Breast Clinical Nurse Specialist

Sfh Tr; Sutton-in-Ashfield; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced Clinical Nurse Specialist – Advanced Breast Practice to join the Breast Services team. The role centers on autonomous clinical assessment, diagnostic reasoning, and management across diagnostic, treatment and follow-up pathways, working with a multidisciplinary team.

The post requires substantial breast clinical experience, teaching ability, and leadership within a breast cancer service.

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse with NMC Part 1.
• BSc in Nursing or equivalent.
• ENB 998 or equivalent teaching course.
• Evidence of post-basic specialist education in breast care.
• Masters level education or working towards it (or equivalent) in advanced breast assessment/examination.
• Non-medical prescribing qualification or willingness to undertake.

Responsibilities

• Advanced clinical assessment, diagnostic reasoning and autonomous decision-making in breast care.
• Assessment, investigations, treatment and follow-up within defined pathways.
• Collaborate with Consultant Surgeons, Radiologists, Oncologists and MDT.
• Provide teaching and supervision to healthcare professionals and contribute to service improvement.

Skills

Excellent communication & listening

Breast clinical knowledge

Interpersonal & organisational skills

Team player

Teaching & assessing healthcare staff

Research awareness

Audit methodologies

Education

NMC Part 1 – Registered Nurse

BSc Nursing

ENB 998 or equivalent teaching

Post-basic specialist education

Masters level or training in advanced breast assessment

Non-medical prescribing (or willingness)

Job description

Thank you for your interest in this role, we would be delighted to welcome you to Sherwood Forest Hospitals.

Sherwood is nationally recognised as being an excellent place to work and deliver care. We are rightly proud of the 5,500 colleagues who work here and know that happy colleagues deliver better care.

Our teams work in a supportive, inclusive environment, which nurtures wellbeing and has opportunities for development and progression. We do not just care for our patients, we also care for you.

At Sherwood Forest Hospitals, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. As such, we particularly welcome applications from people who identify as Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, or Disabled. We believe that a diverse team better represents the communities we serve and brings a wealth of perspectives and experiences to our work.

Job overview

Join Our Breast Services Team

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Clinical Nurse Specialist – Advanced Breast Practice to join our established Breast Services team at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

This is a senior, autonomous clinical post for an experienced breast clinician who is able to assess, investigate and manage patients across defined breast diagnostic, treatment and follow-up pathways. The successful candidate will work alongside Consultant Breast Surgeons, Breast Radiologists, Oncologists, Breast Care Nurses and the wider multidisciplinary team.

Although the post is substantively badged as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, this is an advanced clinical practice role and is deliberately distinct from the traditional Breast Care Nurse role. The postholder will have direct responsibility for clinical assessment, diagnostic investigation, clinical decision-making, treatment and follow-up.

Applicants must already have substantial experience in breast clinical practice and be able to demonstrate advanced assessment, diagnostic reasoning and autonomous clinical decision-making. This is not a developmental post for a nurse wishing to progress into advanced practice, and the successful candidate will be expected to undertake the clinical responsibilities of the role from appointment, subject to the Trust's usual governance and competency requirements.

Main duties of the job

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Working for our organisation

We are an award-winning NHS Foundation Trust working alongside health and social care colleagues across the county to provide acute and community healthcare services to more than 420,000 people across Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.

We put the patient at the heart of everything that we do and it is our aim to make sure that every patient is treated as we would want a member of our own family to be treated. At the same time, we expect our staff to be caring, kind and courteous to each other and to look out for each other. We believe that we are truly a clinically-led organisation.

We are proud that our Trust colleagues have voted us the best acute Trust to work for in the East Midlands for seven years running in the National NHS Staff Survey, while the Care Quality Commission has rated our Trust as ‘outstanding’ for care and our King’s Mill Hospital as the only ‘outstanding’ NHS-run hospital in the East Midlands.

Not all of our roles are eligible for visa sponsorship. To find out which roles are eligible, please refer to the shortage occupation list found here:

Home Office guidance has changed as of 9th April. Anyone that requires switching visa type may not be eligible for sponsorship even if the role is on the shortage occupation list.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Knowledge Requirements

• Excellent communication and listening skills
• Specialist breast benign conditions and breast cancer knowledge and expertise
• Good interpersonal and organisational skills
• Team player
• Experience of teaching and assessing healthcare professionals
• Research awareness
• Audit methodologies

Qualifications

• NMC Level One Registered Nurse
• BSc in Nursing
• ENB 998 or equivalent teaching course
• Evidence of post-basic specialist education
• Educated to Masters level (or working towards) or formal training in advanced breast clinical assessment and examination
• Non-medical prescribing (or willingness to undertake)

Further Training

• Motivational interviewing / counselling course / training

Experience

• Significant experience post registration at band 7 in breast clinical practice - assessing patients with breast symptoms, breast sepsis and managing patients with suspected or confirmed breast cancer
• Advanced clinical history-taking and breast and axillary examination skills
• Experience of autonomous clinical decision making
• Experience of primary endocrine treatment for breast cancer
• Ability to request and interpret appropriate investigations and formulate clinical management plans
• Experience of nurse-led and community-based specialist clinics
• Ability to recognise suspected malignancy and appropriately elevate or refer
• Membership of special interest and professional group
• Working within a leadership role
• Change management and leadership skills
• Experience of audit and service improvement
• Multidisciplinary team working
• Caseload management
• Demonstrable experience of teaching / training healthcare professionals
• Experience of clinical leadership within a breast cancer service
• Experience contributing to workforce planning, role development or skill-mix transformation
• Experience developing clinical guidelines, protocols or competency frameworks

Contractual Requirements

• Flexible approach to working
• Ability to work unsupervised
• Ability to travel between sites

Not all of our roles are eligible for visa sponsorship. To find out which roles are eligible, please refer to the shortage occupation list found here:

Home Office guidance has changed. Anyone that requires switching visa type may not be eligible for sponsorship even if the role is on the shortage occupation list.

We as a Trust support the use of AI and other tools to support your application. However, all personal statements and behavioural examples must be truthful and factually accurate. Your application should reflect your own personal/professional experiences and qualifications to ensure authenticity and credibility.

For the avoidance of doubt, plagiarism includes presenting the ideas or experiences of others or content generated by artificial intelligence as your own. We review all applications carefully to ensure that the information provided in your supporting statement aligns with your qualifications, work history and the duties undertaken within these roles. Your experience will also be explored further during the interview process.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.