Nurse Therapist | Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust; March; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization in the UK is seeking a skilled nurse to provide specialist interventions within a secure prison environment. The role involves managing a caseload of prisoners, delivering therapy, and working autonomously in a high-pressure setting. Ideal candidates will have a registered nurse qualification and experience in mental health settings. This position offers the opportunity to contribute to the development and implementation of mental health care strategies.

Qualifications

• Experience working within mental health settings, particularly in forensic psychiatry.
• Ability to work autonomously within professional guidelines.
• Experience with the delivery of therapy interventions.

Responsibilities

• Manage a caseload of up to 10 prisoners, delivering individual and group therapy.
• Communicate complex information to multidisciplinary team members.
• Conduct nursing assessments and develop care plans for individuals.

Skills

High-level interpersonal skills

Risk assessment and management

Nursing assessment and treatment

Education

Registered Nurse qualification

Job description

Overview

To ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist nursing intervention consistent with the approved theoretical treatment model for prisoners referred to The Fens Unit. The post involves working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of both the Trust’s and The Fens Unit’s policies and procedures. It includes responsibility for the maintenance and development of good nursing practice and ensuring that nursing care reflects evidence-based practice and research within healthcare governance. A major requirement is to carry out audit, policy and service development and research activities and/or programmes, and to propose and implement relevant policy and service development changes in relation to nursing within The Fens Unit.

To assist in the identification and assessment of mental health need and redirect to appropriate psychiatry provision. Half of this role will be focused on the delivery of therapy interventions for the service, including holding a caseload of up to 10, in the form of 1:1 and group therapy. The post involves working with prisoners of The Fens Unit within a High Secure male prison.

Settings within the prison include the residential wing, workshops, the health care centre and, at times, attending prisoners who are temporarily based in the Health Care, Segregation Unit or the Close Supervision Unit. The working environment includes exposure to extremely high levels of distress in others and the potential for direct exposure to verbal and physical aggression. The role requires substantial periods of concentration and sitting, and routine exposure to security procedures such as searches. The post holder will be required to adhere to all the prison’s security policies and procedures.

Organisation context

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation delivering high-quality care with compassion to improve health and wellbeing. Our clinical teams deliver NHS services across inpatient, primary care, community settings and specialist areas including children’s, adult and older people’s mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development. We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long-term conditions and members of ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Important notices

Please note we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date if we receive sufficient applications. Sponsorship may not be available for all roles; if sponsorship is not offered, an applicant’s form may be rejected from the process.

For further information about CPFT, please visit www.cpft.nhs.uk. Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

Clinical core responsibility

• Exercise full autonomous professional responsibility for nursing assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, and manage and maintain a caseload in line with current standards of nurse therapist practice and agreed team approaches coherent with the theoretical model underpinning the clinical work of the Unit.
• Communicate assessment and Intervention results to other multidisciplinary team members, including non-clinical staff, using high-level interpersonal and communication skills.
• Communicate with prisoners who may be hostile or antagonistic about receiving this information, using the highest level of interpersonal skills.
• Develop plans for formal nursing interventions and/or management of prisoners’ mental health and behavioural problems based on an appropriate conceptual framework and evidence of efficacy across care settings.
• Ensure participation of the nursing model in development, implementation and evaluation of appropriate interventions, both individual and group.
• Provide specialist nursing advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the management of prisoners’ symptoms and treatment.
• Ensure all clinical team members understand the prisoner from a nursing perspective through advice, consultation and dissemination of nursing research and theory.
• Use highly specialised nursing knowledge to undertake ongoing risk assessment and risk management for individual prisoners, aligning with OPDP Planning and Delivery Guide and Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures.
• Work in partnership with other disciplines to establish and maintain trans-disciplinary team working and care programme approach.
• Take a leading role within trans-disciplinary team meetings, providing input to assessments, formulations and interventions collected by other staff within The Fens Unit.

This advert closes on Wednesday 17 Sep 2025.