate in own performance review by indicating learning goals and support needs.

Actively seek mentorship/supervision to enable reflection and development within the role. Exercise effective leadership using sound organisation skills and judgement, upholding equality and diversity of colleagues and patients. Education and Development Provide specialist, expert clinical knowledge to clinical colleagues, patients and carers/relatives both within and outside the Trust.

Identify learning needs, plan, implement and evaluate programmes of education to meet identified needs. Participate in the education of pre‑ and post‑registration health‑care professionals/medical staff. Educate and support staff in the general hospital in how to manage medically ill inpatients with psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, delirium, dementia.

Maintain up‑to‑date skills and knowledge and stay aware of professional issues. Ensure own compliance and compliance of others with regard to mandatory training. Research & Audit Identify need for, and undertake, research/clinical audit/benchmarking to improve effectiveness of patient care.

Contribute to relevant research projects in Psycho‑oncology being conducted at Trust, Network or national level. Disseminate research and audit findings through presentation to professional groups and publication. Evaluate service delivery—identify areas for improvement and initiate change.

Person Specification Qualifications Registered Mental Health Nurse Degree in nursing or related health study NMC Registration Master’s Degree (optional but preferred) Experience delivering psychological therapy Experience of non‑medical prescribing Experience Post‑registration experience in acute care for adult psychiatric nursing, including undertaking risk assessments. Post‑registration experience including working at a senior clinical level. Experience in liaison psychiatry or a relevant clinical specialty involving serious physical illness.

Experience working within an oncology setting. Experience working with a complex care team. Experience working within a given resource and ability to demonstrate imaginative and effective use of resources.

Participation in service development and implementation of change. Skills Good interpersonal and communication skills Strong emotional resilience and maintaining compassion in challenging situations Ability to analyse data and provide written reports Ability to work autonomously Evidence of effective team working across professional and organisational boundaries Experience in teaching and providing supervision to others (including non‑mental health professionals) Exhibit leadership skills Evidence of involvement in quality improvement activities Knowledge Specialist knowledge of the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act Knowledge of professional and NHS issues and policy relating to specialist area Evidence‑based knowledge in relevant clinical specialty Evidence of continuing professional development Ability to demonstrate wide knowledge of current trends in nursing and application to practice Knowledge of Psycho‑Oncology Values Ability to demonstrate the organisational values and behaviours 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. £49,387 to £56,515 a year (Pro rata) #J-18808-Ljbffr