Clinical Nurse Specialist

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in London is looking for a Clinical Nurse Specialist to provide expert addiction nursing support in the community. The successful candidate will work as part of a multidisciplinary team, providing diverse assessments and interventions for those with substance misuse issues. Strong communication skills and the ability to work independently are essential. The role offers a salary range of £44,485 to £52,521 per year.

Qualifications

• Experience managing a caseload in the community.
• Experience with addictions and dual diagnosis clients.
• Knowledge of safeguarding issues.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist addiction nursing support for patients.
• Work as a member of the multidisciplinary team.
• Continuously assess psychological and emotional needs of clients.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Ability to work independently

Knowledge of different treatment models

Motivational Interviewing skills

Interpersonal skills

Education

Registered Nurse qualification

Job description

Clinical Nurse Specialist

Closing date: 23 December 2025

Addition Recovery Community Hillingdon (ARCH) - Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

The Addiction Recovery Community (ARCH) helps people in Hillingdon who want to break a cycle of addiction to substances such as heroin, club drugs, other types of stimulants or long‑term alcohol addiction. It brings together a variety of services under one roof to provide a better service to service users.

Main duties of the job

An exciting opportunity has become available at ARCH to work within the Addictions Team as an experienced Band 6 Clinical Nurse Specialist.

The aim of the role is to provide specialist addiction nursing support in the form of assessment, engagement and intervention for patients with substance use needs, supporting integration into the community, preventing reoffending and facilitating engagement with the local community substance misuse team ARCH.

The role involves working with a wide range of services. Successful candidates will need to have excellent communication skills as well as the flexibility to work alongside these different groups.

Candidates will need to be able to work effectively as part of a team as well as having the skills and confidence to work as individuals in a range of environments. Supervision and consultation are available to the team to support practice.

We are looking for an experienced registered nurse with knowledge of mental health, substance misuse disorders and demonstrable experience in specialist assessment and decision making.

About us

We are a forward‑facing trust who believes in training and development of nurses’ skills and can prioritise supporting prospective applicants to learn new skills in providing service users with addiction support.

We have ample opportunities to gain a greater understanding of essential skills underpinning clinical practice such as motivational interviewing techniques, relapse management and clinical specialist skills such as venepuncture, ECG, dry blood spot testing and fibro scan training.

Job responsibilities

• Work as a member of the multidisciplinary team in the management and treatment provision of the specialist service to people with problematic use of novel psychoactive substances with associated problem drink and drug use attending the service/unit, including harm minimisation approaches, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, care planning, individual intervention, health assessments and education and detoxification programmes, pre and post‑test BBVs counselling and vaccination and group work.
• Continuously assess the psychological, emotional, social and rehabilitative needs of own clients/patients, taking into account the needs of family, local community and developing systematic plans for care and evaluation of treatment plans.
• Assess and case‑manage clients who inject drugs, particularly assessing injection sites and be conversant with the precepts of harm minimisation.
• Use agreed and established Treatment Outcome Monitoring Tools (TOP) and any other relevant quality measures.
• Contribute to the development, provision and review of care plans.
• Manage the transfer of individuals between agencies and services.
• Counsel individuals about their substance use and related behaviours, using motivational interviewing, relapse management and other evidence‑based interventions.
• Provide clinical advice and support to other colleagues within the health care setting and to other agencies concerned with substance misuse.
• Be responsible for the safe and effective storage and administration of drugs, exercising responsibility for the custody and maintenance of statutory records of such drugs in accordance with the Trust Policies/Procedures on the supply and carriage of drugs in the community.
• Ensure full risk assessments and risk management are delivered effectively.
• Undertake dry blood spot testing for BBV and urinalysis when required.
• Screen clients at risk of, or affected by, blood‑borne diseases and plan and agree service responses according to needs.
• Provide education and assertively promote Hepatitis B vaccination for clients who are at risk of contracting the virus.
• Administer Hepatitis B vaccination in accordance with CNWL Medicine Policies and Protocols.
• Provide pre and post‑test discussion to clients screened for blood‑borne viruses in accordance with CNWL guidelines.
• Ensure the CNWL Hepatitis care plan is used for all clients.
• Actively promote attendance at the hepatology clinic for clients affected by liver disease.
• Collaborate with the individual Statutory, Non‑Statutory teams, GPs, Primary Care Services, Virology, Chemical Pathology and Liver / Gastroenterology Departments, and provide expert care without direct medical supervision, using clinical guidance documents and patient group directions as agreed by the Trust.
• Assist in the transfer of individuals between the service and Hepatology/Gastroenterology and other relevant agencies.
• Be familiar with the Trust and local Resuscitation, Infection Control and Needle Stick Injury Policies and Procedures.
• Attend mandatory yearly updates on CPR and Anaphylaxis training.

Person Specification

Experience

• Experience managing a caseload in the community.
• Experience of working with addictions.
• Experience of working with dual diagnosis clients and those experiencing mental health issues.
• Experience in Risk Management and care planning.
• Experience of working with people who use club drugs and engage in 'chemsex'.
• Experience of working in and delivering services to injecting drug users.
• Experience of providing counselling interventions.

Skills and knowledge

• Knowledge of different treatment models and pathways in substance misuse.
• Able to build constructive relationships with warmth and empathy, using good communication skills.
• An understanding of safeguarding issues in relation to adults and children.
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently and prioritise effectively.
• Experience of working within a multi‑disciplinary team.
• Ability to work within a harm minimisation model.
• Motivational Interviewing skills / Relapse Management skills.
• Ability to treat service users with respect and dignity at all times, adopting a culturally sensitive approach, which considers the needs of the whole person.
• IT literate.
• Knowledge of prescribing issues in a drug service.
• Non‑judgemental.
• Able to engage in frank discussions with clients about intimate and sexual topics.
• Committed to multidisciplinary team work.
• Committed to Service User involvement.
• Flexible & responsive to a must have the ability to understand and implement the Equal and Diversity policy at a level appropriate to the job developing service.

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.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

£44,485 to £52,521 a year per annum inc. Outer HCAS (pro rata if P/T)