Specialist Nurse Children In Care

North Cheshire And Mersey Nhs Foundation Trust; Runcorn; Hybrid; GBP 36,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Job summary

North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Nurse with a passion for children in care (CiC) to join the CiC team. You will assess and plan healthcare for looked after children, advocate for their wishes, and coordinate with families, carers and social care to improve health outcomes.

The role involves working across Warrington and Halton, with flexible and hybrid working opportunities. Essential qualification is a nursing degree with UK registration.

Qualifications

• Current nursing registration with the UK NMC.
• Experience in community settings and Children in Care preferred.
• Strong communication and inter-agency collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with CiC and carers to assess health needs.
• Develop and review individual health plans for CiC and care leavers.
• Advise and support social workers and partner agencies on health matters.
• Ensure timely access to universal and specialist health services.
• Attend statutory CiC reviews and contribute to care planning with a health perspective.

Skills

Communication

Leadership

Assessment

Education

Nursing degree

Job description

Job summary

Please note this post is internal to North Cheshire and Mersey employees.

Are you passionate about improving outcomes for Children in Care and ensuring that the child's voice is at the centre of everything you do? Do you have the professional curiosity, enthusiasm, and experience needed to support children and young people to achieve their full potential?

This is an exciting opportunity to join a well-established and highly regarded Children in Care Team during a period of continued development and service improvement. We are seeking a motivated and dynamic practitioner who is committed to delivering high-quality, child-centred care and advocating for some of our most vulnerable children and young people.

You will be a forward-thinking professional with excellent communication and relationship-building skills, able to work creatively and collaboratively with children, families, carers, and partner agencies. The successful candidate will be flexible and adaptable, with the ability to work across both the Warrington and Halton areas.

If you are committed to making a difference, enjoy working as part of a supportive team, and are passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of Children in Care, we would love to hear from you.

Please note : Interview Date is scheduled for 9th October 2026.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work collaboratively with children and young people in care, care leavers, carers, and multi-agency professionals to promote positive health and wellbeing outcomes. They will ensure that children in care receive high-quality, child-centred healthcare in line with statutory guidance and best practice.

The post holder will be responsible for the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of healthcare for children in care and care leavers, ensuring their physical, emotional, and mental health needs are identified and addressed.

Key duties include:

• Undertaking and contributing to Initial and Review Health Assessments for Children in Care.
• Developing, implementing, and reviewing individual health plans to meet identified needs.
• Acting as an advocate for children and young people, ensuring that their voice, wishes, and feelings are central to care planning and decision-making.
• Promoting timely access to universal and specialist health services.

Please see Full Job Description attached.

About us

Flexible working will be considered for all roles.

North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust (NCM) serves more than one million residents across the Halton and Warrington boroughs and the wider North West region.

Bringing together community and out-of-hospital services (formerly provided by Bridgewater Community Healthcare) with inpatient and elective care (formerly Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals) we provide services at two hospital sites and more than 70 community hubs and facilities.

Our mission, vision and values are at the heart of North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust (NCM). They underpin everything we do and everything we aspire to be as an organisation.

Our mission

We will be exceptional for our patients, our communities and each other

Our vision

We will be a great organisation providing excellent healthcare and opportunities to work and learn

Our values

• Kind: We are caring, supportive and respectful to everyone
• Open: We are honest, transparent and open to new ways of working
• Fair: We listen, value our differences and are inclusive to all
• One team: We work well together and with our communities

Job responsibilities

The post holder will work with children, young people, their carers and a wide range of professionals across health and social care settings to ensure that looked after children and young people (known as Children in Care-CiC) receive the appropriate services in order to reach their full potential as outlined in Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children (2022) and the Intercollegiate competencies for looked after children (2025).

The post holder will be responsible for the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of health care for CiC and care leavers. The overall aim is to ensure that children in care health needs are met and positive outcomes are achieved for this vulnerable group.

Duties and Responsibilities

• To assess, plan, implement and evaluate healthcare for CiC.
• To support CiC and their carers with the appropriate health advice, information, signposting and referral.
• To support social work colleagues in ensuring that any health needs identified at childrens initial or review health assessments are promptly addressed with ongoing follow up and reviews.
• To assist with the compilation of information to inform the completion of quality Initial health assessments.
• To attend and /or provide a written report for any statutory CiC health reviews and care planning meetings.
• To ensure that all CiC are up to date with their immunisations and to support access to outstanding immunisations in line with the Department of Health guidelines.
• To monitor emotional health and stability by interpreting the strengths and difficulties questionnaire scores (SDQs) liaising with the Lead CiC specialist nurse/childs social worker.
• To attend meetings on behalf of the Lead Specialist nurse for CiC in periods of her absence.
• To Work in conjunction with the Lead Specialist nurse for CiC participating in the delivery of CiC training and the ongoing professional development of health professionals, social workers and foster carers.

Leadership

• Provides professional leadership and health advice and support to health professionals including health visitors and school nurses and social workers within health and social care settings.
• Works with a legal, professional and ethical framework established by relevant bodies. e.g. Department of Health, Nursing and Midwifery Council and local health trust policies.
• To assist and participate in any audits for improving the quality standards for health services for CiC.
• To participate in regional and local strategic planning groups within CiC nursing.
• To support and encourage community involvement in decision / policy making including the involvement of children/young people and carers.

Clinical Practice

• To work autonomously within own practice, responsible for managing a caseload of children in care.
• To undertake comprehensive health assessments on CiC both in borough and those CiC placed within borough from other local authorities in line with good practice and reciprocal working arrangements.
• To make clinical decisions to satisfy the expectations and demands of the role, supported by relevant evidence-based practice theories.
• To adopt a flexible approach to working which may include travelling out of borough on occasions, or working evenings, to engage with young people and facilitate their access to health services.
• To be responsible for the recording of personally generated clinical observations and the maintenance of relevant nursing records and reports.
• To work in conjunction with targeted and universal childrens services to provide health promotion and advice to children in care, including those not accessing mainstream education
• To work alongside the lead specialist nurse and named nurse for CiC to support the development, implementation, review and updating of CiC processes and procedures.

Person Specification

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Evidence of continuous professional development
• Excellent written communication skills, to include record keeping, report writing, data collection, and evaluations
• Understanding of national policies relating to children

Desirable

• Computer literate
• Knowledge of statutory guidance on promoting the health and wellbeing of Looked after Children
• Assessment of care needs, planning, implementation and evaluation of care plans

Relationships

Essential

• If you are related to a director or have a relationship with a director or employee of an appointing organisation, please state the relationship.

Experience

Essential

• Significant demonstrable experience of working in a community setting
• Understanding the needs of the client group

Desirable

• Working with children and young people
• Working with looked after children /children in care
• Experience of attending Looked after Childrens reviews

Qualifications

Essential

• 1st level Degree or equivalent Nursing qualification
• Sexual health training qualification or willing to undertake.

Desirable

• SCPHN

Job Specific Requirements

Essential

• Ability to travel independently across the trust and on occasion to travel outside of trust boundaries to meet the needs of CiC.
• Self-motivated.
• Ability to demonstrate commitment to developing the service offer for CiC.
• The ability to work flexibly in accordance with service needs.

Right to Work

Essential

• Do you currently have the unrestricted right to work in the UK?
• If appointed, will you require sponsorship under a UK work visa route (now or in the future)?
• Please note that sponsorship is not available for all roles. Sponsorship will only be considered where the post meets the relevant UK immigration requirements and where the organisation determines that sponsorship is appropriate for the role.

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).