Physical Health in SMI – Senior Community Nurse

TN United Kingdom; Oxford; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Oxford is seeking a Senior Community Nurse to join a dedicated team focused on improving the physical health of individuals with severe mental illness. The successful candidate will provide clinical leadership, support junior staff, and ensure holistic care by coordinating mental and physical health services.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

NHS Discounts

Competitive pension scheme

Flexible working options

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Experience in advanced physical health assessment and care planning.
• Post-registration experience in community or mental health nursing.
• Understanding of health risks associated with severe mental illness.

Responsibilities

• Clinical leadership of the Physical Health in SMI team.
• Providing clinical supervision and assessing patients' physical health.
• Coordinating care between health services for patients with SMI.

Skills

Clinical assessment

Patient management

Health promotion

Mental health support

Leadership

Education

Registered Nurse qualification

Non-medical prescribing qualification

Job description

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Physical Health in SMI – Senior Community Nurse, Oxford

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Client:

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

Location:

Oxford, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

14bddc05bdc2

Job Views:

4

Posted:

27.05.2025

Expiry Date:

11.07.2025

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Job Description:

Job overview

Are you a registered nurse/dual registered nurse with proven clinical assessment skills?

Are you passionate about supporting individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) and understand the importance of their physical health?

We are recruiting a Senior Community Nurse to join our specialist team covering Oxfordshire. Reporting to the Clinical Nurse Lead, you will provide clinical leadership to Health Care Assistants, Nursing Associates, and junior Registered Nurses, while supporting our Specialist Physical Health Liaison Nurse.

Our Physical Health in SMI Team is a small, dedicated group improving the physical health of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) - made up of Dual Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates and Health Care Assistants who have a direct impact on improving the physical health of those with SMI. We work alongside community mental health teams to deliver direct care, make referrals, and provide education and support.

Though geographically spread, we maintain strong team connections through daily support and regular training. We offer a collaborative environment with excellent development opportunities, including non-medical prescribing and advanced practice training.

This role focuses on coordinating care to bridge the gap between physical and mental health services, ensuring individuals with SMI receive holistic, patient-centred care.

Main duties of the job

Working within the specialist Physical Health in SMI team, you will be:

• Jointly responsible for the day-to-day clinical management of the team as well as managing your own caseload of patients.
• Providing clinical supervision to members of the PH in SMI team. You will be both assessing the physical health of those with SMI (including cardiometabolic assessments) and documenting your findings within the patient record for those under your care.
• Expected to support the team when they identify abnormal results and provide/plan care as appropriate.
• Liaising with both the community multi-disciplinary team, in-patient mental health services as well as with external organisations such as primary care clinicians, smoking cessation services and locally commissioned providers of physical health support.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

Person specification

Clinical Experience & Knowledge

• Experience in advanced physical health assessment and care planning
• Understanding of the physical health risks associated with SMI, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome
• Knowledge of long-term condition management (e.g., COPD, hypertension, diabetes).
• Ability to recognise and manage physical health deterioration, both acute and chronic
• Competence in smoking cessation, substance misuse support, or dietetics for individuals with SMI
• Experience in conducting NHS Health Checks
• Understanding of the impact of SMI on physical health and vice versa
• Awareness of how psychotropic medications affect physical health
• Awareness of 3rd Sector Organisations and how they support those with SMI

Personal Qualities

• Empathy, patience, and a non-judgemental approach
• Commitment to reducing health inequalities in individuals with SMI

Additional Training & Experience

• Post-registration experience in a community nursing or mental health setting
• Experience in health promotion and lifestyle interventions (e.g., smoking cessation, weight management, exercise programmes)
• Training in brief interventions such as Motivational Interviewing

Further Qualifications & Development

• Specialist training in long-term condition management (e.g., diabetes care, respiratory conditions).
• Non-medical prescribing qualification or willingness to work towards it
• All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
• We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
• We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
• Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing