Peripatetic Nurse (Clinical Nurse Specialist)

CNWL; London; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

Join CNWL as a Peripatetic Nurse to deliver targeted healthcare services to the most vulnerable members of the community. This role focuses on reducing health inequalities and improving access to essential health services, providing comprehensive support and advocacy in various community settings.

Benefits

Generous relocation package

Flexible working options

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Registered Mental Nurse (RMN) or Registered General Nurse (RGN) required.
• Experience in mental health and substance misuse clients.
• Post-registration training in nursing care and assessment.

Responsibilities

• Lead on delivering flexible nurse-led health clinics.
• Conduct comprehensive health assessments and provide tailored interventions.
• Support the integration of care pathways and reduce service fragmentation.

Skills

Communication

Interpersonal skills

Clinical knowledge

Motivational Interviewing

Leadership

Education

RMN or RGN

Diploma in Drugs and Alcohol Studies

Evidence of continuing professional development

Job description

Search here to find a new job, a new career, an opportunity
to up skill or to simply change your career direction.

Become part of our team.
We care for you as much as you care for others.

There’s a place for you at CNWL.

We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.

Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people.
We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.

With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you're at, there's always a place for you at CNWL.

To help your onboarding go smoothly, it’s essential that internal applicants:

Use their NHS.net email address in their TRAC profile

Ensure your application is marked to show thatyou are a current CNWL staff member

Applications using personal email addresses (e.g. Gmail or Yahoo) will not be recognised, and the process simply won’t work.There is also a charge to change new starter personal email addresses to their nhs.net email address.

Before you apply:

Log into TRAC and update your email to your NHS.net address

Check your application details and make sure you are identified as an internal applicant

This small step helps avoid major problems later.

Peripatetic Nurse (Clinical Nurse Specialist)

NHS AfC: Band 7

Main area Nursing Grade NHS AfC: Band 7 Contract Fixed term: 6 months (Maternity Cover) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday) Job ref 333-D-AD-0534

Site Club Drug Clinic (CDC) Town Fulham Salary £54,320 - £60,981 per annum inc. Inner HCAS pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing Today at 23:59

Job overview

This pivotal role aims to improve health outcomes for some of our community's most vulnerable members. It is central to strengthening integrated care pathways and reducing service fragmentation, ensuring that support is both efficient and effective.

Focusing particularly on individuals who are persistently consuming alcohol and may not benefit from traditional structured treatment, you will lead on delivering flexible, nurse-led health clinics within hostel settings across the locality. Working in close collaboration with general practice, you will provide holistic healthcare to residents who often experience significant physical and mental health challenges.

The service’s overarching goal is to improve access to appropriate care for people with a range of complex needs, including drug and alcohol use, by delivering timely interventions, promoting health and wellbeing, and supporting engagement with wider healthcare services.

This role also contributes to broader public health objectives — reducing alcohol-related hospital admissions, tackling health inequalities, and enhancing continuity between community and acute services. Through preventative care, health checks, and targeted health promotion, you will help increase access to non-emergency healthcare and empower residents to take charge of their health.

Main duties of the job

As part of this vital service, the team conducts comprehensive Health and Wellbeing (HWB) assessments, delivering a range of interventions tailored to meet individual health needs. This includes supporting access to primary care, referring clients to appropriate specialist services, and facilitating continuity of care. The service also plays a key role in delivering training to hostel staff and promoting health education through regular screening and awareness sessions for clients.

The Peripatetic Nurse is instrumental in reaching people who may not otherwise access mainstream healthcare. You will provide community-based health screening and support at drop-in centres, day centres, churches, and other outreach settings across the borough, focusing mainly on people who are homeless, socially excluded, or experiencing significant deprivation.

A key aspect of the role involves building rapport and gaining a clear understanding of each client’s lifestyle and health-related behaviours. Using a motivational and trauma-informed approach, you will provide practical health promotion and personalised advice and support clients in exploring and making positive changes to improve their overall wellbeing.

With informed written consent, you will conduct health and wellbeing nursing assessments for residents in local hostels. Assessment findings are shared with the client and, where appropriate, with their GP or other healthcare professionals.

Working for our organisation

At Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL), we are proud to deliver inclusive, compassionate, and high-quality care to some of our communities' most marginalised members. Our Drug and Alcohol Services are a vital part of this commitment, offering innovative, person-centred support to improve health and reduce inequality.

You will be joining a forward-thinking, multidisciplinary team that is passionate about making healthcare accessible to everyone, especially those who face barriers to traditional services. Our approach is grounded in partnership, flexibility and trust. We work closely with GPs, hostel staff, community services and voluntary sector organisations to ensure that every client receives the right care, at the right time.

As a Peripatetic Nurse, you will be supported to work autonomously across a variety of community settings, including hostels, drop-in centres, churches, and day centres. Your work will be dynamic, mobile, and meaningful, meeting people where they are and helping them take the first steps toward improved health and well-being.

CNWL values its staff and provides strong professional development opportunities, regular supervision, and a culture of continuous improvement. You will be part of a supportive team that recognises the complexity of the work and shares a commitment to delivering impactful, recovery-focused care.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This role is central to delivering a dedicated healthcare service for individuals who are homeless, rough sleeping, or residing in hostels across Milton Keynes. As a Peripatetic Nurse, you will provide proactive, flexible, and person-centred care through a range of health and wellbeing interventions tailored to the complex needs of this population.

Your responsibilities will include:

Delivering nurse-led general health clinics within hostels, supported by local general practice.

Conducting health promotion activities and general health screening to address immediate and long-term health needs.

Supporting engagement with primary care services and facilitating seamless access to wider health and specialist treatment services.

Working collaboratively to develop and improve care pathways, ensuring services are well integrated, reducing fragmentation, and are responsive to the needs of service users.

Supporting individuals who consistently consume alcohol, particularly where traditional structured treatment is not appropriate, by offering accessible and flexible alternatives.

Addressing the physical and mental health needs of hostel residents, with a strong emphasis on reducing health inequalities and improving overall outcomes.

Providing training and support to hostel staff, helping to build capacity and resilience in managing residents’ health needs outside of normal service hours.

Working within a motivational and trauma-informed framework, build trust and promote positive behavioural change in partnership with each client.

Aiming to reduce alcohol-related hospital admissions, support early intervention, and strengthen the interface between community and hospital services.

Increasing access to preventative and non-emergency healthcare, including regular health checks and signposting to mainstream services.

All care delivery will be in line with HCC Quality Standards, ensuring the service maintains high clinical and professional standards while addressing the unique challenges faced by this client group.

This is a varied, autonomous and impactful role — ideal for a nurse who is passionate about reducing health inequalities, improving access to care, and making a meaningful difference to people’s lives in Milton Keynes.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

• RMN or RGN
• Evidence of continuing personal development and post-registration training in the nursing care, assessment and treatment substance misuse clients.
• Diploma in Drugs and Alcohol Studies or equivalent qualification
• Training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Completed the Motivational Interviewing Training Module
• Completed the ‘Non Medical Prescriber’ course

Previous Experience

• Experience in Mental or general Health
• Experience in supervising junior staff
• Experienced in the supply and administration of Hepatitis vaccines
• Experienced and competent in the supply and administration of CNWL Trust Hepatitis Patient Group Directions
• Extensive clinical experience
• Experience in undertaking Risk Assessments and Risk Management
• Teaching and Assessing qualification ENB 998 / SLICE or equivalent eg: mentorship
• Community Nursing Experience
• Experience of working in and delivering services to injecting drug users.
• Experience of teaching others and willingness to undertake Teaching and Assessing qualification within six months of commencing post.

Skills and knowledge

• Sound clinical knowledge and understanding of current NHS policies and national drug issues/policies.
• Good verbal, written and presentation skills
• Good interpersonal skills in order to communicate and negotiate effectively, both inside and outside the Trust
• Ability to work independently and to prioritise effectively
• Ability to assess and treat people with dual diagnosis
• Evidence of effective leadership and organisational skills
• Evidence of the ability to work in a changing and stressful situation.
• Evidence of ability to teach/disseminate knowledge and 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.
• Able to build constructive relationships with warmth and empathy, using good communication skills
• IT literate: competent using Microsoft Word and able to report clinical activity data on patient information systems.
• Experience of working with stimulant users and people with alcohol problems.
• Experience of group facilitation
• Experience of managing a caseload within the community
• Awareness/knowledge of research skills
• Awareness of counselling models
• Motivational Interviewing skills / Relapse Management skills

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.

Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page

Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.

If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

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.

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